Frankie Valens

I am the former pop-singer Frankie Valens. My story contains the drama and pathos that inspired the old cliche, "truth is stranger than fiction." My story is about fame and the loss of it, separation from family and children, and a dramatic return to the Lord. I had been performing a tribute to Richie Valens (no relation) and belted out renditions of This Magic Moment, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Donna, and many more when a record PR man discovered me and changed my name from Piper to Valens.

My popularity began to rise and my band was in demand in nightclubs around the states and Canada. I was booked in concert with such notables as: Crystal Gayle, The Byrds, The Platters, etc...

In 1971 after shocking treatment by the very agent who discovered our band, I fired him and then the music industry turned their back on me, and my career began a downward spiral. He black-balled me and pulled my records so they wouldn't be played, and by 1972 the Frankie Valens era came to an end. I thought my world had come to and end. After a broken career and a broken marriage, I realized that part of my problem was the fact that I had never dealt with my childhood abuse and rape. I had never dealt with forgiveness. Not until I met my wife Phyllis, a concert pianist who was raised in the church. I discovered that her preacher father was friends with my preacher father. Her father was not only a minister but also a singer. My dad was a minister who 'thought' he was a singer. Big difference.

Shortly after we were married, we started touring in a full-time music ministry and recorded 14 albums. We traveled to almost every state in America and had concerts in Canada and Alaska. I proceeded to tell my testimony of my childhood abuse and how I learned to forgive. How I made choices to never take drugs or smoke. It wasn't until we retired from traveling full-time that I started writing my autobiography. We were forced into retirement late in 2008 because of cancer, a bone spur in the heel, and problems with our lower backs from carrying sound equipment.

When I decided to write my autobiography I had no idea what I was going to uncover in my research, but I found out that I share a grandmother with Lucille Ball, Daniel Boone is my cousin, Wild Bill Hickok is related through marriage, and I was able to walk on the same property that my great-great grandparents owned, and took pictures of their original stone foundations in Chase County, KS. The last chapter of my book is the most intriguing because it is the story of a 2nd cousin of mine who was buried alive and lived to tell about it. That chapter alone could be made into a movie. It's called "Buried Alive."

I have revealed my heart on every page of my book. Not much is left to the imagination. Frankie Valens