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Ricky Valance
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Ricky Valance was born David Spencer, 10 April 1939, in Ynysddu, near Wattsville, South Wales.
He bucked the trend, in that the 1950s, and early 1960s 'death songs' were almost automatically denied airplay by the BBC. Due to this, Mark Dinning's, "Teen Angel" sank without trace, whilst other American death records were not released in the United Kingdom.
Ray Peterson's original version of "Tell Laura I Love Her" was not originally released in the UK. But EMI, found a Welsh singer, to cover the banned song. Contrary to popular belief, and even misinformed by Guinness Book of British Hit Singles, his name was not changed to Ricky Valance, after Ritchie Valens, who had died with Buddy Holly, and The Big Bopper, about eighteen months earlier. The singer choose the name Ricky early in his career, and matched it with Valance a while later after being at a horse race, where one of the trainer's names was Colonel Valance. Upon hearing the name, he liked the flow of the two names and from this, the name Ricky Valance was born.[citation needed]
The recording was banned by the BBC, but reached the number one spot in on the UK Singles Chart in September, 1960. Valance was the first Welshman to reach the top spot - Shirley Bassey being the first Welsh person - but was unable to replicate this feat.
However, "Tell Laura I Love Her" went on to sell over seven million copies around the world, in many other countries outside of the UK. Later in life he had further hit records in the U.S. with country and Christian music.[citation needed]
Valance now lives in Spain on the Costa Blanca, where he still performs on a regular basis.
- Guinness Book of British Hit Singles - 16th Edition - ISBN 0-85112-190-X
- The Guinness Book Of 500 Number One Hits - ISBN 0-85112-250-7