Ritchie Valens

Ritchie Valens (1941–1959) was an American rock and roll singer and guitarist, one of the first Mexican-American rock stars.

He recorded "La Bamba," a rock adaptation of a traditional Mexican folk song, and "Donna." Valens died at seventeen in the plane crash that also killed Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper—the day Don McLean later called "the day the music died."