Don McLean label for his second album, "American Pie." The album launched two number one hits in the title song and "Vincent". "American Pie"'s success made McLean an international star and piqued interest in his first album, which charted more than two years after its initial release. McLean's magnum opus, "American Pie", is a sprawling, impressionistic ballad inspired partly by the deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) in a plane crash in 1959, and developments in American youth culture in the subsequent decade. The song popularized the expression "The Day the Music Died" in reference to
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