Ritchie Valens

Welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm Bill Price, and in this episode I will review the story of Ritchie Valens, one of Rock and Roll’s early pioneers.

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Transcript

In this episode of Rock and Roll Flashback, I will review the story of Ritchie Valens, one of Rock and Roll’s early pioneers.

Richard Steven Valenzuela was born on May 13, 1941 in Pacoima, California, which is located in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles. When Richard was a child his parents separated, he then lived with his father until his father’s death in 1951. By the time he was five years old, he had an interest in making his own music. His father encouraged him to learn to play the guitar and trumpet, plus he also learned to play drums. After his father’s death, he lived with his mother, bothers and sisters. During his childhood, Richard grew up listening to traditional Mexican Mariachi and flamenco guitar music.  

When he was nine years old, he acquired his first guitar, and by the age of twelve, he had written several songs inspired by Hispanic music. Although Valenzuela was left-handed, he learned to play the right-handed guitar. While attending school, he was exposed to Rhythm and Blues and Rock ‘n’ Roll music.

In 1957 Valenzuela was a fifteen-year-old student at the Pacoima Junior High School.  He would often bring his guitar to school, play and sing to his fellow students on the bleachers. That year there was mid-air collision on January 31st between two planes.  A portion of one of the planes crashed into the school’s playground, where 220 boys were concluding their athletic activities. Two students were killed and a third student died two days later. About seventy-five students were also injured. There are two different accounts as to where Richard was when the crash occurred. One version had him attending the funeral of his grandfather and another version had him in the school’s bathroom.  Regardless which version is factual, after the disaster he had reoccurring nightmares of the event, which led to his fear of flying.

When Richard was sixteen years old, he was invited to join a local garage band called The Silhouettes, who performed at local record shops. Initially, Richard began as a guitarist, but when the main vocalist left the band, Richard took over as the vocalist.  After receiving a tip from a San Fernando High School student about Valenzuela, Bob Keane, president of Del-Fi Records, went to see Richard play.  Bob was impressed by the performance, and invited Valenzuela to his home studio for an audition. The small studio was comprised of a two-track Ampex recorder and two Neumann U-47 microphones. After the audition, Bob offered to become his manager and signed him to a recording contract with Del-Fi Records. Keane then took Richard to Gold Star Studios in Hollywood to record a few songs. Keane also changed the name from Valenzuela to "Valens" and added a "t" to Richie. So from then on, he would be known professionally as Ritchie Valens. 

At the recording session, a backing band was employed, which included drummer Earl Palmer, guitarist Carol Kaye, bassist Red Collendar, pianist Ernie Freeman and guitarist Rene Hall. The first single that was released was “Come On, Let’s Go”, which reached the #42 position in the US in late 1958 and sold 750,000 copies.  In Episode 21, Jumpin’ John McDermott featured Carol Kaye, a member of the Wrecking Crew.

Here is Ritchie Valens first single release on the Del-Fi Record label: “Come On, Let’s Go”.

With the success of the single, Ritchie began an eleven city US tour, forcing him to overcome his fear of flying. Once the tour was over, he returned to the recording studio to record a song titled “Donna”, a song he had written for his high school girlfriend Donna Ludwig. Another song that was recorded was a traditional song from the Vera Cruz region located in eastern Mexico, titled “La Bamba”. In October 1958, the single containing both songs was released, with “Donna” becoming a #2 hit on the Billboard chart. “La Bamba” only managed to reach the #22 position. Interestingly “La Bamba” would eventually become the most remembered song by Valens. 

Here is the #2 Billboard hit: “Donna”

By the autumn of 1958, the sudden success, forced Valens to drop out of high school.  Keane booked Valens for performances at various US venues and appearances on television. On October 6th, 1958, Ritchie made his first appearance on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, performing “Come On, Let’s Go”. Then he performed in Honolulu, Hawaii. On December 10th, 1958 after returning from Hawaii, he performed at the Pacoima Junior High School. The concert was the only live performance ever recorded.  In mid December Valens traveled to New York City, in order to appear on Alan Freed’s Christmas Jubilee Show, where he performed with several artists, which included The Everly Brothers, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Jackie Wilson and Eddie Cochran. Then on December 27th, he appeared on The Dick Clark Show performing “Donna”. While in New York, he performed in several shows including an appearance at the Apollo Theater.  After returning to California, Ritchie performed at the West Covina High School along with Sam Cooke.

