Rockabilly 1959. Then in April 1960, while touring with Gene Vincent in the UK, their taxi crashed into a concrete lamp post, killing Eddie at the young age of 21. The grim coincidence in this all was that his posthumous UK number-one hit was called "Three Steps to Heaven". Rockabilly music enjoyed great popularity in the United States during 1956 and 1957, but radio play declined after 1960. Factors contributing to this decline are usually cited as the 1959 death of Buddy Holly in an airplane crash (along with Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper), the induction of Elvis Presley into
The Best of Ritchie Valens (charting higher than the original), a new generation of Ritchie Valens fans surged all over the nation, wanting to experience the music as presented by Valens himself. Rhino responded by reissuing "The Best of Ritchie Valens" as part of the label's Golden Archive Series compilations. The success of the LP brought Valens back to the album charts after a 27-year absence, peaking at #100. Rhino then reissued Valens' original three Del-Fi albums, which sold well but did not chart. The Best of Ritchie Valens The Best of Ritchie Valens is a greatest hits package by Ritchie Valens. In 1981, Rhino