via Mental Floss
Fifty-one years ago today, a plane crashed shortly after taking off from Clear Lake, Iowa, killing all four people aboard. They were pilot Roger Peterson, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and J.P. Richardson, known as “The Big Bopper.” February 3rd, 1959, became known as The Day the Music Died.
Valens, Richardon, and Holly were on tour with a show called “The Winter Dance Party Tour” with Dion and the Belmonts. The tour bus was so cold and miserable that one band member reportedly developed frostbite. Buddy Holly had had enough, and decided to charter a plane in Clear Lake to fly to Fargo, North Dakota for the next gig. Dwyer Flying Service was hired for $36 a seat, and the plane was ready to leave after the show at the Surf Ballroom. Waylon Jennings, a backup singer for the show, relinquished his seat on the plane to Richardson because he was running a fever. Another backup singer, Tommy Allsup, lost his chance to fly in a coin flip with Valens.
| Wiki entry: Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll. Although his success lasted only a year and a half before his death in an airplane crash, Holly is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most influential creative force in early rock and roll.". His works and innovations inspired and influenced both his contemporaries and later musicians, notably The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, Don McLean, and Bob Dylan, and exerted a profound influence on popular music. Holly was in the first group of inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Holly #13 among "The Fifty Greatest Artists of All Time". |  |
There's an excellent movie about Holly's rise to fame: The Buddy Holly Story, starring Gary Busey in what was, IMHO, an Oscar-deserving performance. Busey not only nailed Holly's look and mannerisms, he also did a fantastic job singing.
