Performance · Other credits

Ritchie Valens

real name Ricardo Esteban Valenzuela Reyes

Pacoima, United States · 1941-05-13 – 1959-02-03

Ritchie Valens is credited on 1,898 releases across 521 albums tracked on Gatefold, active 1958–2026 — the collector-built map of who actually made the music.

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1,898

Credits

521

Albums

Decades active

387

In collections

Biography

source

Mexican-American singer, songwriter, and guitarist.
Born: 13 May 1941 in Pacoima, California, USA.
Died: 3 February 1959 in Clear Lake, Iowa, USA (aged 17).
Rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens' recording career lasted only eight months. During this time, however, he scored several hits, most notably "La Bamba", which was originally a Mexican folk song that Valens transformed with a rock rhythm and beat that became a hit in 1958, making Valens a pioneer of the Spanish-speaking rock and roll movement.
On 3 February 1959, on what has become known as The Day The Music Died, Valens was killed in a small plane crash in Iowa, a tragedy that also claimed the lives of fellow musicians Buddy Holly, and J.P. Richardson (aka the Big Bopper).
Inducted into Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.

Bio from Discogs