If Ritchie Valens Didn't Die what impact would he have?
 

After watching La Bamba and him being my favorite artist from the rock & roll genre, what do you think?

I think that he would have gone on to have recorded some more great songs and some hits no doubt, but I do not think he would have been any more influential then the other stars like Dion, or Fabian, or Rickey Nelson for that matter. He would still be singing La Bamba and Donna on one of those oldies live shows on PBS which to be honest is not a bad thing at all..........

Not that big an impact, as he wasn't as influential as some of his cronies of that eara.

I believe his poularity would have faded gradually. Buddy Holly, on the other hand….

I think that Buddy would have found it very hard to break out of the look and persona he portrayed and I think he would have been left behind due to what came out style wise after him. Just my opinion and we will never really know.

Eh, I am not sure, Buddy Holly seemed to me like he would have evolved with the times. He seemed like that type of artist. I mean look at the **** he played in his time period.

I don't like any response I've read so far... that's what I think.

Don't forget he secured his place in Rock and Roll history all before he turned 18. He was a pretty good guitar player too. I rank his guitar playing up there with Dick Dale and Chuck Berry's. Had he not die in the plane crash he could had been like a Stevie Ray Vaughn but twenty years earlier. But we'll never know.

What impact would he have made?

Probably a smaller crater in the ground.

I think he might have had a few more hit songs but I don't really think his legacy would ultimately be much different. I think he would have been swept aside by the musical changes of the 60s just like most of his peers.

He could have been a pretty big deal, but at the time his voice just didn't really stand out the way that Chuck Berry or Elvis' voices did. I think voice matters a lot in terms of popularity. Not necessarily how good you sing, he was a very good vocalist, but it puts a certain signature on your sound when your voice is sort of "one of a kind". Michael Jackson, Elvis, the members of The Beatles, Mick Jagger, and even Bob Dylan even though his voice is pretty bad, you name the most popular artists and all of them have a signature vocal that you can't really mistake with anyone else's.

Look at what was coming along after he passed away though........Some of those artists were huge.:bowdown:
He would have had to have sung LaBamba everyday for the rest of his life while on stage.

He was up and coming at the time that he died, so I think we'd probably have gotten a few more hits out of him. He was important, already, as a Mexican-American rock n roller with actual hit songs and I can easily imagine his influence reaching even further in blues/rock/traditional Mexican music hybrids. Who wouldn't love to hear another La Bamba?

Man, do think he'd have toured with the Bobby Fuller Four?

I don't think he'd be a household name today without the tragedy, but his songs would still be known.

Also, the commentary track on La Bamba is one of the most entertaining I've ever heard.

He was a contemporary of Freddy Fender, who was also a 50's rock icon and then re-invented himself as a country singer and then re-invented himself AGAIN as Baldemar Huerta, Tejano roots singer (My favorite incarnation) who played with badass bands like Los Super Seven and the Texas Tornadoes. I would like to think that Richie would have re-discovered his roots also as he got older. La Bamba was an old folk song and look what he did with that.