Finally, a statue for Ritchie Valens — in Iowa The rock icon with family roots in Watsonville was recently honored.

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Photos and story by Lane Wallace

CLEAR LAKE, Iowa — First was “La Bamba,” the movie about Ritchie Valens, in 1987. After that came a star on the Hollywood Walk of  Fame, a postage stamp, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the post office named for him in Pacoima, the Los Angeles neighborhood where he grew up.

But there were no statues of Valens, the first Latino rock star. Until now.

Life-size bronze statues of Valens, Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson) were unveiled Aug. 7 outside the Surf Ballroom here, where the three played their last show on Feb. 2, 1959 — a few hours before their deaths in a plane crash.

“I was almost in tears,” said Connie Valens, 75, who was 8 when her brother died. “It made it too real. I can go to visit my brother,” she said after the unveiling.

Ritchie Valens’ mother and four siblings moved from Pacoima to Watsonville in the early 1960s. Their mother, also named Connie, died in 1987, a few months after “La Bamba” premiered at the Fox Theater in Watsonville. Older brother Bob Morales died in 2018. Sister Irma and brother Mario still live in Watsonville.

A “Three Stars Tribute” concert the night of the statue ceremony drew more than 1,800 to the Surf, which holds 2,100. “People like to come to remember a very special time in history,” said Connie Valens. “They were rock and roll pioneers.” She moved to Iowa 14 years ago, to a town that’s a two-hour drive from Clear Lake, and sat in on some of the committees that planned the statues.

Ritchie Valens’ professional career lasted less than a year. His first single was “Come On, Let’s Go” in 1958. He’s most famous for “La Bamba,” and “Donna,” a ballad about his girlfriend, Donna Ludwig, now Donna Fox.

Valens and Holly were part of the Winter Dance Party, which toured the frozen Midwest by bus. Holly chartered a plane to reach the next tour stop, Fargo, North Dakota, so he could get stage clothes laundered. There were two other passenger seats on the plane.

The Big Bopper talked a yet-to-be famous Waylon Jennings out of a seat, and Valens won a coin flip with guitarist Tommy Allsup for the other seat. The plane crashed a few miles after takeoff in the early hours of Feb. 3, 1959, killing the three musicians and pilot Roger Peterson. Valens was 17, three months shy of 18.

The Valens family held no hard feelings toward Allsup. “He wanted to feel guilty, but we wouldn’t let him,” said Connie Valens. She and her siblings became friends with Allsup, who died in 2017. “We were like family.”

Allsup, who had a long career as a session guitarist, mostly in country music, was part of the Watsonville version of the Winter Dance party in 2008. The event ran from 2006-2010 at the Mello Center and included appearances by J.P. Richardson Jr., who reprised his father’s biggest hit, “Chantilly Lace,” John Mueller as Holly, and, as Ritchie, “Sting” Ray Anthony, who serenaded Ludwig Fox as tears ran down her cheek. 

Mueller and Anthony were part of the Three Stars Tribute at the Surf, headlined by a spry Pat Boone, 92. Mario Valens played harmonica throughout the concert.

Mario, 69, is the only one of his siblings who went into music professionally. In 1989, he was an original member of the Backyard Blues Band, which played regularly around the Central Coast until last year.

Mario Valens is working on a Backyard Blues Band album, which will be “on a CD with a bitchin’ cover.” The album will be called “41” for two reasons: Ritchie Valens was born in 1941, and “I’ve got an old ’41 Dodge that I’m restoring.” Mario Valens expects the restoration and the album to be done in 2027.

His favorite Ritchie song is “La Bamba.” 

“You see people jump up and dance” with the first notes, he said.

Though the Backyard Blues Band isn’t performing live, Valens hasn’t stopped playing. “I’m just sitting in with friends of mine. I’ve got four or five bands that give me a leash. I’ll be playing until I’m dead.”

Lane Wallace’s career in journalism spanned more than three decades before he retired in 2014. He first wrote about Ritchie Valens in 1984.

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