Donna ludwig biography images

Donna ludwig age

Ritchie Valens was born in and skyrocketed to stardom at an incredibly young age. You most likely recognize his iconic hit, "La Bamba," which came out in , when Ritchie was only He came on as a guitarist, but then took on the role of lead vocalist after the first one left the group. Back then, he was known as Ritchie Valenzuela.

Bob Keane, the a Del-Fi record label exec, discovered him and had Ritchie's change his last name to make it more "radio friendly" aka, whitewash his identity — but that's a different story. Ritchie and Donna dated in high school , and their romance was portrayed in the biopic La Bamba. Although Movie Donna was more demure, according to The Washington Post , who interviewed the real Donna who now goes by Donna Fox-Coots , real-life Donna had an "independent streak" that led her to date Ritchie.

Donna's father didn't approve of the relationship, because, remember, this was the '50s: Donna was white, and Ritchie was Latino. It was just very, very touching. He didn't tell me he was going to record it. I mean, because he was a nice boy.