“He grew up at a time when it wasn’t cool to be Hispanic,” Lemos said. That we’d tossed a coin and he’d won.”Ĭonnie Valens Lemos, Valens’ sister who was 8 when her brother died, recalled that Ritchie changed his surname from Valenzuela to avoid discrimination in the recording industry and among record-buyers of that time. “I went out to the station wagon and told Buddy (Holly) that Ritchie would be fine in my place. “Ritchie said, `Are you going to let me fly?’ and I pulled out a 50-cent piece and flipped it, and he called heads,” Allsop recalled of the fateful coin-flip.
“The Grammy Museum is a place where the musical spirit of Ritchie Valens lives on.”Īmong guests at the ceremony was former Buddy Holly guitarist Tommy Allsup, who was the winner of a coin flip with Valens to see who would ride on the plane and who would ride on a bus.
“Ritchie Valens gave young people, particularly Latinos, the ability to dream, to live a dream and carry out a dream, to be inspired by his dream,” said Santelli. He took out a half-dollar piece, and Valens called heads. He begged Hollys band mate (and future country music star) Waylon Jennings for the chance to ride on the plane because he was coming down with the flu. In the dressing room after the Clear Lake show, Allsup agreed to flip a coin for the seat with singer Valens. Robert Santelli, executive director of the Grammy Museum, called Valens the forefather of the American Latino musicians who have followed in his footsteps. While the scene is true about the coin toss between Ritchie and a member of Buddys band, Ritchie Valens was not sick as seen in the movie. “The Big Bopper” Richardson has been immortalized in Americana as “the day the music died.” The plane crash in which he died along with fellow musicians Buddy Holly and J.P. Valens was only 17 when he broke into the music scene and enjoyed an eight-month, meteoric rise with several hits, including “Donna” and “La Bamba,” an updated rock version of a traditional Mexican folk song. To commemorate Valens’ life, Alarcon said the 15th annual Fourth of July celebration at Hansen Dam Park in Pacoima Saturday will celebrate the music and life of Valens, the subject of the 1987 film “La Bamba” starring Lou Diamond Phillips. It was about Latinos emerging and being recognized, once and for all, for the positive contributions they were making.” “The legacy and the significance of the time that he emerged (is that) he gave hope for an entire population. “More importantly, Ritchie presents to our young people a positive role model. “The life of Ritchie Valens is more than just about a rock ‘n’ roll legend,” said Councilman Richard Alarcon, whose district includes Pacoima. Relatives of the teenage singing sensation from Pacoima who was killed in a 1959 plane crash were present at ceremonies at which officials said Valens had become an inspiration to young Latinos, including the Chicano rock movement. Live opened a special exhibit marking the 50th anniversary of the death of the legendary rock pioneer. On February 3, 1959, the flight crashed into a cornfield after a one-two punch of piloting mistakes and poor weather conditions on a day Don McLean would remember as The Day the Music Died.The City Council declared Friday Ritchie Valens Day in Los Angeles as the Grammy Museum at L.A. Tommy Allsup, a guitarist in Holly's band, flipped a coin with Valens for the last seat, and lost the spot to the young Latin star.
Richardson, suffering from the flu, convinced Holly band member Waylon Jennings to give up his seat, freeing up one more spot on the flight. Holly chartered a plane for the tour's next stop in Moorhead, Minnesota, after his tour bus was plagued with mechanical snafus. "The Big Bopper" Richardson) stopped at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, a day before the music died. The blockbuster Winter Dance Party Tour (headliners: rock trailblazers Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Wilbur, who won the coin toss fair and square, was immortalized in a photograph showing him running alongside the plane, very much grounded.ģ. Anyway we flipped the coin, and I won the toss. Ritchie was sick and wasnt really crazy about flying. Three days later, after repairs, Orville was the first to get the contraption airborne at 10:30 on December 17, 1903. So let’s flip a coin to see who gets to fly and who goes on the bus.
RICHIE VALENS COIN FLIP CRACK
Wilbur bested his brother in the coin tossfor the first crack at flying on December 14, but in a twist of fate, Wilbur stalled the flyer in his first attempt, diving the flyer into the sand. Wilbur Wright won the chance to make history when he won a coin toss against brother Orville in their camp at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, in 1903.
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