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 singer, songwriter, and guitarist. A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens was killed in a plane crash eight months into his recording 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 7,554,163 page views. His biography is available in 43 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 41 in 2019). Ritchie Valens is the 111th most popular musician (down from 95th in 2019), the 681st most popular biography from United States (down from 552nd in 2019) and the 31st most popular American Musician.

Memorability Metrics

  • 7.6M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 72.84

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 43

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 3.74

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.24

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of Ritchie Valens by language


Among MUSICIANS

Among musicians, Ritchie Valens ranks 111 out of 2,675. Before him are Andrés Segovia, John Bonham, Alice Cooper, Barry Gibb, Amir Khusrow, and Fernando Sor. After him are David Oistrakh, Karl Thomas Mozart, Cliff Richard, Ravi Shankar, Bill Evans, and Neil Young.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1941, Ritchie Valens ranks 39. Before him are Flórián Albert, Laura Antonelli, Gheorghe Zamfir, Vivienne Westwood, Wolfgang Petersen, and Ali Hassan al-Majid. After him are Paul Anka, Pete Best, Mahmoud Darwish, Ivan Gašparovič, Jordi Savall, and Jürgen Prochnow. Among people deceased in 1959, Ritchie Valens ranks 18. Before him are Heitor Villa-Lobos, Billie Holiday, George Grosz, Shirō Ishii, Adolf Windaus, and Buddy Holly. After him are Bohuslav Martinů, Alfred Schütz, Edward C. Tolman, Arthur Cecil Pigou, Mike Hawthorn, 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 681 out of 15,968. Before him are Donald Knuth (1938), Fred Trump (1905), Joseph McCarthy (1908), Thorstein Veblen (1857), Anne Bancroft (1931), and John Cassavetes (1929). After him are Kenneth Arrow (1921), John Irving (1942), Gene Wilder (1933), Robert Nozick (1938), Theodore William Richards (1868), and Billy Graham (1918).

Others born in United States

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Among MUSICIANS In United States

Among musicians born in United States, Ritchie Valens ranks 31. Before him are Nat King Cole (1919), Lou Reed (1942), Benny Goodman (1909), Buddy Holly (1936), Glenn Miller (1904), and Alice Cooper (1948). After him are Bill Evans (1929), Don Shirley (1927), Ray Manzarek (1939), Lady Gaga (1986), Jerry Lee Lewis (1935), and Ice-T (1958).

American born Musicians

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