the day the music died.

Today, back in 1959, three angels of the dawn of rock and roll music passed away in a tragic plane crash in Iowa.  Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and J.P. “Big Bopper” Richardson all perished on their way to another leg of “The Winter Dance Party” – a tour covering various cities in the Midwest.  Dion and the Belmonts as well as Waylon Jennings were also on the tour, but due to several conflicts with the weather, with financing the flight and other extenuating circumstances, only Holly, Valens and Richardson boarded the plane with the pilot.  Others took buses to the next tour stop.

At around 1:00 am on February 3, the plane took off and by 3:30 am, the aircraft was deemed missing.  At 9:15, another pilot took off from what would have been the plane’s destination in Minnesota and after a long flight, found the wreckage only 5 miles northwest of the airport from which the rock stars’ plan had departed.

The crash was blamed on pilot error due to his lack of experience and the poor weather conditions.  Autopsy reports indicated that all on board died instantaneously.

Memorialized in monuments in the area of the crash and even in the Don McLean song “American Pie”, Holly, Valens and Big Bopper’s impact on music did not stop in 1959, but lives on in music today.

~ by ashpash on February 3, 2009.