149-477: Richard Steven Valenzuela (May 13, 1941 – February 3, 1959), better known by his stage name Ritchie Valens , was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens died in a plane crash just eight months after his breakthrough. Valens had several hits, most notably " La Bamba ", which he had adapted from a Mexican folk song. Valens transformed
298-417: A distorted electric guitar solo with warm overtones created by his small valve amplifier . However, the use of distortion was predated by electric blues guitarists such as Joe Hill Louis , Guitar Slim , Willie Johnson of Howlin' Wolf 's band, and Pat Hare ; the latter two also made use of distorted power chords in the early 1950s. Also in 1955, Bo Diddley introduced the " Bo Diddley beat " and
447-531: A double bass (string bass). After the mid-1950s, electric bass guitars ("Fender bass") and drum kits became popular in classic rock. Rock and roll had a profound influence on contemporary American lifestyles, fashion, attitudes, and language, and is often portrayed in movies, fan magazines, and on television. Some people believe that the music had a positive influence on the civil rights movement , because of its widespread appeal to both Black American and White American teenagers. The term "rock and roll"
596-447: A 50th anniversary honoring the last concert of Buddy Holly, J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, and Valens. The event lasted one week and had performances that honored the memories of the three men. Family members and friends of the stars made appearances. Many murals have been painted around Pacoima in honor of the late Valens. In 1985, artist Manuel Velasquez (assisted by 25 students) created a 12- by 20-ft (3.6- by 6.1 meters) mural, which
745-458: A blues number), " Baby Let's Play House ", " Lawdy Miss Clawdy ", and " Hound Dog ". The racial lines, however, are rather more clouded by the fact that some of these R&B songs originally recorded by black artists had been written by white songwriters, such as the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller . Songwriting credits were often unreliable; many publishers, record executives, and even managers (both white and black) would insert their name as
894-409: A composer in order to collect royalty checks. Covers were customary in the music industry at the time; it was made particularly easy by the compulsory license provision of United States copyright law (still in effect). One of the first relevant successful covers was Wynonie Harris 's transformation of Roy Brown 's 1947 original jump blues hit " Good Rocking Tonight " into a more showy rocker and
1043-496: A defiant teen dates a rock and roll-loving boy but drops him for one who likes traditional adult music—to her parents' relief. In Britain, where postwar prosperity was more limited, rock and roll culture became attached to the pre-existing Teddy Boy movement, largely working class in origin, and eventually to the rockers . "On the white side of the deeply segregated music market", rock and roll became marketed for teenagers, as in Dion and
1192-399: A disc jockey with Mason City's KRIB-AM , was emceeing the concert that night and flipped the coin in the ballroom's side-stage room shortly before the musicians departed for the airport. Valens is apocryphally said to have remarked, "That's the first time I've ever won anything in my life." Holly's bassist, Waylon Jennings , voluntarily gave up his seat on the plane to J.P. Richardson , who
1341-406: A few for In-flight entertainment . The VR-1500 and VR-660 found service at educational institutions especially due to their relatively low cost vs. 2-inch (51 mm) quadruplex VTRs. These machines were simple to operate, reliable, small in size—and produced, for their time, very good video without the complexity of the larger and much more complex 2" Quad machines. In March 1967, Ampex introduced
1490-481: A few more shows in New York, including his only performance at the famous Apollo Theater . On January 17, 1959, he appeared at West Covina High School with Sam Cooke for a student organized fundraiser called "The Teen Canteen Foundation". Valens was in a relationship with Donna Ludwig, his high school sweetheart, from 1957 until his death. Ludwig's parents disapproved of her dating a Hispanic man. Valens's song "Donna"
1639-544: A frame accurate timing computer that enabled frame-accurate cuts and dissolve transitions by way of a two-input video switcher. Slow-motion sequences could likewise be programmed and could be "triggered" to begin via an external control pulse such as might come from an external VTR editor like the Ampex VR-2000 VTR with Editec. The HS-200 was the first system capable of single-frame video animation recording, using magnetic discs as opposed to videotape. The HS-200 also provided
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#17328520148581788-507: A high-fidelity movie sound system using sound magnetically recorded on the film itself, as contrasted with the technology of the time, which used magnetic tracks on a separate celluloid base film (later commonly known as mag stock). The result of this development was the CinemaScope / Todd-AO motion picture sound system, which was first used in movies such as The Robe (1953) in 35mm and Oklahoma (1955) in 70mm (and also in 35mm). In 1960,
1937-686: A host of other advances. Ampex's tape business was rendered obsolete during the 1990s, and the company turned to digital storage products. Ampex moved into digital storage for DoD Flight Test Instrumentation (FTI) with the introduction of the first, true all digital flight test recorder. Ampex supports numerous major DoD programs with the US Air Force , US Army , US Marines , US Navy and other government entities ( NASA , DHS and national labs). Ampex also works with all major DoD primes and integrators including Boeing , General Atomics , Lockheed , Northrop , Raytheon and many others. Currently, Ampex
2086-452: A huge impact on developments the whole video signal chain. They did rebadge some specialist low-volume OEM products to complete the package, but their in-house teams developed industry leading products in the following categories: ADO – Ampex Digital Optics provided comprehensive frame manipulation in 2 and 3 dimensions. Adjusting the aspect, size, and rotation of the image was performed continuously in real-time. An optional digital 'combiner'
2235-497: A lawsuit was filed by Keane, and half of the award went to Valens' mother, although she was not part of the suit. On May 11, 1990, a star bearing Valens' name was unveiled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . The star cost $ 3,500, which was paid for with money raised in his name by family and friends. His star permanently resides at 6733 Hollywood Boulevard in front of Artisan's Patio mini mall. On February 2, 2009, Surf Ballroom held
2384-507: A major influence on British Invasion acts and particularly on the song writing of the Beatles and through them on the nature of later rock music. Many of the earliest white rock and roll hits were covers or partial re-writes of earlier black rhythm and blues or blues songs. Through the late 1940s and early 1950s, R&B music had been gaining a stronger beat and a wilder style, with artists such as Fats Domino and Johnny Otis speeding up
2533-430: A pair of Neumann U-47 condenser microphones. After this first audition, Keane signed Valenzuela to Del-Fi on May 14, 1958. At this point, the musician took the name "Ritchie" because, as Keane said, "There were a bunch of 'Richards' around at that time, and I wanted it to be different." Similarly, Keane recommended shortening his surname to "Valens" from Valenzuela to widen his appeal beyond any obvious ethnic group. Valens
2682-575: A perkier vocal more appropriate for an audience unfamiliar with the song to which James's song was an answer , Hank Ballard 's "Work With Me, Annie". Presley's rock and roll version of "Hound Dog", taken mainly from a version recorded by the pop band Freddie Bell and the Bellboys , was very different from the blues shouter that Big Mama Thornton had recorded four years earlier. Other white artists who recorded cover versions of rhythm and blues songs included Gale Storm (Smiley Lewis' "I Hear You Knockin ' "),
2831-655: A preacher (October 1957), the departure of Presley for service in the United States Army (March 1958), the scandal surrounding Jerry Lee Lewis ' marriage to his thirteen-year-old cousin (May 1958), riots caused by Bill Haley 's ill-fated tour of Europe (October 1958), the deaths of Buddy Holly , The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens in a plane crash (February 1959), the breaking of the Payola scandal implicating major figures, including Alan Freed , in bribery and corruption in promoting individual acts or songs (November 1959),
