Ritchie Valens Spanish-speaking rock and roll movement. He also had the American number 2 hit ''Donna''. On February 3, 1959, on what has become known as "the Day the Music Died", Valens died in a plane crash in Iowa, an accident that also claimed the lives of fellow musicians Buddy Holly and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, as well as pilot Roger Peterson. Valens was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. Valens was born Richard Steven Valenzuela in Pacoima, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles. His parents, Joseph Valenzuela (1896–1952)
Buddy Holly the Big Bopper's watch, a lighter, two pairs of dice and part of another watch, and misplaced when the county moved courthouses. The glasses, missing their lenses, were returned to Maria Elena a year later, after a legal contest over them with his parents. They are now on display at the Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock, Texas. Buddy Holly left behind dozens of unfinished recordings: solo transcriptions of his new compositions; informal jam sessions with bandmates; or tapes demonstrating songs intended for other artists. The most recent recordings, made in Holly's apartment in late 1958, were his last six original