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
Donna (Ritchie Valens song) Donna (Ritchie Valens song) "Donna" is a song written by Ritchie Valens, featuring the 50s progression. The song was released in 1958 on Del-Fi Records. It was Valens' highest-charting single reaching No. 2 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart the following year. (Stagger Lee by Lloyd Price was at number one.) It was written as a tribute to his high school sweetheart Donna Ludwig. The song was recorded on December 16, 1958, at the Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles. Bob Keene is listed as having been the leader of the session, which included Earl Palmer on drums; Buddy Clark