La Bamba by Ritchie Valens song meaning, lyric interpretation, video and chart position.

Ritchie Valens - Wikipedia. Ritchie Valens. Background information. Birth name. Richard Steven Valenzuela.

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• 1987 – La Bamba – Los Lobos. Originally released by Ritchie Valens in 1958, it took a biopic of the late singer's life to make this song a hit in the UK.

Also known as. Ritchie Valens[1][2]Born(1. May 1. 3, 1. 94. 1Pacoima, California, U. S. Died. February 3, 1. Clear Lake, Iowa, U. S. Genres. Rock and roll, Chicano rock.

Occupation(s)singer, songwriter and guitarist. Instruments. Guitar, vocals. Years active. 19.

Websiteritchievalens. Richard Steven Valenzuela (May 1. February 3, 1. 95. Ritchie Valens, was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. A rock & roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens' recording career lasted eight months, as it abruptly ended when he died in a plane crash.[3]During this time, he had several hits, most notably "La Bamba", which he had adapted from a Mexican folk song. Valens transformed the song into one with a rock rhythm and beat, and it became a hit in 1. Valens a pioneer of the Spanish- speaking rock and roll movement.

On February 3, 1. Day the Music Died", Valens died in a plane crash in Iowa, an accident that also claimed the lives of fellow musicians Buddy Holly and J.

P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, as well as pilot Roger Peterson. Valens was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2.

Early life[edit]Valens was born Richard Steven Valenzuela in Pacoima, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles. His parents were Joseph Steven Valenzuela (1. Watch Standing Up Online Forbes there.

Concepcion Reyes (1. Mexican descent and the second of five siblings with older brother Bob Morales, younger sisters Connie and Irma, and younger brother Mario Ramirez. Ritchie Valenzuela was brought up hearing traditional Mexican mariachi music, as well as flamenco guitar,[citation needed]R& B, and jump blues. Valenzuela expressed an interest in making music of his own by the age of five, and he was encouraged by his father to take up guitar and trumpet, and later taught himself the drums. Though Valenzuela was left handed, he was so eager to learn the guitar that he mastered the traditionally right- handed version of the instrument. By the time Valenzuela was attending junior high school, he brought the guitar to school and would sing and play songs to his friends on the bleachers.[6] When he was 1. Silhouettes (not the group famous for its hit song "Get a Job"), as a guitarist, and when the main vocalist left the group, Valenzuela assumed the position.

On October 1. 9, 1. Silhouettes. Valenzuela attended Pacoima Junior High School (now Pacoima Middle School) and was a student at San Fernando High School at the time of his death. A self- taught musician, Valenzuela was an accomplished singer and guitarist. At his appearances, he often improvised new lyrics and added new riffs to popular songs while he was playing. Bob Keane, the owner and president of small record label Del- Fi Records in Hollywood, was given a tip in May 1. San Fernando High School student Doug Macchia about a young performer from Pacoima by the name of Richard Valenzuela. Kids knew the performer as "the Little Richard of San Fernando".

Swayed by the Little Richard comparison, Keane went to see Valenzuela play a Saturday morning matinée at a movie theater in San Fernando. Impressed by the performance, he invited the youth to audition at his home in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles, where he had a small recording studio in his basement. An early stereo recorder (a two- track Ampex 6. Neumann U- 4. 7 condenser microphones comprised his recording equipment.

After this first audition, Keane signed Ritchie to Del- Fi on May 2. At this point, the musician took the name "Ritchie" because, as Keane said, "There were a bunch of 'Richards' around at that time, and I wanted it to be different." Similarly, Keane recommended shortening his surname to "Valens" from Valenzuela to widen his appeal beyond any obvious ethnic group.[7]Valens demonstrated several songs in Keane's studio that he later recorded at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood.

The demos primarily consisted of Valens singing and playing guitar, but some of them also featured drums. These originals can be heard on the Del- Fi album, Ritchie Valens – The Lost Tapes. Two of the tracks laid down in Keane's studio were taken to Gold Star Studios and had additional instruments dubbed over to create full- band recordings. Donna" was one track (although two other preliminary versions of the song were made, both available on The Lost Tapes), and the other was an instrumental entitled "Ritchie's Blues". After several songwriting and demonstration recording sessions with Keane in his basement studio, Keane decided that Valens was ready to enter the studio with a full band backing him. The musicians included René Hall, Carol Kaye, and Earl Palmer. The first songs recorded at Gold Star Studios, at a single studio session one afternoon in July 1.

