Del-Fi Records founder Bob Keane, who discovered 50’s rocker Ritchie Valens, has died of renal failure in Los Angeles. Keane was living an assisted care facility in Hollywood, CA he was 87.
Keane founded Del-Fi records in the 1950s and discovered Valens in 1958, when Valens was only 17 years old. Valens recorded the smash hits “La Bamba” “Come On Lets Go” and “Donna” and was the inspiration for the film “La Bamba” starring Lou Diamond Phillips. Valens was tragically killed on February 3rd, 1959 in the same plane crash that took the lives of Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. Which inspired the Don MacLean song “The Day The Music Died”
Keane is survived by his sons Tom and John Keane who were teen idols in the 1970’s. The teen dreams released several albums to the delight screaming of teen-aged girls everywhere and even had their own TV show “the Keane Brothers Show” on CBS that lasted 4 weeks. The brothers have gone on to have careers in music. John has composed music for "The Sentinel" and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation". Tom has been twice nominated for a Grammy and co-wrote the song “Will You Still Love Me” which was recorded by Chicago.
R.I.P. BOB KEANE
I remember seeing the movie LA BAMBA and loved that movie to death as a musicians stand point. I was fortunate to have met Bob (the music pioneer) that he was. Back in 1992-1993, there was an local Dance/Hip Hop band called "Latin Touch" who I had begun engineering and doing productions for. The band summits their demos to Bob and then instantly, the group got signed to Del-Fi Records. I continued with my production duties in the studio with Bob and was he sold on my recordings and thought they were magical. He used most of my 8track recordings for "Latin Touch's" debut album "From the Heart". What a feeling that was! He also gave me a connection to Capitol Records, for another project I was producing with. Today, I was touched when I found out about Bob's passing. I send all my condolences to his family and friends. Bob, Thank you for all inspirations! "You will be missed"!
JOEY SOTO