2980-498: A readout with specific frame numbers showing from the 900 frames available (NTSC version). Sequences could be triggered to start from any of these 900 frames with frame-accurate repeatability for creative fine tuning of sequence start and end points. 1 inch type A videotape (designated Type A by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, SMPTE ) was an open-reel helical scan videotape format developed by Ampex in 1965, one of
3129-415: A result heard each other's music and even began to emulate each other's fashions. Radio stations that made white and black forms of music available to both groups, the development and spread of the gramophone record , and African-American musical styles such as jazz and swing which were taken up by white musicians, aided this process of "cultural collision". The immediate roots of rock and roll lay in
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#17328520148583278-600: A rock and roll standard. As interest in rock and roll was beginning to subside in America in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it was taken up by groups in British cities like Liverpool , Manchester , Birmingham , and London . About the same time, a British blues scene developed, initially led by purist blues followers such as Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies who were inspired by American musicians such as Robert Johnson , Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf . Many groups moved towards
3427-704: A similar stainless-steel monument to the three musicians that was installed near the Riverside Ballroom in Green Bay, Wisconsin . That memorial was unveiled on July 17, 2003. Paxton Park in Pacoima was renamed Ritchie Valens Recreation Center in memory of Valens in the 1990s. There is also a pool nearby named the Ritchie Valens Pool. At the recreation center, there is also a skatepark named Ritchie Valens Skate Plaza. A city council member representing Pacoima proposed
3576-631: A spinning head and relatively slow-moving tape. In early 1956, a team produced the first videotape recorder. A young, 19-year-old engineer Ray Dolby was also part of the team. Ampex demonstrated the VR-1000 , which was the first of Ampex's line of 2-inch Quadruplex videotape recorders on April 14, 1956, at the National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters in Chicago. The first magnetically recorded time-delayed television network program using
3725-547: A subsidiary of Delta Information Systems, and consists of two business units. The Silicon Valley unit, known internally as Ampex Data Systems (ADS), manufactures digital data storage systems capable of functioning in harsh environments. The Colorado Springs, Colorado , unit, referred to as Ampex Intelligent Systems (AIS), serves as a laboratory and hub for the company's line of industrial control systems, cyber security products and services and its artificial intelligence / machine learning technology. Ampex's first great success
3874-476: A time of considerable technological change, soon after the development of the electric guitar, amplifier , 45 rpm record and modern condenser microphones . There were also changes in the record industry, with the rise of independent labels like Atlantic , Sun and Chess servicing niche audiences and a similar rise of radio stations that played their music. It was the realization that relatively affluent white teenagers were listening to this music that led to
4023-476: A total of 12 Emmys for its technical video achievements. In 1959, Richard Nixon , then Vice President, and Nikita Khrushchev held discussions at the Moscow Trade Fair, which became known as the " Kitchen Debate " because they were mostly held in the kitchen of a suburban model house. These discussions were recorded on an Ampex color videotape recorder, and during the debate Nixon pointed this out as one of
4172-575: A tribute to the late singer. Leaders from the community and state gathered for the festivities. In May 2022, the United States Post Office in Pacoima, California was renamed the Ritchie Valens Post Office in honor of Valens. Rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll , rock-n-roll , rock 'n' roll , rock n' roll , Rock n' Roll or proto-rock ) is a genre of popular music that evolved in
4321-482: A trip to Radio Frankfurt. The device produced much better fidelity than shellac records. The technological processes in tape recording and equipment developed by German companies before and during the 1939–1945 war were subject to patents which were effectively voided after Germany's 1945 surrender and defeat. Mullin acquired two Magnetophon recorders and 50 reels of BASF Type L tape, and brought them to America, where he produced modified versions. He demonstrated them to
4470-496: A unique electric guitar style, influenced by African and Afro-Cuban music and in turn influencing many later artists. Rock and roll was strongly influenced by R&B, according to many sources, including an article in The Wall Street Journal in 1985, titled, "Rock! It's Still Rhythm and Blues". In fact, the author stated that the "two terms were used interchangeably", until about 1957. The other sources quoted in
4619-432: A white market, or a new hybrid of black and white forms. In the 1930s, jazz , and particularly swing , both in urban-based dance bands and blues-influenced country swing ( Jimmie Rodgers , Moon Mullican and other similar singers), were among the first music to present African-American sounds for a predominantly white audience. One particularly noteworthy example of a jazz song with recognizably rock and roll elements
Ritchie Valens - Misplaced Pages Continue
4768-509: A wider scale than any other single performer and by 1956, he had emerged as the singing sensation of the nation. Bill Flagg who is a Connecticut resident, began referring to his mix of hillbilly and rock 'n' roll music as rockabilly around 1953. In July 1954, Presley recorded the regional hit " That's All Right " at Sam Phillips' Sun Studio in Memphis. Three months earlier, on April 12, 1954, Bill Haley & His Comets recorded "Rock Around
4917-519: Is Big Joe Turner with pianist Pete Johnson 's 1938 single " Roll 'Em Pete ", which is regarded as an important precursor of rock and roll. The 1940s saw the increased use of blaring horns (including saxophones), shouted lyrics and boogie-woogie beats in jazz-based music. During and immediately after World War II , with shortages of fuel and limitations on audiences and available personnel, large jazz bands were less economical and tended to be replaced by smaller combos, using guitars, bass and drums. In
5066-780: Is 54 °C (129 °F) and a typical time is 16 hours") to attempt to recover such tapes, allowing them to be played once more and the recordings transferred to new media. The problems have been reported on tapes of type 406/407, 456/457, 2020/373. Ampex Records was started in 1970. Its biggest hit was "We Gotta Get You A Woman" by Todd Rundgren (as "Runt"), reaching No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1970. Ampex also originated three subsidiary labels: Bearsville , Big Tree , and Lizard. Ampex Records ceased operations around 1973; Bearsville and Big Tree switched distribution respectively to Warner Bros. Records and Bell Records , and Lizard became an independent entity. Later on, Big Tree
5215-517: Is a digital video tape format created by Ampex and other manufacturers (through a standards group of SMPTE) and introduced at the 1988 NAB ( National Association of Broadcasters ) convention as a lower-cost alternative to the D-1 format. Like D-1, D-2 video is uncompressed; however, it saves bandwidth and other costs by sampling a fully encoded NTSC or PAL composite video signal, and storing it directly to magnetic tape, rather than sampling component video. This
5364-419: Is attempting to do more with the data stored on its network attached storage (NAS) devices. This includes adding encryption for secure data storage; algorithms focused on control system cyber security for infrastructure and aerospace platforms; and artificial intelligence/machine learning for automated entity identification and data analytics. Russian–American inventor Alexander Matthew Poniatoff established
5513-428: Is buried alongside him. In 1989, Ken Paquette, a Wisconsin fan of the 1950s era, erected a stainless-steel monument depicting a guitar and a set of three records bearing the names of each of the three performers killed in the accident. It is located on private farmland, about 1.25-mile (2.01 km) west of the intersection of 315th Street and Gull Avenue, about 8 miles (13 km) north of Clear Lake. He also created
