Richard Steven Valenzuela (May 13, 1941 - February 3, 1959), known professionally as Ritchie Valens, was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens' recording career lasted eight months, as it abruptly ended when he was killed in a plane crash.

During this time, he had several hits, most notably "La Bamba", which he adapted from a Mexican folk song. Valens transformed the song into one with a rock rhythm and beat, and it became a hit in 1958, making Valens a pioneer of the Spanish-speaking rock and roll movement.

On February 3, 1959, on what has become known as "The 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 2001.

After the February 2, 1959 performance in Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly, Richardson and Valens flew out of the Mason City airport in a small plane that Holly had chartered. Valens was on the plane because he won a coin toss with Tommy Allsup, with the latter taking a bus instead. The plane, a three-passenger Beechcraft Bonanza, departed for Fargo, North Dakota and crashed shortly after takeoff in a snowstorm. The crash killed all three passengers and pilot Roger Peterson. At seventeen, Valens was the youngest to die on the flight.

The event, along with Buddy Holly's death, later inspired singer Don McLean to write his 1971 hit "American Pie," immortalizing February 3 as "The Day the Music Died." Valens' remains were buried at San Fernando Mission Cemetery, Mission Hills, California.
~Source Wikipedia