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On This Day: Buddy Holly Killed in Plane Crash
February 03, 2009 06:01 AM
by
findingDulcinea Staff
On Feb. 3, 1959, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper died in a plane crash. Their deaths would be immortalized in the Don McLean song “American Pie.”
The Day The Music Died
The three musicians were performing on the “Winter Dance Party” tour. The grueling Midwest winter and long, frozen bus rides tour were “rough on the performers,” according to American Heritage magazine.
Buddy Holly chartered a small plane, which was flown by an inexperienced pilot, and they took off from Iowa at about 12:55 a.m. on Feb. 3, 1959. The Big Bopper had the flu, and Ritchie Valens was battling a cold. So they exchanged places with members of Holly’s band on the plane to avoid another chilly night on the bus.
During a snowstorm that night, the plane crashed in Iowa, killing all three musicians and the pilot.
Buddy Holly, who was perhaps the most established of the three, is known for hits such as “That'll Be the Day,” “Peggy Sue,” and “Oh Boy!”
According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, this “charismatic figure with his trademark horn-rimmed glasses and vocal hiccup,” revered Elvis Presley and would later inspire bands like The Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
Ritchie Valens, born Richard Steven Valenzuela, was only 17 years old when he died. The teenaged singer was able to fuse the musical style of traditional Mexican music with contemporary rock and roll. “La Bamba” is one of his best-known songs, and the musician was portrayed in the 1987 film of the same name.
Finally, the Big Bopper, who grew up Jiles Perry Richardson Jr., began his musical career as a Texas disc jockey, and even broke a record in 1957 for broadcasting for six hours straight. He would have his own chart-topping single in 1958 with “Chantilly Lace.”
"They are all different but of the same era—pioneers, artists that really did catch the ear of the world, not just America," said Terry Stewart, president of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, to the Detroit Free Press.
Don McLean, a 13-year-old paperboy who grew up to write the song "American Pie," recalls reading about the accident in his own stack of newspapers and feeling, as did many other Americans at the time, as if "someone had punched me in the face." The crash was commemorated in his song “American Pie” as “the day the music died.”
Buddy Holly chartered a small plane, which was flown by an inexperienced pilot, and they took off from Iowa at about 12:55 a.m. on Feb. 3, 1959. The Big Bopper had the flu, and Ritchie Valens was battling a cold. So they exchanged places with members of Holly’s band on the plane to avoid another chilly night on the bus.
During a snowstorm that night, the plane crashed in Iowa, killing all three musicians and the pilot.
Buddy Holly, who was perhaps the most established of the three, is known for hits such as “That'll Be the Day,” “Peggy Sue,” and “Oh Boy!”
According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, this “charismatic figure with his trademark horn-rimmed glasses and vocal hiccup,” revered Elvis Presley and would later inspire bands like The Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
Ritchie Valens, born Richard Steven Valenzuela, was only 17 years old when he died. The teenaged singer was able to fuse the musical style of traditional Mexican music with contemporary rock and roll. “La Bamba” is one of his best-known songs, and the musician was portrayed in the 1987 film of the same name.
Finally, the Big Bopper, who grew up Jiles Perry Richardson Jr., began his musical career as a Texas disc jockey, and even broke a record in 1957 for broadcasting for six hours straight. He would have his own chart-topping single in 1958 with “Chantilly Lace.”
"They are all different but of the same era—pioneers, artists that really did catch the ear of the world, not just America," said Terry Stewart, president of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, to the Detroit Free Press.
Don McLean, a 13-year-old paperboy who grew up to write the song "American Pie," recalls reading about the accident in his own stack of newspapers and feeling, as did many other Americans at the time, as if "someone had punched me in the face." The crash was commemorated in his song “American Pie” as “the day the music died.”
Key Players: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley was born in Lubbock, Texas, on Sept. 7, 1936. He played guitar, banjo and mandolin by the age of 15, and by the mid-1950s was playing in a "western and bop" duo with childhood friend Bob Montgomery called Buddy & Bob. He was signed onto a record label in 1956. In 1957, Holly and the Crickets recorded "That'll Be the Day," which later topped the pop charts, and by 1958 the group had had seven Top Forty singles. The group split up in 1958, and Holly moved to Greenwich Village and married Maria Elena Santiago. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. According to the Hall of Fame, “His creative self-reliance and energetic, inspired craftsmanship prefigured the coming wave of rock and rollers in the Sixties.” Holly was a role model for such bands as The Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
Charles Hardin Holley was born in Lubbock, Texas, on Sept. 7, 1936. He played guitar, banjo and mandolin by the age of 15, and by the mid-1950s was playing in a "western and bop" duo with childhood friend Bob Montgomery called Buddy & Bob. He was signed onto a record label in 1956. In 1957, Holly and the Crickets recorded "That'll Be the Day," which later topped the pop charts, and by 1958 the group had had seven Top Forty singles. The group split up in 1958, and Holly moved to Greenwich Village and married Maria Elena Santiago. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. According to the Hall of Fame, “His creative self-reliance and energetic, inspired craftsmanship prefigured the coming wave of rock and rollers in the Sixties.” Holly was a role model for such bands as The Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
Ritchie Valens
Richard Steven Valenzuela was born in the Los Angeles suburb of Pacoima, surrounded by Mexican music but also influenced by R&B vocal groups. He learned guitar and joined a local band when he was 16, and was eventually taken under the wing of Del-Fi label owner Bob Keane, with whom he produced his debut single, "Come On, Let's Go." He would then release "Donna," and "La Bamba." "Donna" was later called "one of the classic teen love ballads" by rock critic Lester Bangs, and "La Bamba," perhaps his most-remembered hit, "foreshadowed garage-rock, frat-rock and punk-rock," according to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 2001.
Richard Steven Valenzuela was born in the Los Angeles suburb of Pacoima, surrounded by Mexican music but also influenced by R&B vocal groups. He learned guitar and joined a local band when he was 16, and was eventually taken under the wing of Del-Fi label owner Bob Keane, with whom he produced his debut single, "Come On, Let's Go." He would then release "Donna," and "La Bamba." "Donna" was later called "one of the classic teen love ballads" by rock critic Lester Bangs, and "La Bamba," perhaps his most-remembered hit, "foreshadowed garage-rock, frat-rock and punk-rock," according to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 2001.
The Big Bopper
Jiles Perry Richardson Jr., or “Jape,” was born on Oct. 24, 1930 in Sabine Pass, Texas. He earned the stage name of The Big Bopper in 1957 while working as a deejay at KTRM in Beaumont, Texas. He set a record in 1957 for continuous broadcasting, lasting “six days straight,” and “spinning 1,821 records.” “Chantilly Lace,” his most famous song, “became the 3rd most played song of 1958." Despite rampant rumors after his death that a gun of Buddy Holly's found at the crash site was fired on the plane, an exhumation in 2007 found that there had been no “foul play” involved during the plane crash.
Jiles Perry Richardson Jr., or “Jape,” was born on Oct. 24, 1930 in Sabine Pass, Texas. He earned the stage name of The Big Bopper in 1957 while working as a deejay at KTRM in Beaumont, Texas. He set a record in 1957 for continuous broadcasting, lasting “six days straight,” and “spinning 1,821 records.” “Chantilly Lace,” his most famous song, “became the 3rd most played song of 1958." Despite rampant rumors after his death that a gun of Buddy Holly's found at the crash site was fired on the plane, an exhumation in 2007 found that there had been no “foul play” involved during the plane crash.
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