5662-472: Is defined by Greg Kot in Encyclopædia Britannica as the music that originated in the mid-1950s and later developed "into the more encompassing international style known as rock music ". The term is sometimes also used as synonymous with "rock music" and is defined as such in some dictionaries. The phrase "rocking and rolling" originally described the movement of a ship on the ocean, but by
5811-677: Is general agreement that it arose in the Southern United States – a region that would produce most of the major early rock and roll acts – through the meeting of various influences that embodied a merging of the African musical tradition with European instrumentation. The migration of many former slaves and their descendants to major urban centers such as St. Louis , Memphis , New York City , Detroit , Chicago , Cleveland , and Buffalo meant that black and white residents were living in close proximity in larger numbers than ever before, and as
5960-598: Is known as digital composite. Digital Component Technology (DCT) and Data Storage Technology (DST) are VTR and data storage devices respectively, created by Ampex in 1992. Both were similar to the D1 and D2 VTR formats, using a 19-millimetre ( 3 ⁄ 4 in) width, with the DCT format using DCT ( discrete cosine transform ) video compression , also its namesake. The DCT and DST formats yielded relatively high capacity and speed for data and video. Double-density DST data storage
6109-406: Is located between the 170 and 118 freeways. On August 25, 2018, a celebration was held in his honor to commemorate his legacy. The unveiling ceremony was held at Ritchie Valens Park, located at 10731 Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Pacoima. Replicas of the freeway sign were revealed at the celebration. The event was open to the public and free to attend. A few relatives of Valens played live performances as
Ritchie Valens - Misplaced Pages Continue
6258-594: Is located on Van Nuys Boulevard and Telfair Avenue. A monument has also been built as a tribute. It was put on display in 2013, and is located at Ritchie Valens Park at 10731 Laurel Canyon Boulevard. On May 13, 2016, the 75th anniversary of Valens' birthday, the Los Angeles City Council declared May 13 "Ritchie Valens Day". A section of the Interstate 5 Freeway in the northeast San Fernando Valley has been named after Valens. The Ritchie Valens Memorial Highway
6407-466: Is often identified with the emergence of teen culture among the first baby boomer generation, who had greater relative affluence and leisure time and adopted rock and roll as part of a distinct subculture. This involved not just music, absorbed via radio, record buying, jukeboxes and TV programs like American Bandstand , but also extended to film, clothes, hair, cars and motorcycles, and distinctive language. The youth culture exemplified by rock and roll
6556-708: Is rock 'n' roll. I think that 'Rocket 88' is R&B, but I think 'Rocket 88' is the cause of rock and roll existing". In terms of its wide cultural impact across society in the US and elsewhere, Bill Haley 's " Rock Around the Clock ", recorded in April 1954 but not a commercial success until the following year, is generally recognized as an important milestone, but it was preceded by many recordings from earlier decades in which elements of rock and roll can be clearly discerned. Journalist Alexis Petridis argued that neither Haley's "Rock Around
6705-506: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Ampex an Oscar for technical achievement as a result of this development. Les Paul , a friend of Crosby and a regular guest on his shows, had already been experimenting with overdubbed recordings on disc. He received an early portable Ampex Model 300 from Crosby. Using this machine, Les Paul invented "Sound on Sound" recording technology. He placed an additional playback head, located before
6854-477: The British Invasion would become the superseding forms of rock music during the mid-1960s, a few American artists were nonetheless able to achieve chart successes with rock and roll recordings during this time. The most notable of these was Johnny Rivers , who with hits such as "Memphis" (1964), popularized a " Go-go " style of club-oriented, danceable rock and roll that enjoyed significant success in spite of
7003-792: The Huntingtons , Girl in a Coma , and the McCoys . Johnny Rebb and his Rebels recorded the song for Leedon/Canetoad Records in Australia. "Donna" has been recorded by artists as diverse as MxPx , Marty Wilde , the Youngbloods , Clem Snide , Cappadonna , and Misfits . Robert Quine has cited Valens's guitar playing as an early influence on his style. Valens also inspired Jimi Hendrix , Chan Romero , Carlos Santana , The Beatles , Chris Montez , Keith O'Conner Murphy , The Beach Boys and Led Zeppelin , among others. Valens's mother, Concha, who died in 1987,
7152-559: The Institute of Radio Engineers in San Francisco on May 16, 1946. Bing Crosby , a big star on radio at the time, was receptive to the idea of pre-recording his radio programs. He disliked the regimentation of live broadcasts, and much preferred the relaxed atmosphere of the recording studio. He had already asked the NBC network to let him pre-record his 1944–45 series on transcription discs, but
7301-513: The U.S. Supreme Court ruling that abolished the policy of " separate but equal " in 1954, but leaving a policy which would be extremely difficult to enforce in parts of the United States. The coming together of white youth audiences and black music in rock and roll inevitably provoked strong white racist reactions within the US, with many whites condemning its breaking down of barriers based on color. Many observers saw rock and roll as heralding
7450-654: The US pop charts – topped the British charts later that year and again in 1956 and helped identify rock and roll with teenage delinquency. The initial response of the British music industry was to attempt to produce copies of American records, recorded with session musicians and often fronted by teen idols. More grass roots British rock and rollers soon began to appear, including Wee Willie Harris and Tommy Steele . During this period American Rock and Roll remained dominant but in 1958 Britain produced its first "authentic" rock and roll song and star, when Cliff Richard reached number 2 in
7599-590: The beat music of rock and roll and rhythm and blues from skiffle, like the Quarrymen who became the Beatles , producing a form of rock and roll revivalism that carried them and many other groups to national success from about 1963 and to international success from 1964, known in America as the British Invasion. Groups that followed the Beatles included the beat-influenced Freddie and the Dreamers , Wayne Fontana and
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#17328520148587748-428: The rhythm and blues , then called " race music ", in combination with either boogie-woogie and shouting gospel or with country music of the 1940s and 1950s. Particularly significant influences were jazz, blues , gospel , country, and folk . Commentators differ in their views of which of these forms were most important and the degree to which the new music was a re-branding of African-American rhythm and blues for
7897-415: The tempos and increasing the backbeat to great popularity on the juke joint circuit. Before the efforts of Freed and others, black music was taboo on many white-owned radio outlets, but artists and producers quickly recognized the potential of rock and roll. Some of Presley's early recordings were covers of black rhythm and blues or blues songs, such as " That's All Right " (a countrified arrangement of
8046-415: The 15-inch-per-second (38 cm/s) physical motion. They wrote the video vertically across the width of a tape that was 2 inches (51 mm) wide and ran at 15 inches (38 cm) per second. This allowed hour-long television programs to be recorded on one reel of tape. In 1956, one reel of tape cost $ 300; and Ampex advertised the cost of the recorder as $ 45,000. A 7.5-inch-per-second (19 cm/s) version
8195-843: The 1800s; the recording can be heard on the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website. Various gospel, blues and swing recordings used the phrase before it became widely popular. " Bosom of Abraham ", an African-American spiritual that was documented no later than 1867 (just after the Civil War ), uses the phrase "rock my soul" frequently in a religious sense; this song was later recorded by musicians from various genres, including various gospel musicians and groups (including The Jordanaires ), Louis Armstrong (jazz/swing), Lonnie Donegan ( skiffle ), and Elvis Presley (rock and roll/pop/country). Blues singer Trixie Smith recorded "My [Man] Rocks Me with One Steady Roll" in 1922. It
