At just 17 years old, San Fernando Valley native and son of Sonoran immigrants Richard Valenzuela — better known as Ritchie Valens — changed the course of rock and roll with the release of breakout 1958 hits “La Bamba,” “Donna” and “Come On Let’s Go.” Just eight months later, he died in a plane accident.Nearly 70 years after Valens’ death, his siblings Irma, Connie and Mario Valens — who all adopted their brother’s stage name — partnered with East L.A. musician Hector Flores to create “Ritchie Forever: An Ode to an American Dreamer.” Hosted by Grand Performances in DTLA, the Aug. 22 tribute night will feature archival footage and conversations with family members to discuss the teenage star’s identity and belonging in rock ‘n’ roll history.In addition, Valens’ music will be reinterpreted live by Chicano performers from Thee Sinseers, The Altons, Shannon and the Clams and The McCharmlys, among others.Irma Valens was nearly seven years old when she was picked up from school to find out that her older brother, Ritchie, wouldn’t be coming home. She and her family have dedicated years since to talking about the teen who played her favorite song, “Paddiwack,” in the grape fields in Pacoima, and who let her watch from the family couch as he wrote his future classics on guitar. Ritchie Valens was 17 years old in 1958. (C3 Entertainment/C3 Entertainment) “I just never want people to forget about his music. That’s for sure. His voice was just amazing,” said Irma, who will be speaking at Saturday’s event. “We can’t say the music died. It never did. It just keeps getting better as long as people keep remembering his story in different ways.”Irma met Hector Flores, artistic director for “Ritchie Forever” and founding member of L.A. Chicano rock group Las Cafeteras, at the 2024 Winter Dance Party — an Iowa music festival dedicated to Valens, Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper, who played their final show there in 1959. Flores went to the festival with the mission of pitching Irma his concept for “Ritchie Forever,” which he developed after diving into the cultural legacy of “La Bamba.”“Most people don’t know that La Bamba is a 400-year-old Afro-Mexican song… this song that survived colonialism and. slavery,” Flores explained. “It was passed down to the point where Ritchie Valens found it. Ritchie was born into a segregated time and made a song that crossed that border. To understand myself and this time in a divided America, I thought, ‘Let me look back to those who lived it before me.’”At first, Irma and her sister Connie were hesitant; after receiving hundreds of pitches to tribute their brother, which never amounted to anything, they wanted to make sure Flores was the real deal. He came back to Iowa to meet them again a year later, this time with a date, a venue and a flyer he could hand to them.“I didn’t want to move forward without her blessing,” said Flores. “When [she] finally said okay, I knew it was the right time. What really mattered to me was to emphasize that he was revolutionary. Singing about interracial love, singing in Spanish on the radio, playing at desegregated dance halls like El Monte Legion Hall here in L.A. He played music to unite people.”Flores describes “Ritchie Forever” as a “multimedia experience, going back in time with sound and immersing in the history.” As the live narrator of the event, he also connects to Valens’ L.A. legacy, as the star recorded his big hits in L.A. label Del-Fi Records’ Silver Lake studio. Las Cafeteras members Hector Flores and Denise Carlos, pictured above, will perform at the upcoming Ritchie Valens tribute show, “Ritchie Forever: An Ode to an American Dreamer.” (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times) While looking for a host venue, Flores approached his old colleague Rafael Gonzalez, the CEO of Grand Performances, an arts organization dedicated to organizing free concerts and events in Downtown L.A.“I had been wanting to do something on Ritchie Valens’ story for years, because I want him to be remembered,” Gonzalez said. “As a kid, I was always fascinated by the way Ritchie claimed space at a time when Mexican Americans were not represented [in mainstream rock and roll].”As Gonzalez says, when it comes to Chicano music history, “you can’t deny Ritchie’s influence.”“Cannibal and the Headhunters, The Premiers, [Santana], even Led Zeppelin, all those guys and others were influenced by him, who at only 17 was mixing Mexican folk with simplified rock and roll chords,” Gonzalez said. “In performing his music again, 70 years later, these artists are interpreting how his work impacts the music we have today.”Angie Monroy, a Mexican American musician hailing from Santa Ana, is performing Sunday evening with her romantic rock ‘n’ roll group, The McCharmlys. For Monroy, playing Valens’ music on Saturday will represent a “full circle” moment in her musical journey.“For Ritchie to come from nothing and become such a big figure, that we still play his music today inspires me so much,” Monroy said. “He made music that made people want to come together and dance. I’m excited to continue that.”For the Valens family, watching young performers like Monroy continue to be inspired by Ritchie’s work is a solace after his tragic loss.“That day [we lost him] was horrible,” recounted Irma. You can never forget it. My mom heard the news on the radio… They listed off the names from the crash, and when they said Ritchie, she just broke down. She couldn’t stop saying, ‘My hijo is dead.’“Even as much as people think of Ritchie as a rock ‘n’ roll star, at the end of the day, he was my mother’s son,” added Irma. “He was only 17 years old. He was my older brother.”In the spirit of “La Bamba,” Saturday’s show aims to be a Latino celebration of life for a musical pioneer whose impact continues long after his life.“This is gonna be a hard show, but it’s going to be a good one. Hector means it with his heart and soul. He means something to our family and this is Ritchie’s 85th birthday year, and it feels like a real celebration,” said Irma. “For Ritchie, we just keep going and keeping the music alive.”
