This essay is adapted from Merrick Morton's "La Bamba: A Visual History," published by Hat & Beard Press. “Dance!! Dance!! Dance!! to the music of the Silhouettes Band!!” read the handbill. The ...

Ritchie Valens was rescued from obscurity by a 1987 movie, “La Bamba,” that finally put the Southern California teen’s story ahead of Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper, the two older singers who died in ...

After years of being bypassed, Ritchie Valens, the teenage rocker from Pacoima who was killed in a 1959 plane crash, will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March along with six other ...