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Ritchie Valens: Buddy Holly
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A Del-Fi recording artist, Ernie Valens (Ritchie Valens) grew up in the same house as Ritchie and was raised by Ritchie's Aunt Ernestine. His public debut came in May 1988 on the same American Legion stage where Ritchie had performed 30 years earlier. His vocals have a startling resemblance to Ritchie's and his Del-Fi release "Valens...A Tribute to Ritchie" is more than a testament to that fact. Ernie has traveled across the country performing at many tributes to Ritchie, Buddy and The Bopper.
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Ritchie Valens, who had a cold, asked Holly’s guitar player, Tommy Allsup, if he’d be willing to give up his seat. Allsup agreed to flip a coin for it, and Valens won the toss. The flight’s passengers would be Holly, Richardson, and Valens, along with the plane’s young, inexperienced pilot, Roger Peterson. All would die in the crash, blamed on pilot error, which took place shortly after the flight’s departure in a snowstorm, at about 12:55 a.m. on February 3, 1959.
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Still reportedly shy and somewhat reclusive, 16 year-old Ritchie had achieved such a level of musical expertise that he was asked to join one of the area's top rock groups as a featured performer. Barely out of junior high school, he was soon spreading his reputation at high school hops, dances and private parties. Then one Friday night in May 1958, a 22 year-old printer delivering some business cards to Bob Keane, who had already scored a hit record with Sam Cooke's "You Send Me"/"Summertime," raved so much about the young Ritchie that the following morning Keane drove out to the Panorama Theater to catch Ritchie at a matinee performance. The rest is history, the soon-renamed Valens and "Bobbo" started doing some demo basement tapes at Keane's home. Then, about July 8th, Ritchie entered Hollywood's Gold Star Recording Studio for his first recording session. The results were startling with "Come On, Let's Go!" quickly becoming a top regional hit that went on to score nationally.
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Ritchie's nephew, Ernie Valens, has toured worldwide playing his uncle's songs, including a new version of the "Winter Dance Party" tour with Buddy Holly impersonator John Mueller. This tour has taken place at many of the original 1959 venues in the midwest.
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Durante a chamada Era Rockabilly, a carreira de Ritchie Valens estava em ascendência. No entando, em 3 de fevereiro de 1959, Buddy Holly, Big Bopper e Valens morreram em um acidente de avião. Esse incidente ficou conhecido como "o dia em que a música morreu", retratado posteriormente na canção American Pie, de Don McLean.
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Ritchie showed considerable talent at an early age. When he was twelve years old, he had already written several songs, mostly inspired by Mexican music. He became a feature at school assemblies, singing and playing the guitar. When Ritchie was seventeen, he was spotted by Bob Keane, president of Del Fi Records in Hollywood, and offered recording contract. Bob Keane ... became his manager. This meeting is skillfully dramatized in the 1987 film, La Bamba, starring Lou Diamond Phillips as Ritchie Valenzuela.
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