On this day in 1959, rising American rock stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson are killed when their chartered Beechcraft Bonanza plane crashes in Iowa a few minutes after takeoff from Mason City on a flight headed for Moorehead, Minnesota. Investigators blamed the crash on bad weather and pilot error. Holly and his band, the Crickets, had just scored a No. 1 hit with “That’ll Be the Day.”
After mechanical difficulties with the tour bus, Holly had chartered a plane for his band to fly between stops on the Winter Dance Party Tour. However, Richardson, who had the flu, convinced Holly’s band member Waylon Jennings to give up his seat, and Ritchie Valens won a coin toss for another seat on the plane.
Holly, born Charles Holley in Lubbock, Texas, and just 22 when he died, began singing country music with high school friends before switching to rock and roll after opening for various performers, including Elvis Presley. By the mid-1950s, Holly and his band had a regular radio show and toured internationally, playing hits like “Peggy Sue,” “Oh, Boy!,” “Maybe Baby” and “Early in the Morning.” Holly wrote all his own songs, many of which were released after his death and influenced such artists as Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney.
Another crash victim, J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, 28, started out as a disk jockey in Texas and later began writing songs. Richardson’s most famous recording was the rockabilly “Chantilly Lace,” which made the Top 10. He developed a stage show based on his radio persona, “The Big Bopper.”
The third crash victim was Ritchie Valens, born Richard Valenzuela in a suburb of Los Angeles, who was only 17 when the plane went down but had already scored hits with “Come On, Let’s Go,” “Donna” and “La Bamba,” an upbeat number based on a traditional Mexican wedding song (though Valens barely spoke Spanish). In 1987, Valens’ life was portrayed in the movie La Bamba, and the title song, performed by Los Lobos, became a No. 1 hit. Valens was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.
Singer Don McLean memorialized Holly, Valens and Richardson in the 1972 No. 1 hit “American Pie,” which refers to February 3, 1959 as “the day the music died.”
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With some time to kill while on a business trip to Lubbock I was inspired to visit the Holly museum there after seeing a full sized picture of Buddy and the Crickets on the Ed Sullivan Show at the airport. It was well worth the time. I was 10 when he died. There are personal artifacts of Buddy including many of his guitars, the box used for drums on Peggy Sue and recordings of his family talking about him. From when his 1st hit topped the charts until he died was only 14 months. All that wonderful music in that short a time points out that we lost our Paul McCartney on that day (The name ‘Beatles’ was a take off on the Crickets).
My lasting memory was his bent black rimmed glasses found at the crash site encased in a glass cabinet. I stared at them for quite a while. Sad.
CC,
Good insight in making the comparison with McCartney. I have the Greatest Hits double album on vinyl, and it is almost incomprehensible to think about the quality and quantity of music therein, and reconcile that with the incredibly brief career. Pure genius, for sure.
Couldn’t not put it here…
…only to then realize, there it is on the next post.
?
Can’t ever forget. Was the day I was born. 60 today!
Happy birthday. 60 is the new 50.
Rossa..
I’m 71 today. You are only the second person I know who was born on 3 Feb.
well, then happy birthday to you too, you mangy old dog {respectfully playful}
You sure haven’t lost any wit, and seem to still be fit for fightin’ the good fight, brother.
71 is a dozen years from now, for this lil’ guy. I hope to be still in the fight when that # comes.
Oughtta be interesting to see that shape of things to come, by 2031.
Lgr..
Life just started getting good at 60.