The Day The Music Died

February 3, 1959: “The Day the Music Died”

On 3rd Feb 1959, 22-year-old Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens, aged 17, died in a plane crash shortly after takeoff from Clear Lake, Iowa. The pilot of the single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza was also killed.

The Winter Dance Party Tour was planned to cover 24 cities in just three weeks and Holly would be the biggest headliner. Waylon Jennings, a friend from Lubbock, Texas, and Tommy Allsup joined the tour as backup musicians. Ritchie Valens, probably the hottest of the artists at the time, The Big Bopper, and Dion and the Belmonts made up the list of other performers.

The musicians were heading to Fargo, North Dakota, on a small private plane leaving Clear Lake Iowa, where they had performed as part of the 24-city “Winter Dance Party” tour. They had been travelling by bus, but it got so cold that Holly chartered the plane, a single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza. Shortly after takeoff, the plane goes down; it is snowing and poor visibility likely leads to the crash.

Tommy Allsup and Waylon Jennings, also on the tour, are spared by sheer luck: Allsup lost a coin flip for a seat on the plane to Valens, and Jennings let Richardson have the other seat.

Losing these musical luminaries drastically alters the rock and roll landscape; the “rock era” had begun about four years earlier, and with Elvis Presley in the Army, there are few stars to propel it forward (the British Invasion would revive the genre). Holly, 22, the headliner on the tour, was a rising star with a #1 hit under his belt (“That’ll Be The Day”). Valens, 17, was one of the hottest new artists at the time, with the song “Donna” on the charts.

Don McLean, who was a teenager at the time, would call it “The Day the Music Died” in his 1971 hit “American Pie.”

Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens și J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson au murit într-un accident de avion. Don McLean a numit acest moment “The Day the Music Died” (Ziua în care muzica a murit) în hit-ul lui din “American Pie.”

Buddy Holly & The Crickets “Peggy Sue” on the Ed Sullivan Show on December 1, 1957

Buddy Holly & The Crickets "Peggy Sue" on The Ed Sullivan Show

Cei trei se îndreptau spre Fargo, Dakota de Nord, într-un avion mic privat, plecând din Clear Lake, Iowa, unde au avut un concert în cadrul unui turneu în 24 de orașe, numit “Winter Dance Party”. Au folosit un autobuz în turneu, dar era așa de frig, încât Buddy Holly a închiriat avionul. Imediat după decolare avionul s-a prăbușit; ninsoarea și vizibilitatea foarte proastă au cauzat accidentul.

Ritchie Valens - Donna

Tommy Allsup și Waylon Jennings, care erau parte din turneu au scăpat, doar datorită norocului: Allsup și Valens au dat cu banul pentru un loc în avion, iar Jennings i-a cedat locul lui Richardson.

Don McClean, care era un adolescent atunci, a spus că “Este ziua în care muzica a murit” (“The Day the Music Died”) în hit-ul lui din 1971 “American Pie”.