1.The film did not use the original songs sung by Ritchie Valens. Instead, the songs in the film were covers by Los Lobos.
2.Ritchie's real-life sister, Connie Limos, was on-set when the infamous "coin toss" scene was filmed, where Ritchie wins a coin toss to fly alongside The Big Bopper and Buddy Holly.
3.According to Connie Limos, the film provided closure for the Valenzuela family. They were "finally able to accept...let go."
4.The mid-air plane collision at the beginning of the film occurred in real-life on January 31, 1957.
5.Ritchie's real-life mother, Concepcion Reyes, appeared in the film during the first family party.
6.Esai Morales had originally auditioned for the role of Ritchie Valens, while Lou Diamond Phillips had auditioned for the darker role of Bob.
7.Lou Diamond Phillips was originally told that he would audition for a musical about the life of Frankie Valli.
8.In the original script, Ritchie's older brother Bob was the lead of the film.
9.Even though Lou Diamond Phillips played Esai Morales' younger brother in the film, he was actually the older of the two. Morales was 23, and Phillips was 24.
10.While it's stated in the film that Steve, Ritchie's dad, drunk himself to death, the real Steve died from life-long complications after coming into contact with mustard gas during the first World War.
11.Lou Diamond Phillips was a stage actor in Fort Worth, Texas when he first auditioned for the film in Dallas. He was flown to Hollywood two weeks later and was cast as Ritchie.
12.Rosanna de Soto, who played Connie, the mother of Ritchie and Bob, was only 12 years older than Lou Diamond Phillips and Esai Morales.
14.According to Lou Diamond Phillips, the family was on-set everyday and they constantly referred to him as "Ritchie."
15.The "Northern California" fields that the Valenzuela family are working in at the beginning of the film are actually in San Jose, California.
16.Writer/Director Luis Valdez was originally supposed to just write the script, with Taylor Hackford (who directed Ray in 2004) at the helm as director.
17.The idea of a Ritchie Valens biopic was first pitched back in the early '70s to music label A&M Records, but they turned it down.
18.Daniel Valdez had thought about putting Ritchie Valens' story on the stage as a musical.
19.He also spent five to six years researching Valens' life, from collecting articles to tracking down the Valenzuela family, who were extremely wary at first about the project.
20.Valdez originally wanted to cast Emilio "El Indio" Fernandez, a pioneer of the golden age of Mexican cinema, for the role of El Curandero, but he died due to a motorcycle accident.
21.Los Lobos were working on their second album By the Light of the Moonat the same time they were doing work for La Bamba.
22.While the film is completely in English, there were a few theaters that showed the film with Spanish subtitles and Spanish dubbing, which raked in nearly $400,000 at the box office.
23.Los Lobos appear in the film as the band playing "La Bamba" when Ritchie and Bob go to Tijuana.
