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MUSICIAN

Ritchie Valens

1941 - 1959

Photo of Ritchie Valens

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Richard Steven Valenzuela (May 13, 1941 – February 3, 1959), known professionally as Ritchie Valens, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens was killed in a plane crash eight months into his music career.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 9,916,473 page views. His biography is available in 44 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 43 in 2019). Ritchie Valens is the 143rd most popular musician (down from 111th in 2019), the 846th most popular biography from United States (down from 681st in 2019) and the 42nd 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

  • 9.9M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 63.33

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 44

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 3.89

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.44

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of Ritchie Valens by language


Among MUSICIANS

Among musicians, Ritchie Valens ranks 143 out of 2,662. Before him are David Guetta, Itzhak Perlman, Lionel Richie, Dizzy Gillespie, Ike Turner, and Ian Stewart. After him are Hans von Bülow, James Hetfield, Malcolm Young, Nick Mason, Thelonious Monk, and Tony Iommi.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1941, Ritchie Valens ranks 54. Before him are Bobby Moore, Ryan O'Neal, Michael D. Higgins, Eric Burdon, Ivan Gašparovič, and Mahmoud Darwish. After him are Jordi Savall, Jules A. Hoffmann, Abdelkader Bensalah, Roberto Carlos, Frank Farian, and Dan Shechtman. Among people deceased in 1959, Ritchie Valens ranks 21. Before him are Buddy Holly, Errol Flynn, George Grosz, Mike Hawthorn, Bohuslav Martinů, and Alfred Schütz. After him are Edward C. Tolman, Arthur Cecil Pigou, Ettore Majorana, Raphael Lemkin, Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal, and John Foster Dulles.

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 846 out of 18,182. Before him are Brian Dennehy (1938), John Franklin Enders (1897), Larry Hagman (1931), George Minot (1885), Mickey Rooney (1920), and Lillian Gish (1893). After him are Jayne Mansfield (1933), Norman Foster Ramsey Jr. (1915), Britney Spears (1981), Mary Higgins Clark (1927), James Hetfield (1963), and John Lee Hooker (1917).

Others born in United States

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Among MUSICIANS In United States

Among musicians born in United States, Ritchie Valens ranks 42. Before him are Quincy Jones (1933), Ray Manzarek (1939), Ice-T (1958), Lionel Richie (1949), Dizzy Gillespie (1917), and Ike Turner (1931). After him are James Hetfield (1963), Thelonious Monk (1917), Stan Getz (1927), Don Cherry (1936), Dave Brubeck (1920), and Cyndi Lauper (1953).

American born Musicians

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