8344-418: The 1950s, by leading white and black kids to listen to the same music, put the radio personality 'at the vanguard' and made him 'a really important figure ' ". After Freed was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame , the organization's Web site offered this comment: "He became internationally known for promoting African-American rhythm and blues music on the radio in the United States and Europe under
8493-552: The Belmonts ' " A Teenager in Love " (1959). From its early 1950s beginnings through the early 1960s, rock and roll spawned new dance crazes including the twist . Teenagers found the syncopated backbeat rhythm especially suited to reviving Big Band-era jitterbug dancing. Sock hops , school and church gym dances, and home basement dance parties became the rage, and American teens watched Dick Clark 's American Bandstand to keep up on
8642-532: The Belmonts , and Frankie Sardo beginning on January 23, 1959, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin . The tour was plagued by subzero temperatures and numerous logistical problems. The unheated tour buses twice broke down in freezing weather, with Valens and Richardson experiencing flu -like symptoms throughout the tour. After the bus stalled in Duluth, Minnesota on January 31, conditions were so bad that Holly's drummer, Carl Bunch ,
8791-547: The Clock" nor Presley's version of "That's Alright Mama" heralded a new genre: "They were simply the first white artists' interpretations of a sound already well-established by black musicians almost a decade before. It was a raucous, driving, unnamed variant of rhythm and blues that came complete with lyrics that talked about rocking". Other artists with early rock and roll hits included Chuck Berry , Bo Diddley , Little Richard , Jerry Lee Lewis , and Gene Vincent . Chuck Berry's 1955 classic " Maybellene " in particular features
8940-462: The Clock". Although only a minor hit when first released, when used in the opening sequence of the movie Blackboard Jungle a year later, it set the rock and roll boom in motion. The song became one of the biggest hits in history, and frenzied teens flocked to see Haley and the Comets perform it, causing riots in some cities. "Rock Around the Clock" was a breakthrough success for the group; traditionally,
9089-746: The Diamonds (The Gladiolas' "Little Darlin ' " and Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers' "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?"), the Crew Cuts (the Chords' "Sh-Boom" and Nappy Brown's "Don't Be Angry"), the Fountain Sisters (The Jewels' "Hearts of Stone") and the Maguire Sisters (The Moonglows' "Sincerely"). Some commentators have suggested a decline of rock and roll starting in 1958. The retirement of Little Richard to become
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#17328520148589238-724: The FM modulator itself. Dolby left Ampex to seek a PhD in physics in England, which is where Dolby Labs was later founded, before moving back to San Francisco. Dolby's brother Dale was also an engineer at Ampex. In 1961, Ampex introduced the first 1-inch helical scan video recorders, the Ampex 2-inch helical VTRs , which recorded video using helical scan recording technology on tape. Ampex 2 inch helical VTRs were manufactured from 1963 to 1970. Model VR-1500 for home. The VR-660 for Broadcast television systems , industrial companies, educational institutions, and
9387-807: The HS-100 video disc recorder. The system was developed by Ampex at the request of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) for a variety of sports broadcast uses. It was first demonstrated on the air on March 18, 1967, when ABC's Wide World of Sports televised the "World Series of Skiing" from Vail , Colorado . The video was recorded on analog magnetic disc. The disc weighed 5 pounds (2.3 kg) and rotated at 60 rps, 3600 rpm (50 rps in PAL ). One NTSC unit could record 30 seconds of video, PAL units 36 seconds. The video could then be played back in slow motion, stop action to freeze frame. A more deluxe version,
9536-619: The HS-200, was introduced in April 1968, and provided a large control console with variable speed playback. This made it ideal for instant replay for sports events and precise timing control in post-production service. CBS-TV was the first to use the technique during live sportscasts, though it was quickly adopted by all American TV networks. The HS-200, which was an HS-100 connected to a control console, had greater precise frame and timing control capability, lending itself to post-production applications like special effects and titles. The HS-200 had
9685-495: The Joint " (1949) (later covered by Bill Haley & His Comets in 1952), " Rocket 88 " by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats ( Ike Turner and his band The Kings of Rhythm and sung by Brenston), was recorded by Sam Phillips in March 1951. This is often cited as the first rock n' roll record. In an interview however, Ike Turner offered this comment: "I don't think that 'Rocket 88'
9834-473: The Louis Prima rocker "Oh Babe" in 1950, as well as Amos Milburn 's cover of what may have been the first white rock and roll record, Hardrock Gunter 's "Birmingham Bounce" in 1949. The most notable trend, however, was white pop covers of black R&B numbers. The more familiar sound of these covers may have been more palatable to white audiences, there may have been an element of prejudice, but labels aimed at
9983-686: The Mindbenders , Herman's Hermits and the Dave Clark Five . Early British rhythm and blues groups with more blues influences include the Animals , the Rolling Stones , and the Yardbirds . Rock and roll influenced lifestyles, fashion, attitudes, and language. In addition, rock and roll may have contributed to the civil rights movement because both African-American and European-American teens enjoyed
10132-694: The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer lives on in today's Latin alternative artists" and also citing "the pioneering Latino artists's enduring crossover hit "La Bamba" proved early on that Mexican-rooted music and Spanish lyrics appealed to the mainstream". "Come On, Let's Go" has been recorded by Los Lobos, the Ramones and the Paley Brothers (the Ramones on guitar, bass, and drums and the Paley Brothers on vocals), Tommy Steele ,
10281-925: The USA: the headquarters in Hayward, CA (about a dozen miles from the Redwood City location in Silicon Valley), a program office in Colorado Springs, CO and an engineering center in Las Cruces, NM, as well as from the main Delta HQ in Horsham, PA. Ampex continues to produce rugged data storage products used by government, military and commercial customers world-wide. Since joining Delta, Ampex has grown in revenue and headcount, employing significantly more people in 2023 than were employed under
10430-445: The United States and performances on television programs. On October 6, 1958, Valens made his first appearance on Dick Clark 's American Bandstand singing "Come On, Let's Go". Soon after, Valens traveled to Honolulu , Hawaii, to perform under the banner of the "11th Show of Stars". On December 10, 1958, after his trip to Honolulu, Valens made an appearance back at Pacoima Junior High School (now Pacoima Middle School ). This concert
10579-420: The United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African American music such as jazz , rhythm and blues , boogie-woogie , electric blues , gospel , and jump blues , as well as country music . While rock and roll's formative elements can be heard in blues records from the 1920s and in country records of the 1930s, the genre did not acquire its name until 1954. According to
10728-588: The Valens version of "La Bamba" was selected by the U.S. Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry as "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant". Valens was nominated for a Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1988 for La Bamba. In 2015, Billboard magazine listed Valens on its list of the 30 most influential Latino artists in history, citing "the influence of
10877-465: The actual VTRs themselves to incorporate SMPTE timecode providing advanced timeline control. The RA-4000 and EDM-1 were fully functional early products, but soon evolved to the extremely powerful ACE family to compete with CMX and other edit controller brands. Starting in the early 1950s, RCA, Bing Crosby and others tried to record analog video on very fast-moving magnetic tape . As early as 1952, Ampex developed prototype video tape recorders that used
