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"Donna" is a song written by Ritchie Valens, [1] featuring a I IV V chord progression. The song was released in 1958 on Del-Fi Records . [ 2 ] Written as a tribute to his high school sweetheart Donna Ludwig, it was Valens' highest-charting single, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart the following year.
Valens was born as Richard Steven Valenzuela on May 13, 1941, in Pacoima, [3] a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles.The son of Joseph Steven Valenzuela (1896–1952) and Concepción "Concha" Reyes (1915–1987), he had two half-brothers, Robert "Bob" Morales (1937–2018) and Mario Ramirez, and two younger sisters, Connie and Irma.
Richie and Donna become a couple, despite Donna's father disapproving of his daughter dating a Hispanic boy, and Richie starts recording songs like "We Belong Together" and "Come On, Let's Go" at Gold Star Studios. Keane gives Richie his professional name of "Ritchie Valens", which Richie initially dislikes, but eventually comes to accept.
"Donna", a parody of doo-wop songs [2] (see also "Donna" by Ritchie Valens), was originally written as a potential B-side to the song "Waterfall".The song features sharp contrasts between falsetto in the chorus (Creme) and deep monotone vocals (Godley) in the verse.
Del-Fi was briefly revived in 1987 for 7" and 12" releases of "La Bamba '87", featuring remixes of the Richie Valens classic, capitalizing on the success of the film, La Bamba. Keane resurrected the Del-Fi label in 1995 and reissued many original recordings on CD (some under the Donna label), and signed some new acts as well.
The Best of Ritchie Valens is a greatest hits package by Ritchie Valens. In 1981, Rhino Records began issuing a number of compilations from Bob Keane's Del-Fi Records catalog. This compilation was a follow-up to the first release History of Ritchie Valens , a deluxe box set of Valens' original three Del-Fi albums.
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Valens's version is ranked number 345 on Rolling Stone magazine′s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and is the only song on the list not written or sung in English. "La Bamba" has been covered by numerous artists, notably by Los Lobos whose version was the title track of the 1987 film La Bamba , a bio-pic about Valens; their version ...