American Icons: Ritchie Valens

He’s most famous for writing “La Bamba,” a rock and roll classic adapted from a Mexican folk song, that became a modest hit in 1958, and a hit again in 1987 when Los Lobos recorded it for La Bamba, a bio-pic about him.

Even before writing “La Bamba” and other songs, he’d wow crowds with his way with words and music. Known as “the Little Richard of the Valley” for his spirited performances, he’d often insert inspired, improvised lines into the famous songs he sang.

“La Bamba” emerged directly from the folk tradition, the same pathway Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger walked and on which Bob Dylan followed — of writing new words for old songs. Adapted from a Mexican wedding song from Veracruz, it was a natural choice for Ritchie, who improvised his own lyrics for it as he did for every song he sang. Growing up speaking English, he learned the original words for it phonetically from his Aunt Ernestine. His record of it peaked at #22 on the pop charts in 1958, the highest charting single ever in Spanish up to that point. Though he’s forever best known for it, and for the movie about him named after the song, his record of “Donna” did much better, peaking at #2 on the Billboard charts.

Now he’s also famous, sadly, as much for his death as his life. Along with Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper, he died in the February 3, 1959 plane crash forever dubbed “the day the music died” in Don McLean’s “American Pie.”( Dion, who was also part of the winter tour through the icy Midwest, survived the crash by saving the requisite $35 for the private plane.) Valens was 17 when he died.

He was born Ricardo Steven Valenzuela on May 13, 1941 in Pacoima. His folks both loved music, and filled the home with Mariachi as well as American R&B and jump blues. Ritchie was a natural musician, a gift his father encouraged with encouragement and instruments. Starting at the age of five, he mastered one instrument and musical style after the next, from singing to drums to trumpet to guitar to writing his own songs. Anything musical he touched seemed to turn to gold, and he loved it as much as those who heard him.

Entirely self-taught, he easily mastered the guitar right-handed though he was a lefty. At sixteen he joined a rock and roll band, The Silhouettes, and quickly ascended to its lead vocalist as well. He was a rock star before the world knew what such a thing was. But his luminous joy when playing and singing was undeniable, and his star rose with stunning speed.

It was in middle school that Bob Keane of Del-Fi Records heard him. He invited Valens to his Silverlake home for an impromptu audition, and recorded him on a two-track Ampex  601-2, using two Neumann U-47 mikes. He signed Valens to Del-Fi, shortening his surname to Valens to make it easy on the American audience.

That first recording was essentially a voice and guitar demo of several songs. (Much of it can be heard now on the Del-Fi album, Ritchie Valens — The Lost Tapes.)  Two of the songs, “Donna” and “Ritchie’s Blues,” were brought over to the famed Gold Star studios, where Valens and Keane overdubbed session musicians.

Keane realized early on that Ritchie was a songwriter. Together they spent hours in the family basement writing and developing songs. Together they wrote “Come On, Let’s Go,” and also worked together on cover tunes, a great education for any songwriter, such as “Framed” by Leiber and Stoller, which Ritchie recorded.

The idea of turning “La Bamba” into a pop song was not one Valens immediately embraced; he worried about any perceived disrespect for his heritage. But the infectious spirit of the song was undeniable, especially when emboldened by great session musicians. The legendary bassist Carol Kay was there, but on rhythm guitar, one of the chief components of the sound. Buddy Clark played upright bass with Earl Palmer on drums and Rene Hall on a Danelectro six-string baritone guitar. Ritchie sang and played lead guitars, and magic was captured. This old folk song, born from the Son Jarocho style of fusing Spanish, Mexican and African grooves, was forever transformed into a multi-cultural rock and roll classic.

But it was the B-side. Valens’ song “Donna,” written about his former girlfriend, was deemed the stronger tune, and was made the A-side, with the odd Mexican rock hybrid on the flipside. Both became hits, but the B-side became far more famous and beloved. This early instance of World Music – combining a traditional ethnic style with rock and roll – helped launch his career. He soon left high school to become one of the world’s first rock stars and was everywhere, joining fellow rock songwriting pioneers Paul Anka, Dion, and Buddy Holly on concert stages around the country, on radio non-stop, on the TV show “American Bandstand.”  He even did a movie cameo, playing a Gretsch and miming a song in Go Johnny Go.

Though Valens’ life and still new career came to a tragic and sudden end on that winter night in 1959, his star has only brightened, and “La Bamba” has become even more cherished and iconic.
When Rolling Stone came out with their list of the 500 Best Rock Songs of All Time, only one non-English song was included. Only one. It was, of course, “La Bamba.”