MUSICIAN

Ritchie Valens

1941 - 1959

Photo of Ritchie Valens

Icon of person Ritchie Valens

Richard Steven Valenzuela (May 13, 1941 – February 3, 1959), 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 had several hits, most notably "La Bamba", which he had 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. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Ritchie Valens has received more than 11,515,963 page views. His biography is available in 45 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 44 in 2019). Ritchie Valens is the 177th most popular musician (down from 144th in 2019), the 977th most popular biography from United States (down from 846th in 2019) and the 47th most popular American Musician.

Ritchie Valens is most famous for being the youngest member of the rock and roll group The Big Bopper. Valens was killed in a plane crash at the age of 17.

Memorability Metrics

  • 12M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 62.77

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 45

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 3.60

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.59

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of Ritchie Valens by language

Over the past year Ritchie Valens has had the most page views in the with 1,261,439 views, followed by Spanish (271,507), and Portuguese (66,965). In terms of yearly growth of page views the top 3 wikpedia editions are Korean (342.04%), Lithuanian (102.08%), and Simple English (90.72%)

Among MUSICIANS

Among musicians, Ritchie Valens ranks 177 out of 3,175. Before him are Ian Paice, Itzhak Perlman, Anton Diabelli, Lucio Dalla, Gilberto Gil, and Bill Wyman. After him are Vladimir Ashkenazy, Bono, Rudolf Schenker, Duff McKagan, Bernard Haitink, and Rory Gallagher.

Most Popular Musicians in Wikipedia

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1941, Ritchie Valens ranks 71. Before him are Roberto Carlos, Jürgen Prochnow, Chick Corea, Franco Columbu, Milan Kučan, and Jules A. Hoffmann. After him are Karl Barry Sharpless, Cass Elliot, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, Linda McCartney, Vladimir Voronin, and Mohamed Ghannouchi. Among people deceased in 1959, Ritchie Valens ranks 22. Before him are George Grosz, Buddy Holly, Alfred Schütz, Errol Flynn, Arthur Cecil Pigou, and Enrico De Nicola. After him are Alfred Kubin, Raphael Lemkin, Mike Hawthorn, Mario Lanza, Edward C. Tolman, and Ettore Majorana.

Others Born in 1941

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Others Deceased in 1959

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Ritchie Valens ranks 977 out of 20,380. Before him are Bette Midler (1945), Mildred Harris (1901), Joseph Campbell (1904), Tom Waits (1949), Julius Axelrod (1912), and James Horner (1953). After him are John Archibald Wheeler (1911), Richard Dreyfuss (1947), Jonathan Demme (1944), Marilyn vos Savant (1946), Queen Noor of Jordan (1951), and Tippi Hedren (1930).

Others born in United States

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Among MUSICIANS In United States

Among musicians born in United States, Ritchie Valens ranks 47. Before him are Dizzy Gillespie (1917), James Hetfield (1963), Don Shirley (1927), Jerry Lee Lewis (1935), Keith Jarrett (1945), and Chick Corea (1941). After him are Duff McKagan (1964), Muddy Waters (1913), Alicia Keys (1981), Ike Turner (1931), Willie Nelson (1933), and Stan Getz (1927).

American born Musicians

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