Rock music roll. Commentators have traditionally perceived a decline of rock and roll in the late 1950s and early 1960s. By 1959, the death of Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens in a plane crash, the departure of Elvis for the army, the retirement of Little Richard to become a preacher, prosecutions of Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry and the breaking of the payola scandal (which implicated major figures, including Alan Freed, in bribery and corruption in promoting individual acts or songs), gave a sense that the rock and roll era established at that point had come to an
The Best of Ritchie Valens The Best of Ritchie Valens The Best of Ritchie Valens is a greatest hits package by Ritchie Valens. In 1981, Rhino Records began issuing a number of compilations from Bob Keane's Del-Fi Records catalog. This compilation was a follow-up to the first release "History of Ritchie Valens", a deluxe box set of Valens' original three Del-Fi albums. Six years later, with the success of the Ritchie Valens bio movie "La Bamba", along with Los Lobos' chart-topping version of the movie title track, the soundtrack album (which also peaked at #1), and even Los Lobos' version of "Come On, Let's Go"