Chicano rock The Sir Douglas Quintet, Thee Midniters, Los Lobos, Malo, War, Tierra, and El Chicano all have made music that is heavily based on 1950s R&B, even when general trends moved away from the original sound of rock as time went by. Chicano rock 'n' roll star Ritchie Valens, was a Mexican-American singer and songwriter influential in the Chicano rock movement. He recorded numerous hits during his short career, most notably the 1958 hit "La Bamba." Valens died at age 17 in a plane crash with fellow musicians Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper on February 3, 1959. The tragedy was
Ritchie Valens In Concert at Pacoima Jr. High was taped using a small portable tape recorder. After Valens' untimely death on February 3, 1959, numerous Ritchie Valens Fan Clubs were formed all over the nation. By late 1960, with no further records released since the "Ritchie" album a year before, his manager Robert Keane received letters en masse from fan club members who were hoping there were more of Valens' songs to be released. Keane responded by obtaining the tape of four songs from the Pacoima Junior High show and pressing it to record. To fill the "live" side of the album, an early demo of "Come On,