It’s onerous to consider American rock’n’curler Ritchie Valens with out remembering the tragic early dying that befell him. He was taken at simply 17 within the 1959 aircraft crash that additionally took Buddy Holly and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson. However one of many completely happy moments in Ritchie’s all-too-brief profession got here on December 29, 1958, when he entered the Billboard Sizzling 100 with the basic “La Bamba.”
Valens, from Pacoima, California of Mexican heritage, was already on that countdown (at No.18 and climbing) with the opposite aspect of that memorable single launch on the Del-Fi label, the dreamy ballad “Donna.” Certainly, Valens had solely made his chart debut within the September with one other of his uptempo landmarks, “Come On, Let’s Go,” which peaked at a surprisingly lowly No.42.
“Donna,” written by Havens about his highschool sweetheart Donna Ludwig, went on to spend two weeks at No.2 throughout a 23-week keep on the American countdown. That last chart of the yr was the primary on which “La Bamba” was listed in its personal proper on the double A-side, debuting at No.81.
A Mexican people tune
However whereas the Mexican people tune, so memorably tailored by {the teenager}, solely managed a No.22 peak in its personal proper, it has turn into arguably the extra extensively remembered aspect. It later entered each the Grammy and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame, and securing Havens’ popularity among the many artists who popularised the Chicano strand of rock’n’roll.
There have been minor chart variations of “La Bamba” by the Tokens in 1962 and Trini Lopez in 1966. However after all a lot of its latter-day popularity was due to the 1987 cowl by Los Lobos, because the title tune from the movie that advised Valens’ life story, starring Lou Diamond Phillips. The group’s remake topped the bestsellers within the US and the UK, in addition to in lots of different European international locations and in Australia.
What you heard was what he was
As Martin Hawkins wrote within the Historical past of Rock partwork in 1982: “Ritchie Valens was hardly old enough to have assimilated too many influences in his music – what you hear is what he was. Whether, had he lived, he would have gone on to be a superstar or a discarded hero, the fact is that he had already made his mark by February 1959.”
And, to additional emphasize the relevance of “La Bamba,” it appeared once more on an album that topped the UK compilation chart in November 2017: the Diamond Version of Common’s long-running Dreamboats and Petticoats rock’n’roll collection.
Take heed to the 50s playlist.