11026-439: The arrest of Chuck Berry (December 1959), and the death of Eddie Cochran in a car crash (April 1960) gave a sense that the initial phase of rock and roll had come to an end. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the rawer sounds of Presley, Gene Vincent , Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly were commercially superseded by a more polished, commercial style of rock and roll influenced pop music. Marketing frequently emphasized
11175-564: The article said that rock and roll combined R&B with pop and country music. Fats Domino was one of the biggest stars of rock and roll in the early 1950s and he was not convinced that this was a new genre. In 1957, he said: "What they call rock 'n' roll now is rhythm and blues. I've been playing it for 15 years in New Orleans". According to Rolling Stone , "this is a valid statement ... all Fifties rockers, black and white, country born and city-bred, were fundamentally influenced by R&B,
11324-422: The base and either sticking to the backing of the tape layer wound on top of it (resulting in dropout), or being scraped off and deposited on the tape heads while lifting the head off the tape, degrading the treble. The problem has been reported on a number of makes of tape (usually back-coated tapes), including Ampex tapes. Ampex filed U.S. patent 5,236,790 for a baking process ("A typical temperature used
11473-485: The black popular music of the late Forties and early Fifties". Further, Little Richard built his ground-breaking sound of the same era with an uptempo blend of boogie-woogie, New Orleans rhythm and blues, and the soul and fervor of gospel music vocalization. Less frequently cited as an influencer, LaVern Baker was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. The Hall remarked that her "fiery fusion of blues, jazz and R&B showcased her alluring vocals and set
11622-469: The bleachers. When Valenzuela was 16 years old, he was invited to join a local band, The Silhouettes (not to be confused with the group of the same name famous for its hit song "Get a Job" ). Valenzuela began as a guitarist, and when the main vocalist left the group, he took over the position. On June 19, 1957, Valenzuela made his performing debut with The Silhouettes. Valenzuela also attended San Fernando High School . A self-taught musician, Valenzuela
11771-411: The broadcast industry for a quarter of a century. The format was licensed to RCA for use in their "television tape recorders." Ampex's invention revolutionized the television production industry by eliminating the kinescope process of time-shifting television programs, which required the use of motion picture film. For archival purposes, the kinescope method continued to be used for some years; film
11920-553: The charts with " Move It ". At the same time, TV shows such as Six-Five Special and Oh Boy! promoted the careers of British rock and rollers like Marty Wilde and Adam Faith . Cliff Richard and his backing band, the Shadows , were the most successful home grown rock and roll based acts of the era. Other leading acts included Billy Fury , Joe Brown , and Johnny Kidd & the Pirates , whose 1960 hit song " Shakin' All Over " became
12069-545: The chest. As a 17 year old, Valens was the youngest to die in the crash. The tragedy inspired singer Don McLean to write his 1971 hit " American Pie ", immortalizing February 3 as "The Day the Music Died". Valens' remains were buried at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, Los Angeles , California. Valens was a pioneer of Chicano rock and Latin rock , inspiring many musicians of Mexican heritage. He influenced
12218-535: The company in San Carlos , California , in 1944 as the Ampex Electric and Manufacturing Company. The company name came from his initials plus "ex" to avoid using the name AMP already in use (by Aircraft and Marine Products). During World War II , Ampex was a subcontractor to Dalmo-Victor, manufacturing high quality electric motors and generators for radars that used alnico 5 magnets from General Electric . Ampex
12367-623: The concept of rock and roll had been defined, Billboard magazine columnist Maurie Orodenker started to use the term to describe upbeat recordings such as "Rock Me" by Sister Rosetta Tharpe ; her style on that recording was described as "rock-and-roll spiritual singing". By 1943, the "Rock and Roll Inn" in South Merchantville, New Jersey , was established as a music venue. In 1951, Cleveland , Ohio, disc jockey Alan Freed began playing this music style, and referring to it as "rock and roll" on his mainstream radio program, which popularized
12516-470: The conventional erase/record/playback heads. This allowed Paul to play along with a previously recorded track, both of which were mixed together on to a new track. This was a destructive process because the original recording was recorded over. Ampex built a handful of multitrack machines during the late 1950s that could record as many as eight tracks on 1-inch (25 mm) tape. The project was overseen by Ross Snyder, Ampex manager of special products. To make
12665-415: The crossover of African-American "race music" to a growing white youth audience, the popularization of rock and roll involved both black performers reaching a white audience and white musicians performing African-American music. Rock and roll appeared at a time when racial tensions in the United States were entering a new phase, with the beginnings of the civil rights movement for desegregation , leading to
12814-455: The development of the Quadruplex video recorder for Ampex was Ray Dolby, who worked under Charlie Ginsburg and went on to form Dolby Laboratories , a pioneer in audio noise reduction systems. Dolby's contribution to the videotape system was limited to the mathematics behind the reactance tube FM modulator, as videotape then used FM modulation for the video portion. Another contributor designed
12963-588: The development of what was to be defined as rock and roll as a distinct genre. Because the development of rock and roll was an evolutionary process, no single record can be identified as unambiguously "the first" rock and roll record. Contenders for the title of " first rock and roll record " include Sister Rosetta Tharpe 's " Strange Things Happening Every Day " (1944), " That's All Right " by Arthur Crudup (1946), " Move It On Over " by Hank Williams (1947), " The Fat Man " by Fats Domino (1949), Goree Carter 's " Rock Awhile " (1949), and Jimmy Preston 's " Rock
13112-435: The earliest rock and roll styles, either the piano or saxophone was typically the lead instrument. These instruments were generally replaced or supplemented by the electric guitar in the mid-to-late 1950s. The beat is essentially a dance rhythm with an accentuated backbeat , almost always provided by a snare drum . Classic rock and roll is usually played with one or more electric guitars (one lead , one rhythm ) and
13261-525: The early 1950s, Ampex moved to Redwood City, California. Ampex acquired Orradio Industries in 1959, which became the Ampex Magnetic Tape Division, headquartered in Opelika, Alabama . This made Ampex a manufacturer of both recorders and tape. By the end of that decade Ampex products were much in demand by top recording studios worldwide. In 1952, movie producer Mike Todd asked Ampex to develop
13410-416: The early 20th century was used both to describe the spiritual fervor of black church rituals and as a sexual analogy. A retired Welsh seaman named William Fender can be heard singing the phrase "rock and roll" when describing a sexual encounter in his performance of the traditional song " The Baffled Knight " to the folklorist James Madison Carpenter in the early 1930s, which he would have learned at sea in
13559-427: The electric guitar as its centerpiece, adapting his rock band instrumentation from the basic blues band instrumentation of a lead guitar, second chord instrument, bass and drums. In 2017, Robert Christgau declared that "Chuck Berry did in fact invent rock 'n' roll", explaining that this artist "came the closest of any single figure to being the one who put all the essential pieces together". Rock and roll arrived at
13708-511: The electric guitar, creating what is instantly recognizable as rock guitar. This proposal by Richards neglects the black guitarists who did the same thing before Berry, such as Goree Carter , Gatemouth Brown , and the originator of the style, T-Bone Walker . Country boogie and Chicago electric blues supplied many of the elements that would be seen as characteristic of rock and roll. Inspired by electric blues , Chuck Berry introduced an aggressive guitar sound to rock and roll, and established
