| Richard Steven Valenzuela was born on May 13, 1941, in Los Angeles, California. He died on February 3, 1959, in Mason City, Iowa.
Inspired by traditional folk songs, singing cowboys, and popular music, Valens learned to play the guitar and, at 16, joined a local group called the Silhouettes.
Bob Keene, president of Del Fi Records, saw the group perform and offered Valens a recording contract.
Valens's first single, a song he wrote called "Come On Let's Go" sold 750,000 copies. His second single produced two hits - the a-side "Donna" and the b-side "La Bamba". Both songs charted as the single sold over a million copies.
To promote the single and his new album, in January of 1959, Valens joined Buddy Holly's tour of the mid-western United States. After a show in Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly chartered a plane from Dwyer's Flying Service in Mason City, Iowa, to fly his band to Fargo, North Dakota.
J.P. Richardson ("The Big Bopper"), touring with Holly, asked if he could get on the plane. Waylon Jennings, a member of Holly's band, agreed to ride the bus and let Richardson fly on the plane. Valens asked band member Tommy Allsup for his seat. Losing a coin flip, Allsup agreed to ride the bus and Valens boarded the plane.
According to the Civil Aeronautics Board report, at 12:55 a.m., the pilot, Roger Peterson, made a normal takeoff and the aircraft made a left 180-degree turn, climbed to approximately 800 feet and headed in a northwesterly direction.
About five minutes later, when Peterson had failed to report his flight plan by radio to the control tower, the tower repeatedly tried to contact the pilot.
An air search was conducted and the wreckage of the plane was sighted in a field at about 9:30 that morning. All occupants - the pilot, Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and 17-year-old Ritchie Valens - were dead and the aircraft was demolished.
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