1987’s La Bamba starred Lou Diamond Phillips as Ritchie Valens and it followed the life and career of Chicano rock n’ roll star Ritchie Valens, who died tragically in 1959 at the age of 17 in a plane crash in Iowa. In addition to Valens, the crash took the lives of Buddy Holly, J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, and the pilot Roger Peterson. Valens was on the plane because he won a coin toss with Buddy Holly’s backup guitarist Tommy Allsup, and Richardson was on the plane because Holly’s bassist, Waylon Jennings, gave up his seat to Richardson who had the flu.
If you haven’t watched the movie, we highly recommend checking it out. It’s a great movie, and one of our favorite scenes is this one where Valens auditions for the Silhouettes, and as they say, the rest was history! Enjoy!
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