13857-451: The electronic treatment of sound by such innovators as Joe Meek , and the " Wall of Sound " productions of Phil Spector , continued desegregation of the charts, the rise of surf music , garage rock and the Twist dance craze. Surf rock in particular, noted for the use of reverb-drenched guitars, became one of the most popular forms of American rock of the early 1960s. While the sounds of
14006-429: The first standardized open-reel videotape formats in the 1 inch (25 mm) width; most others of that size at that time were proprietary. 1 inch type C videotape (designated Type C by SMPTE) was a professional open-reel videotape format co-developed and introduced by Ampex and Sony in 1976. It became the replacement in the professional video and television broadcast industries for the then-incumbent Quadruplex. D2
14155-534: The first-ever U.S. delayed radio broadcast of Bing Crosby's Philco Radio Time . Ampex tape recorders revolutionized the radio and recording industries because of their superior audio quality and ease of operation over audio disk cutting lathes . The firm's earliest production of multichannel machines wasn't aimed at music recording; it noted in 1953–54 that "Ampex began the commercial production of multitrack tape recorders about four years ago for those interested in telemetered information from guided missiles and
14304-463: The greatest Black musicians like BB King, Arthur Crudup and Fats Domino. His style of music combined with black influences created controversy during a turbulent time in history. Many other popular rock and roll singers of the time, such as Fats Domino and Little Richard , came out of the black rhythm and blues tradition, making the music attractive to white audiences, and are not usually classed as "rockabilly". Presley popularized rock and roll on
14453-463: The instrument. Valenzuela was a 15-year-old student at Pacoima Junior High School at the time of the 1957 Pacoima mid-air collision . He was not at school that day since he was attending his grandfather's funeral. Recurring nightmares of the disaster led to Valens's fear of flying . By the time Valenzuela was attending Pacoima Junior High School (now Pacoima Middle School ), he would bring his guitar to school and sing and play songs to his friends on
14602-496: The introduction of SMPTE time code allowed studios to run multiple machines in perfect synchronization, making the number of available tracks virtually unlimited. By the 1970s, Ampex faced tough competition from the Swiss company Studer and Japanese manufacturers such as Otari and Sony (who also purchased the MCI brand in 1982). In 1979, Ampex introduced their most advanced 24-track recorder,
14751-409: The journalist Greg Kot , "rock and roll" refers to a style of popular music originating in the United States in the 1950s. By the mid-1960s, rock and roll had developed into "the more encompassing international style known as rock music , though the latter also continued to be known in many circles as rock and roll." For the purpose of differentiation, this article deals with the first definition. In
14900-528: The latest dance and fashion styles. From the mid-1960s on, as "rock and roll" was rebranded as "rock", later dance genres followed, leading to funk , disco , house , techno , and hip hop . Ampex Ampex Data Systems Corporation is an American electronics company founded in 1944 by Alexander M. Poniatoff as a spin-off of Dalmo-Victor. The name AMPEX is an acronym , created by its founder, which stands for A lexander M . P oniatoff Ex cellence. Ampex operates as Ampex Data Systems Corporation,
15049-571: The legality of speech in an electronic public forum. After becoming part of Delta Information Systems in 2014, two former subsidiaries of Ampex Corporation continued business as part of the Ampex legacy. Ampex Data Systems Corporation (ADSC) headquartered in Silicon Valley, and its subsidiary, Ampex Japan Ltd. are the only two Ampex businesses that still trade as more than "in name only" entities. Ampex Data Systems operates out of main three locations in
15198-399: The levees and plantations, took in folk songs, and features blues and rhythm". In discussing Alan Freed's contribution to the genre, two significant sources emphasized the importance of African-American rhythm and blues. Greg Harris, then the executive director of the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, offered this comment to CNN : "Freed's role in breaking down racial barriers in U.S. pop culture in
15347-504: The like. These equipments provided any number of simultaneous channels up to 14. It was a simple step, therefore, to make stereophonic tape recorders with two or more channels." During the early 1950s, Ampex began marketing one- and two-track machines using 1 ⁄ 4 -inch (6.4 mm) tape. In May 1953 the firm announced production of two- and three-track machines on 1/4 inch tape. The line soon expanded into three- and four-track models using 1 ⁄ 2 -inch (13 mm) tape. In
15496-635: The likes of Los Lobos , Los Lonely Boys , and Carlos Santana , as Valens had become nationally successful at a time when very few Latinos were in American rock and pop music. He is considered the first Latino to successfully cross over into mainstream rock. "La Bamba" proved to be his most influential recording, not only by becoming a pop chart hit sung entirely in Spanish, but also because of its successful blending of traditional Latin American music with rock. Valens
15645-459: The many American technological advances. In 1967, Ampex introduced the Ampex VR-3000 portable broadcast video recorder, which revolutionized the recording of broadcast quality television in the field without the need for long cables and large support vehicles. Broadcast quality images could now be shot anywhere, including from airplanes, helicopters and boats. The Quadruplex format dominated
15794-806: The model ATR-124. The ATR-124 was ruggedly constructed and had audio specifications that nearly rivaled the first digital recording machines. However, sales of the ATR-124 were slow due to the machine's high price tag. Ampex sold only about 50 or 60 ATR-124 machines and withdrew from the professional audio tape recorder market entirely in 1983. By the 1990s Ampex focused more on video recorders, instrumentation recorders, and data recorders. In 1991, Ampex sold their professional audio recorder line to Sprague Magnetics. The Ampex Recording Media Corporation spun off in 1995 as Quantegy Inc. ; that company has ceased producing recording tape. While AMPEX are well recognized for their contribution to magnetic tape recording, they also had
15943-560: The multitrack recorder work, Snyder invented the Sel-Sync process, which used some tracks on the head for playback and other tracks on the head for recording. This made the newly recorded material be in sync with the existing recorded tracks. The first of these machines cost $ 10,000 and was installed in Les Paul 's home recording studio by David Sarser . In 1967, Ampex responded to demand by stepping up production of their 8-track machines with
16092-525: The music. Many early rock and roll songs dealt with issues of cars, school, dating, and clothing. The lyrics of rock and roll songs described events and conflicts to which most listeners could relate through personal experience. Topics such as sex that had generally been considered taboo began to appear in rock and roll lyrics. This new music tried to break boundaries and express emotions that people were actually feeling but had not discussed openly. An awakening began to take place in American youth culture. In
16241-659: The name of rock and roll". Not often acknowledged in the history of rock and roll, Todd Storz , the owner of radio station KOWH in Omaha , Nebraska, was the first to adopt the Top 40 format (in 1953), playing only the most popular records in rotation. His station, and the numerous others which adopted the concept, helped to promote the genre: by the mid 50s, the playlist included artists such as " Presley , Lewis , Haley , Berry and Domino ". The origins of rock and roll have been fiercely debated by commentators and historians of music. There
16390-412: The network refused; so Crosby had withdrawn from live radio for a year and returned (this time to the recently created ABC ) for the 1946–47 season, only reluctantly. In June 1947, Mullin, who was pitching the technology to the major Hollywood movie studios, got the chance to demonstrate his modified tape recorders to Crosby. When Crosby heard a demonstration of Mullin's tape recorders, he immediately saw
16539-450: The new Ampex Quadruplex recording system was CBS 's Douglas Edwards and the News on November 30, 1956. The "Quad" head assembly rotates at 14,400 rpm ( NTSC ). The four head pieces (quad) are switched successively so that recorded stripes cross the video portion (most of the tape middle, audio is on one edge, control track is on the other) so that head to tape write speed is well in excess of
