Richard Steven Valenzuela, better known by his stage name Ritchie Valens, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens died in a plane crash just eight months after his breakthrough.
Valens in 1958
Billboard advertisement, December 15, 1958
Valens in 1959
Grave of Valens and his mother at San Fernando Mission Cemetery
Chicano rock, also called chicano fusion, is rock music performed by Mexican American (Chicano) groups or music with themes derived from Chicano culture. Chicano Rock, to a great extent, does not refer to any single style or approach. Some of these groups do not sing in Spanish at all, or use many specific Latin instruments or sounds. The subgenre is defined by the ethnicity of its performers, and as a result covers a wide range of approaches.
Iconic Chicano rock musician Carlos Santana
Ritchie Valens
The Champs
Joan Baez playing in Hamburg, 1973