One of the happiest moments in Ritchie’s career came in 1958 ... to the 1987 cover by Los Lobos, as the title song from the film that told Valens’ life story, starring Lou Diamond Phillips.

The words of the song are Spanish. Valens was not fluent in Spanish, even though a lot of his family was. To prepare for recording the song, Ritchie received language help from relatives. January 1959 ...

Ritchie Valens started producing songs in 1957 and had sold over one million records by 1959. He died on 3 February 1959 in a plane crash alongside other top musicians, an incident that later ...