Valens was part of the five artists that comprised the Winter Dance Party tour, appearing with Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, Dion and the Belmonts, and Frankie Sardo.The tour was scheduled to begin on January 23rd, 1959 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Unfortunately, from the beginning, the tour was plagued with weather and logistical problems. To begin with the tour bus was unheated and broke down twice. Both Valens and the Big Bopper suffered from flu like symptoms during the tour. On January 31st the tour bus stalled in Duluth, Minnesota with the weather so bad, that Buddy Holly’s drummer had to be hospitalized due to severe frostbite while on the bus. Interestingly, in the audience for the  Duluth concert was a seventeen-year-old named Robert Zimmerman, who would later be known as Bob Dylan. In Episode 66, I reviewed the career of Buddy Holly.

The next concert on February 2nd, was scheduled for the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. Since there had been nothing but problems with the tour bus, Buddy Holly made the decision to charter a small plane and fly to Moorhead, Minnesota for the next concert. The plane’s capacity was the pilot and three passengers. So the two-remaing seats were initially assigned for guitarist Tommy Allsup and bassist Waylon Jennings. Waylon volunteered to give up his seat to The Big Bopper who was ill with the flu. Valens tried to convince an unwilling Allsup to give up his seat, but eventually agreed to flip a coin to determine who would get on the plane. The coin was tossed and Valens won. He remarked [quote] “That’s the first time I’ve ever won anything in my life” [end quote]. Before the plane departed Holly remarked to Jennings “I hope your bus freezes” to which Jennings replied, “ I hope your plane crashes”. Jennings’ remark would haunt him from then on. At about 12:55 am on February 3rd, 1959, the plane took off and a few minutes later crashed, killing all four.

With the death of three headline performers, a search for replacements quickly was initiated. An unknown 15 year old that had a band called The Shadows, responded and was given the opportunity to perform the at the Moorhead concert. His name was Robert Thomas Velline. The performance was a success and helped launch his career as a pop singer, who was known professionally as Bobby Vee. In Episode 18, I reviewed the career of Bobby Vee.

Ritchie Valens left a legacy as a pioneer of Chicano rock, later influencing several artists, which include Los Lobos, Los Lonely Boys, and Carlos Santana. “La Bamba” would go on to become an influential single even though it was sung entirely in Spanish.  Interestingly, Ritchie knew very little Spanish since the Valenzuela family spoke English at home. So Ritchie had to learn the lyrics phonetically in order to record  “La Bamba”.

In the ensuing years, his musical style was copied by several artists including Los Lobos and Chris Montez. In Episode 131, I reviewed the career of Chris Montez. In 1987 the film “La Bamba” dramatized Valen’s life and stardom. Actor Lou Diamond Phillips portrayed Valens and Los Lobos performed most of the music in the biopic film.  Ritchie’s first album titled Ritchie Valens was released nine days after his death and the second album titled Ritchie was released on October 1959.  In 1988, Valens was nominated for a Grammy award for Song of the Year for “La Bamba”. On May 11th, 1990 a star with Valens’ name was unveiled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1990 Paxton Park in Pacoima, California was renamed Ritchie Valens Recreation Center and in 2001, Valens was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, the Native American Music Awards Hall of Fame, and the California Hall of Fame.

On February 2nd, 2009, the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa held it’s 50th anniversary concert, honoring the final concert of Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens.  In 2015 Billboard magazine listed Valens on the list of the thirty most influential Latino artists in history.  Then in 2019 The National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress inducted “La Bamba” into the registry. On May 2022, the US Post Office in Pacoima, California was renamed the Ritchie Valens Post Office in his honor.  Ritchie Valens discography encompasses two studio albums, one live album, seven compilation albums and nine singles.

I’ll conclude this episode with the song most identified with Ritchie Valens: ”La Bamba”.

This has been a look back at one of the pioneers of Rock and Roll Ritchie Valens, his rise to fame and career that was tragically cut short.  And until next time, I’m your host Bill Price.