Come On, Let's Go", an original (credited to Valens/Kuhn, Keane's real name), and "Framed", a Leiber and Stoller tune. Pressed and released within days of the recording session, the record was a success. Valens's next record, a double A- side, the final record to be released in his lifetime, had the song "Donna" (written about a real girlfriend) coupled with "La Bamba". It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA.[8]By the autumn of 1. Valens' career forced him to drop out of high school. Keane booked appearances at venues across the United States and performances on television programs. Valens had a fear of flying due to a freak accident at his junior high school when, on January 3.

Valens had been at his grandfather's funeral that day, but was upset about the loss of his friends. He eventually overcame his fear enough to travel by airplane for his career. He went to Philadelphia to appear on Dick Clark's American Bandstand television show on October 6, where he sang "Come On, Let's Go".

In November, Valens flew to Hawaii, where he performed alongside Buddy Holly and Paul Anka. Valens was added to the bill of legendary disc jockey Alan Freed's Christmas Jubilee in New York City, singing with some of those who had greatly influenced his music, including Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, the Everly Brothers, Duane Eddy, Eddie Cochran, Keith O'Conner Murphy, and Jackie Wilson. On December 2. 7, he returned to Philadelphia and American Bandstand, this time performing "Donna". After returning to Los Angeles, Valens filmed an appearance in Alan Freed's movie Go, Johnny, Go! In the film, he appears in a diner miming his song "Ooh! My Head", using a Gretsch 6.

Eddie Cochran owned. Between the live appearances, Valens returned to Gold Star Studios several times, recording the tracks that would comprise his two albums. In early 1. 95. 9, Valens was traveling the Midwest on a multiple- act rock- and- roll tour dubbed "The Winter Dance Party". Accompanying him were Buddy Holly, Dion and the Belmonts, J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson and Frankie Sardo. All performers were augmented by Holly's new backup band, including Tommy Allsup on guitar, Waylon Jennings on bass, and Carl Bunch on drums.

Conditions for the performers on the tour buses were abysmal and bitterly cold. Midwest weather took its toll on the party. Carl Bunch had to be hospitalized with severely frostbitten feet, and several others, including Valens and the Big Bopper, caught the flu.

The show was split into two acts, with Valens closing the first act. After Bunch was hospitalized, Carlo Mastrangelo of the Belmonts took over the drumming duties. When Dion and the Belmonts were performing, the drum seat was taken by either Valens or Buddy Holly.

A surviving color photograph shows Valens at the drum kit. Black and white photos found in 2. Mary Gerber on February 2, 1.

Surf Ballroom show Buddy Holly playing drums for Dion for Dion's drummer had frostbitten feet. Grave of Ritchie Valens and his mother Concepcion at San Fernando Mission Cemetery.

After the February 2, 1.

Esai Morales - Biography - IMDb. Award- winning actor Esai Morales is a graduate of New York's High School for the Performing Arts, began his acting career on the stage, firstly appearing in El Hermano at the Ensemble Theatre Studio and at New York's Shakespeare Festival In The Park in The Tempest. He had his feature film debut in Bad Boys and his breakthrough role in La Bamba made him a star, contributing to making the film the most commercially successful Latino- themed Rock biopic of all time.

To this day, his role as Bob Morales continues to uptrend in major social media sites. In 1. 99. 7 Esai Morales co- founded the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, created to advance the presence of Latinos in the media, telecommunications and entertainment industries. The NHFA has provided scholarships to hundreds of Hispanic students in excess of 1 million dollars. Theater performances include Oscar Wilde's Salome with Al Pacino (Broadway) Joe Papp's production of The Tempest with Raul Julia (New York's Shakespeare in the Park Festival) Tamer of Horses (Los Angeles Theater Center) The Exonerated, directed by Bob Balaban and his musical theater debut on The Mambo Kings. Film credits include Bad Boys, La Bamba, Rapa Nui, Mi Familia, Fast Food Nation, Paid in Full, The Line, Atlas Shrugged: Part II, Jarhead II: Field of Fire, The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca and Gun Hill Road a film he starred and executive produced.

The film was a grand Jury Nominee at the Sundance Film Festival in 2. Television credits comprise the Emmy award- winning series NYPD BLUE (ABC) Resurrection Blvd (Showtime) American Family (PBS) Miami Vice (NBC) Fame (NBC) Law and Order: SVU (NBC) The Burning Season: The Chico Mendes Story (HBO) Vanished (FOX) Burn Notice (USA) Jericho (CBS) Caprica (Syfy) Fairly Legal (USA) Criminal Minds (CBS) Major Crimes (TNT) and Saving Westbrook High. Currently, Morales plays the role of President of The United States on The Brink, HBO's new dark comedy about a geo- political crisis.- IMDb Mini Biography By.