On 13 May 2025, Ritchie Valens would've turned 85. However, his life was tragically cut short at just 17. Valens left a monumental footprint on rock and roll through his extraordinary music mastery.

September 1958: Rock and roll originator Ritchie Valens had two hits on the charts, "La Bamba" and "Donna," when a longtime local DJ, the late Harry "Happy Hare" Martin, persuaded him to perform ...

On an individual level, “American Pie” helped people process the death of a loved one. Such was true for McLean and Ritchie Valens’ young sister, Connie.

Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper have been immortalized as bobbleheads, on the anniversary of their death in one of rock's most legendary plane crashes. - Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty ...

Don McLean and Connie Valens tell PEOPLE about their unique experiences on 'The Day the Music Died,' when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper all died in the same tragic plane trash on ...

Three recording stars, members of a touring rock 'n' roll troupe, died today with their pilot in a plane crash in a farm field about five miles north of here.

On the anniversary of 'The Day the Music Died,' news came out that Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper are getting their own bobbleheads.

The first Ritchie Valens biography in nearly 40 years was self-published in 2024 by a Canadian writer. A Valens sibling says: “It tells the real story, the true story.” Seen here too is a ...