16688-561: The new recorders so that Ampex (then a small six-man concern) could develop a commercial production model from the prototypes. Crosby Enterprises was Ampex's West Coast representative until 1957. The company's first tape recorder, the Ampex Model 200A, was first shipped in April 1948. The first two units, serial numbers 1 and 2, were used to record Bing Crosby's show. The American Broadcasting Company used these recorders along with 3M Scotch 111 gamma ferric oxide coated acetate tape for
16837-471: The ongoing British Invasion. Another example was Bobby Fuller and his group The Bobby Fuller Four , who were especially inspired by Buddy Holly and stuck with a rock and roll style, scoring their most notable hit with "I Fought the Law" (1965). In the 1950s, Britain was well placed to receive American rock and roll music and culture. It shared a common language , had been exposed to American culture through
16986-690: The performer as "the Little Richard of San Fernando ". Swayed by the Little Richard comparison, Keane went to see Valenzuela play a Saturday-morning matinée at a movie theater in San Fernando. Impressed by the performance, he invited Valenzuela to audition at his home in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles, where he had a small recording studio in his basement. His recording equipment comprised an early stereo recorder (a two-track Ampex 601-2 portable) and
17135-418: The phrase. Several sources suggest that Freed found the term, used as a synonym for sexual intercourse, on the record " Sixty Minute Man " by Billy Ward and his Dominoes . The lyrics include the line, "I rock 'em, roll 'em all night long". Freed did not acknowledge the suggestion about that source in interviews, and explained the term as follows: "Rock 'n roll is really swing with a modern name. It began on
17284-506: The physical looks of the artist rather than the music, contributing to the successful careers of Ricky Nelson , Tommy Sands , Bobby Vee , Jimmy Clanton , and the Philadelphia trio of Bobby Rydell , Frankie Avalon , and Fabian , who all became "teen idols". Some music historians have also pointed to important and innovative developments that built on rock and roll in this period, including multitrack recording , developed by Les Paul ,
17433-479: The potential of the new technology and commissioned Mullin to prepare a test recording of his radio show. Ampex was finishing its prototype of the Model 200 tape recorder, and Mullin used the first two models as soon as they were built. After a successful test broadcast, ABC agreed to allow Crosby to pre-record his shows on tape. Crosby immediately appointed Mullin as his chief engineer and placed an order for $ 50,000 worth of
17582-538: The production model MM 1000. Like earlier 8-track machines of this era, it used 1-inch tape. In 1966, Ampex built their first 16-track recorder, the model AG-1000, at the request of Mirasound Studios in New York City. In 1967, Ampex introduced a 16-track version of the MM 1000 which was the world's first 16-track professional tape recorder put into mass-production. Both used a 2-inch (51 mm) tape transport design adapted from
17731-414: The quadruplex recording system per se is no longer in use, the principle evolved into the helical scanning technique used in virtually all video tape machines, such as those using the consumer formats of VHS , Sony Betamax and Video 2000 . Sony Betacam was successful as a professional format but operated with a different recording system and faster tape speed than Betamax. One of the key engineers in
17880-485: The record was a success. Valens' next record, a double A-side, had the song " Donna " (written about a real girlfriend Donna Ludwig) coupled with " La Bamba ". It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the Recording Industry Association of America . By the autumn of 1958, the demands of Valens's career forced him to drop out of high school. Keane booked appearances at venues across
18029-541: The renaming to honor Valens so residents would "remember his humble background and emulate his accomplishments." Musician Tommy Allsup started a club, "Tommy's Heads Up Saloon", in Dallas in 1979. The club was named for the fateful coin toss between Valens and him twenty years prior . "Boogie with Stu" from Led Zeppelin 's Physical Graffiti album was inspired by Valens' song "Ooh, My Head". It did not credit Valens or Bob Keane , instead crediting Valens' mother. Eventually,
18178-517: The same period, particularly on the West Coast and in the Midwest , the development of jump blues , with its guitar riffs, prominent beats and shouted lyrics, prefigured many later developments. In the documentary film Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll , Keith Richards proposes that Chuck Berry developed his brand of rock and roll by transposing the familiar two-note lead line of jump blues piano directly to
18327-570: The song has been seen as the major breakthrough for the rock and roll genre, as its immense popularity introduced the music to a global audience. In 1956, the arrival of rockabilly was underlined by the success of songs like " Folsom Prison Blues " by Johnny Cash , " Blue Suede Shoes " by Perkins, and the No. 1 hit " Heartbreak Hotel " by Presley. For a few years it became the most commercially successful form of rock and roll. Later rockabilly acts, particularly performing songwriters like Buddy Holly , would be
18476-582: The song into one with a rock rhythm and beat, and it became a hit in 1958, making Valens a pioneer of the Spanish-speaking rock and roll movement. He also had an American number-two hit with " Donna ". On February 3, 1959, on what has become known as " The Day the Music Died ", Valens died in a plane crash in Iowa , an accident that also claimed the lives of fellow musicians Buddy Holly and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson , as well as pilot Roger Peterson. Valens
18625-489: The stage for the rock and roll surge of the Fifties". "Rockabilly" usually (but not exclusively) refers to the type of rock and roll music which was played and recorded in the mid-1950s primarily by white singers such as Elvis Presley , Carl Perkins , Johnny Cash , and Jerry Lee Lewis , who drew mainly on the country roots of the music. Presley was greatly influenced by and incorporated his style of music with that of some of
18774-612: The stationing of troops in the country, and shared many social developments, including the emergence of distinct youth sub-cultures, which in Britain included the Teddy Boys and the rockers . Trad jazz became popular in the UK, and many of its musicians were influenced by related American styles, including boogie woogie and the blues . The skiffle craze, led by Lonnie Donegan , used amateurish versions of American folk songs and encouraged many of
18923-510: The subsequent generation of rock and roll, folk, R&B and beat musicians to start performing. At the same time British audiences were beginning to encounter American rock and roll, initially through films including Blackboard Jungle (1955) and Rock Around the Clock (1956). Both movies featured the Bill Haley & His Comets hit " Rock Around the Clock ", which first entered the British charts in early 1955 – four months before it reached
19072-558: The video recording division. The 16-track MM-1000 quickly became legendary for its tremendous flexibility, reliability and outstanding sound quality. This brought about the "golden age" of large format analog multitrack recorders which would last into the mid-1990s. MCI built the first 24-track recorder (using 2-inch tape) in 1968 which was installed at TTG Studios in Los Angeles. Later machines built by Ampex starting in 1969 would have as many as 24 tracks on 2 inch tape. In addition to this,
19221-451: The way for desegregation, in creating a new form of music that encouraged racial cooperation and shared experience. Many authors have argued that early rock and roll was instrumental in the way both white and black teenagers identified themselves. Several rock historians have claimed that rock and roll was one of the first music genres to define an age group . It gave teenagers a sense of belonging, even when they were alone. Rock and roll
19370-799: The white market also had much better distribution networks and were generally much more profitable. Famously, Pat Boone recorded sanitized versions of songs recorded by the likes of Fats Domino, Little Richard, the Flamingos and Ivory Joe Hunter. Later, as those songs became popular, the original artists' recordings received radio play as well. The cover versions were not necessarily straightforward imitations. For example, Bill Haley's incompletely bowdlerized cover of " Shake, Rattle and Roll " transformed Big Joe Turner's humorous and racy tale of adult love into an energetic teen dance number, while Georgia Gibbs replaced Etta James ' tough, sarcastic vocal in "Roll With Me, Henry" (covered as "Dance With Me, Henry") with
