On May. 13, 1941 Richard Steven Valenzuela was born of Conception and Joseph Valenzuela in the Los Angeles General Hospital. The family lived in a small house in the San Fernando Valley until Ritchie was three years old when his parents divorced. Steve took Ritchie and they moved in a small house in Pacoima. The family noticed that Ritchie had an interest in music at an early age. He would make guitars out of house hold items until Steve bought him his first real guitar. After Ritchie learned how to play, Steve would throw big parties for Ritchie to sing and Ritchie didn’t want to so Steve would take out his belt and make him sing. After a while Ritchie’s stage fright went away and he would sing everywhere. When Ritchie was 10 Steve died of diabetes and Ritchie went to live with his mom, her two daughters, (Connie and Irma) and her son whom she previously had with another man before Ritchie’s birth, Robert (Bob) Morales. Though both his parents spoke Spanish he spoke very little, but he did understand quite a bit. His mom would ask him something in Spanish and he would reply back in English. |  |
At age 13 Ritchie attended Pacoima Junior High. Many of his Chicano class mates called him “Falso” because he had a light skin tone and couldn’t speak Spanish well even though he came from Mexican descent. He was a quiet, shy, likable boy. Ritchie would take his guitar everywhere he went. He would play for his fellow classmates during lunch. He was known as “The Little Richard of The San Fernando Valley” for playing Little Richard songs. He was popular around school but he never really cared for it. He then tried out for a local band called the Silhouettes. He was accepted and became the guitarist and vocalist. His mom would use the money that was supposed to be used for rent to rent a local hall so that Ritchie and the Silhouettes could hold a concert. Hopefully the concert was successful and they made a good amount of income. On January. 31, 1957 a navy airplane collided with a jet over his school, killing five and injuring ninety. Luckily Ritchie was at his grandfather’s funeral. His grandfather’s death saved his life (La Bamba). From then on out Ritchie was afraid to fly as he even said “I’ll never get in one of those” after they passed some airplanes one day.
Ritchie Valens's Class of '57
