Music That We Adore

Take a trip through the 60s, 70's and 80's Music, and relive all the songs and artists that marked an Era.

Best-Selling Artists

The Beatles - Elvis Presley - Michael Jackson - Frank Sinatra - Bing Crosby - ABBA - Julio Iglesias - Led Zepplin - Nana Mouskouri - Queen

Best-Selling Singles [Millions Sold]

White Christmas 50m- Candle in the Wind 33m- Silent Night 30m- Rock Around the Clock 25m- Diana 20m - We Are the World 20m- If I Didn't Care 19m- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer 18m- Yes Sir, I Can Boogie 18m

Great Song Lists

You will enjoy more discographies of artists on this blog than most other blogs.

Great Artists - Great Albums

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Showing posts with label Ritchie Valens [RIP]. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ritchie Valens [RIP]. Show all posts

Thursday, August 19, 2021

Ritchie Valens [RIP] - Discography

Ritchie Valens

Born: May 13, 1941 - Died: February 3, 1959
R.I.P.

The first Hispanic rock star, Ritchie Valens will forever be known as one of the two musicians (along with the Big Bopper) who perished with Buddy Holly in 1959, when their private plane crashed in the midst of a Midwest tour. At the time, Valens had only recently established himself as one of the most promising young talents in rock & roll, just barely missing the top of the charts with "Donna," a number two hit, and pioneering a blend of rock and Latin music with the single's almost equally popular flip side, "La Bamba." Like many rock stars who died prematurely, it's difficult to assess his unrealized potential; he was only 17 at the time of his death, and had just barely begun to make records. Nevertheless, Valens' music has endured for decades.

Ricardo Esteban Valenzuela Reyes was raised in a Mexican-American household in the San Fernando Valley. He played several instruments as a child and eventually devoted most of his focus to the guitar, learning a right-hand version of the guitar despite his own left-handedness. Valens' musical influences were diverse, running the gamut from Little Richard and rockabilly to traditional Mexican genres like mariachi, and his talent on the guitar earned him a spot in a local band, the Silhouettes, when he was 16. Valens eventually became the band's frontman. While playing at a local movie theater in 1958, he was discovered by producer Bob Keane, who signed Valens to his Del-Fi label and convinced him to shorten his surname to "Valens," claiming the abbreviated version had broader appeal than "Valenzuela." Under Keane's wing, Valens entered a Los Angeles recording studio in July and emerged with "Come on Let's Go," which climbed to number 42 on the national charts.