19519-985: Was 17 years old at the time of his death. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame , the Rockabilly Hall of Fame , the Native American Music Awards Hall of Fame, the California Hall of Fame , and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . Valens was born as Richard Steven Valenzuela on May 13, 1941, in Pacoima , 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. Valenzuela
19668-602: Was a line of reel-to-reel tape recorders developed from the German wartime Magnetophon system at the behest of Bing Crosby . Ampex quickly became a leader in audio tape technology, developing many of the analog recording formats for both music and movies that remained in use into the 1990s. Starting in the 1950s, the company began developing video tape recorders , and later introduced the helical scan concept that made home video players possible. They also introduced multi-track recording, slow-motion and instant playback television, and
19817-401: Was a recurring source of concern for older generations, who worried about juvenile delinquency and social rebellion, particularly because, to a large extent, rock and roll culture was shared by different racial and social groups. In America, that concern was conveyed even in youth cultural artifacts such as comic books . In "There's No Romance in Rock and Roll" from True Life Romance (1956),
19966-509: Was an accomplished singer and guitarist. At his appearances, Valenzuela often improvised new lyrics and added new riffs to popular songs while he was playing. Bob Keane , the owner and president of small record label Del-Fi Records in Hollywood , was given a tip in May 1958 by San Fernando High School student Doug Macchia about a young performer from Pacoima by the name of Richard Valenzuela. Kids knew
20115-406: Was available to perform the foreground layering and priority switching – to reduce the burden on the vision mixer with multi-channel effects. AVC – The AVC range of vision mixers ranged from small, single buss devices up to the high-end Century Series, with multiple Mix/Effect busses, infinite re-entry and powerful keying and control software. The product line evolved quickly from manual editing on
20264-426: Was brought up hearing traditional Mexican mariachi music, as well as flamenco guitar, R&B , and jump blues . He expressed an interest in making music of his own by the age of five. Valenzuela was encouraged by his father to take up guitar and trumpet, and later taught himself the drums. Though Valenzuela was left-handed, he was so eager to learn the guitar that he mastered the traditional right-handed version of
20413-617: Was hospitalized for severe frostbite sustained on the bus. To fill in for Bunch, Holly, Valens, and Dion all took turns drumming for one another. After the February 2, 1959, performance in Clear Lake, Iowa (which ended around midnight), Holly, Richardson, and Valens flew out of the Mason City airport in a small plane that Holly had chartered. Valens was on the plane since he won a coin toss with Holly's backup guitarist Tommy Allsup . Bob Hale,
20562-498: Was ill with the flu. At around 12:55 a.m. on February 3, 1959, the four-passenger Beechcraft Bonanza , (N3794N), departed for Fargo, North Dakota , and crashed a few minutes after takeoff. The cause was apparently loss of control by the pilot Roger Peterson, who was not qualified for the deteriorating weather. The crash killed all the four men instantly upon impact. As with Holly, Richardson and Peterson, Valens suffered massive fatal head injuries along with blunt-force trauma to
20711-541: Was initially set up in an abandoned loft-space above the Dalmo-Victor plant; eventually they would have offices at 1313 Laurel Street, San Carlos, California (at the intersection of Howard Avenue and Laurel Street). Near the end of the war, while serving in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, Major Jack Mullin was assigned to investigate German radio and electronics experiments. He discovered the Magnetophons with AC biasing on
20860-405: Was introduced in 1996. The final generation of these products were quad density, introduced in 2000, resulting in a large cartridge holding 660GB of data. Some master tapes and other recordings predominantly from the 1970s and 1980s have degraded due to the so-called sticky-shed syndrome . When sticky-shed syndrome occurs, the binding agent deteriorates, resulting in the magnetic coating coming off
21009-427: Was painted on the side of a classroom building at the former Pacoima Junior High (now Pacoima Middle School) depicting Valens's image, records labeled with some of his greatest hits, and the newspaper article about the plane crash that took his life. Another mural went up in 2012 at the intersection of Van Nuys Boulevard and Amboy Avenue, which was painted by Hector Ponce. A second one was painted in 2012 by Levi Ponce and
21158-422: Was picked up by Atlantic Records . In 2005, iNEXTV, a wholly owned subsidiary of respondent Ampex Corporation, brought a defamation lawsuit against a poster on an Internet message board who posted messages critical of them (Ampex Corp. v. Cargle (2005), Cal.App.4th). The poster, a former employee, responded with an anti- SLAPP suit and eventually recovered his attorney fees. The case was unique in that it involved
21307-519: Was posthumously released as Ritchie Valens in Concert at Pacoima Jr. High ; it was Valens' only live performance ever recorded. Mid-December Valens left New York City . Keane had managed to book him as a late addition to " Alan Freed 's Christmas Jubilee Show" where Valens performed with The Everly Brothers , Bo Diddley , Chuck Berry , Jackie Wilson , Eddie Cochran and others. On December 27, Valens performed "Donna" on The Dick Clark Show . He played
21456-419: Was ready to enter the studio with a full band backing him. The musicians included René Hall , Carol Kaye , and Earl Palmer . The first songs recorded at Gold Star Studios , at a single studio session one afternoon in May 1958, were "Come On, Let's Go" , an original, credited to Valens/Kuhn (Keane's real name), and "Framed", a Leiber and Stoller tune. Pressed and released within days of the recording session,
21605-409: Was released later, and this required a new, narrower headwheel. This vertical writing facilitated mechanical editing, once the control track was developed to display the pulse that indicates where a frame ends and the next one begins. Later, Ampex developed electronic editing. The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awarded Ampex its first Emmy in 1957 for this development. Ampex received
21754-399: Was still preferred by archivists. The Ampex broadcast video tape recorder facilitated time-zone broadcast delay so that networks could air programming at the same hour in various time zones. Ampex had trademarked the name " video tape ", so competitor RCA called the medium "TV tape" or "television tape". The terms eventually became genericized , and "videotape" is commonly used today. While
21903-480: Was the first to capitalize on this formula, which was later adopted by such varied artists as Carlos Santana, Selena , Caifanes , Café Tacuba , Circo , El Gran Silencio , Aterciopelados , Gustavo Santaolalla , and many others in the Latin alternative scene. The Valenzuela family spoke only English at home, and he knew very little Spanish. Valens learned the lyrics phonetically to record "La Bamba" in Spanish. In 2019,
22052-466: Was used in 1940s recordings and reviews of what became known as " rhythm and blues " music aimed at a black audience. Huey "Piano" Smith credits Cha Cha Hogan , a jump-blues shouter and comic in New Orleans, with popularizing the term in his 1950 song "My Walking Baby". In 1934, the song "Rock and Roll" by the Boswell Sisters appeared in the film Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round . In 1942, before
22201-546: Was written for her. Their relationship became strained due to Valens' increasing popularity and touring. After his death, Elvis Presley had one of his bodyguards arrange a date with Ludwig so that he could know all about Valens. In 1987, she attended the premiere of La Bamba , a biopic featuring the life and career of Valens. Valens was one of the five acts billed for the Winter Dance Party tour, performing with Buddy Holly , "The Big Bopper" J. P. Richardson , Dion and
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