Connie Lemos: Facts About Ritchie Valens' sister

Connie Lemos is the sister of Ritchie Valens. Connie Lemos brother Valen was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement. He died ina plane crasheight months into his music career.

Connie Lemos is the sister of Ritchie Valens. Connie Lemos’ brother Valen was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement. He died in a plane crash eight months into his music career.

Connie Lemos: Bio Summary

Full NameConnie Valens Lemos
famous assister of Ritchie Valens
Date of Birth1951
Age71
Place of Birth United States of America
NationalityAmerican
Ethnicitymixed
Siblings Bob Morales, Irma Norton, Mario Ramirez, Ritchie Valens
ParentsConcepcion Valenzuela, Joseph Steven Valenzuela

Connie Lemos was born in 1947 in the United States of America. As of 2022, she is 71 years old. Connie was a child when her big brother lost his life in a plane crash, only hours after performing at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake with a group of musicians that included Buddy Holly and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson.

“I was too young to really know my brother,” Connie, admitted in an interview with Los Angeles Times. “He died when I was barely 7. I never knew all the problems poor Bob went through or all my mother had to put up with him at the time. At the time of the interview, Connie was a customer service rep for a local insurance company and the mother of two.

Her Parents Concepcion Valenzuela and Joseph Steven Valenzuela

Connie Lemos’ parents are Concepcion Valenzuela and Joseph Steven Valenzuela. They got married on married 15 Sep 1939 in Los Angeles County, California. Apart from Ritchie Valens, Connie had three other siblings. There are  Bob Morales, Irma Norton, and Mario Ramirez. Her brother Bob passed in 2018.

Her mother, Concepcion died on 18 October 1987 in Santa Cruz, California at the age of 72. She was buried at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, Los Angeles County, California. Connie Lemos’ father, Joe died at age 56 on 8 January 1952 in Los Angeles County, California. Joe died at his residence at 13058 Filmore Street. According to sources at the time of his death, Connie Lemos’ father, Joseph, and her mother Concepcion were separated. Her father was buried on 12 January at Holy Cross Cemetery in Inglewood. Los Angeles County, California.

Her Brother won Coin Tose which Lead to his death

After their February 2, 1959, performance in Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly, Richardson, and Valens flew out of the Mason City airport in a small plane that Holly had chartered. Her brother Valens was on the plane because he won a coin toss with Holly’s backup guitarist Tommy Allsup.

The plane they were chartered, a four-passenger Beechcraft Bonanza, (N3794N), left for Fargo, North Dakota. A few minutes after takeoff, the aircraft experienced mechanical problems and it crashed into an Iowa field. The crash killed all three passengers and pilot Roger Peterson instantly upon impact. As with Holly and Richardson, Valens suffered massive and unsurvivable head injuries along with blunt-force trauma to the chest. At just 17 years old, Valens was the youngest to die in the crash.

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Connie Lemos featured in her brother’s biopic- La Bamba

The 1987 Ritchie Valens biopic La Bamba was a hit by any metric, amassing $54 million at the box office, earning a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture – Drama and Los Lobos’ soundtrack cover of the title song hit No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Connie Lemos and her sister Irma Padilla appeared in their brother’s biopic. They played farm workers in the movie’s opening sequence. Their daughters, Gloria and Kristin, play their own mothers (Ritchie’s sisters) as young girls in other scenes. Her mother, Connie Valenzuela, had an unbilled role as “Elderly Lady at Party.”

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