Ritchie Valens was signed by producer Bob Keane to Del-Fi Records in 1958 after he saw one of the Silhouettes shows; it was Keane who suggested that he shorten his last name and add the “t” to his first.  Bob Keane recalls of that night:  “I’ll never forget the first time I saw Ritchie.  He had a small, somewhat beat-up guitar amp worth about fifty bucks.  He stood up there on stage, with complete command of his audience.  He was this bull-like kid with an opera tenor’s torso.  I knew he had a lot of potential.  It should go without saying that what I heard impressed me, but I had no idea what to do with the raw talent I saw up there on the stage.” 

(June 2013/1)

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All three of the men who perished on the day the music died weren’t using their birth names – most obviously in the case of the Big Bopper.  As suggested by his manager Bob Keane, Ritchie Valens (born, Anglicized, Richard Steven Valenzuela) got a “t” in his first name and shortened his surname in order to widen his appeal.  As to Buddy Holly, “Buddy” could have just been a nickname, but “Holly” also didn’t match up exactly to his birth name Charles Hardin Holley (the dropped “e” was inadvertent, they say). 

(August 2013)