The day the music died — History.com This Day in History — 2/3/1959: 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.
Image via The Fifties Web.
3 comments:
I was in Boot Camp at Fort Carson Colorado when we got the news. I was on Guard Duty that night, and the Corporal of The Guard had the radio tuned to a local station playing all their hits, especially Buddy's. A sad night. Buddy was everyone's favorite.
He was sure of mine. I got home from school that day and saw Dick Clark deliver the news on American Bandstand. He was quite choked up.
I was in the 6th grade and read it in the newspaper. It was a small article on the front page.
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