Ritchie Valens “Ritchie Valens” 1959. Del-Fi Records. Today, May 13th, would have been Ritchie Valens’ 80th birthday (b. Richard Valenzuela, 1941, d. Feb. 3rd, 1959 aka “The Day The Music Died”). Ritchie Valens was his first album, released one month after his death; it went to #23 in the US. Two singles on the LP were released before the album, in 1958: “Come On, Let’s Go” (#42 US) and “Donna” (#2). Perhaps better known than “Donna” however, was its b-side “La Bamba,” a traditional Mexican folk song that Valens reworked into the 50′s rock-n-roll style. Valens’ version is included in the Latin Grammy Hall of Fame and is on many best-songs-ever lists, ranking on Rolling Stones’ list at #345.  Valens’ “La Bamba” was included in the U.S. Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry in 2019. (Also I’m going to somewhat shamefully wave my Gen-X flag here and say that I’m much more familiar with Los Lobos’ 1987 cover of “La Bamba” – #1 US – which they recorded for the biopic film of the same name. I’m also always surprised to see what Valens actually looked like because in my mind he looks like Lou Diamond Philips.)