On February 3, 1959, American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and "The Big Bopper" J. P. Richardson were all killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, together with pilot Roger Peterson.[a][1][2] The event later became known as "The Day the Music Died" after singer-songwriter Don McLean referred to it as such in his 1971 song "American Pie".
GAC-Super Productions, the organization that booked the tour,[7] later received considerable criticism for their seemingly total disregard for the conditions they forced the touring musicians to endure:
The day the music died
Later, Richardson and Valens began experiencing flu-like symptoms and drummer Bunch was hospitalized for severely frostbitten feet after the tour bus stalled in the middle of the highway in subzero temperatures near Ironwood, Michigan. The musicians replaced that bus with another school bus and kept traveling.[9] As Holly's group had been the backing band for all of the acts, Holly, Valens and DiMucci took turns playing drums for each other at the performances in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Clear Lake, Iowa, with Holly playing drums for Dion, Dion playing drums for Ritchie, and Ritchie playing drums for Holly.[10]
The most widely accepted version of events was that Richardson had contracted the flu during the tour and asked Jennings for his seat on the plane.[16] When Holly learned that Jennings was not going to fly, he said in jest: "Well, I hope your damned bus freezes up." Jennings responded: "Well, I hope your ol' plane crashes", a humorous but ill-fated response that haunted him for the rest of his life.[17] Valens, who once had a fear of flying, asked Allsup for his seat on the plane. The two agreed to toss a coin to decide.[11] Bob Hale, a disc jockey with Mason City's KRIB-AM, was emceeing the concert that night and flipped the coin in the ballroom's side-stage room shortly before the musicians departed for the airport. Valens won the coin toss for the seat on the flight. Valens is apocryphally said to have remarked, "That's the first time I've ever won anything in my life."[citation needed]
The Bonanza had impacted terrain at high speed, estimated to have been around 170 mph (270 km/h), banked steeply to the right and in a nose-down attitude. The right wing tip had struck the ground first, sending the aircraft cartwheeling across the frozen field for 540 feet (160 m), before coming to rest against a wire fence at the edge of Juhl's property.[12] The bodies of Holly and Valens had been ejected from the fuselage and lay near the plane's wreckage. Richardson's body had been thrown over the fence and into the cornfield of Juhl's neighbor Oscar Moffett, while Peterson's body was entangled in the wreckage.[12] With the rest of the entourage en route to Minnesota, Anderson, who had driven the party to the airport and witnessed the plane's takeoff, had to identify the bodies of the musicians.[23] County coroner Ralph Smiley certified that all four victims died instantly, citing the cause of death as "gross trauma to brain" for the three artists and "brain damage" for the pilot.[24][25]
On March 6, 2007, in Beaumont, Texas, Richardson's body was exhumed for reburial. This was due to the Recorded Texas Historic Landmark being awarded to the Big Bopper's original grave site, where a bronze statue would subsequently be erected. Forest Lawn cemetery did not allow above-ground monuments at that specific site, and Richardson's body was moved at the cemetery's expense to a more suitable area. As the body was to be placed in a new casket while above ground, the musician's son, Jay Perry Richardson, took the opportunity to have his father's body re-examined to verify the original coroner's findings and asked forensic anthropologist William M. Bass to carry out the procedure. A longstanding rumor surrounding the accident, which this re-examination sought to confirm or dispel, asserted that an accidental firearm discharge took place on board the aircraft and caused the crash. Another longstanding theory[clarification needed] surmised that Richardson initially survived the crash and subsequently crawled out of the wreckage in search of help before succumbing to his injuries, prompted by the fact that his body was found farther from the plane than the other victims. Bass and his team took several X-rays of Richardson's body and eventually concluded that the musician had indeed died instantly from extensive, unsurvivable fractures to virtually every bone in his body. No traces of lead were found from any bullet, nor any indication that he had been shot. Coroner Smiley's original 1959 report was, therefore, confirmed as accurate.[30][31]
Paquette also created a similar stainless-steel monument to the three musicians located outside the Riverside Ballroom in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where Holly, Richardson, and Valens played their penultimate show on February 1. This second memorial was unveiled on July 17, 2003.[41] In February 2009, a further memorial made by Paquette for Peterson was unveiled at the crash site.[42]
On February 3, 1959, American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and "The Big Bopper" J. P. Richardson were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, together with pilot Roger Peterson.
On the night before their deaths, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and Jiles Perry "J.P" Richardson jr. a.k.a The Big Bopper had played one of their gigs for the 24 city Winter Dance Party Tour. They boarded a tour bus when the heating system broke down, which meant all the musicians, including Holly's band, had to board a Beechcraft Bonanza 35 plane bound for the next gig in Moorhead, Minnesota. After the time went to 1:00 a.m, pilot Roger Peterson lost control of the plane, which crashed into a cornfield, killing Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper instantly, ejecting them on impact.
Even today, people pay their respects to the memorials, leaving little tokens to their dearly departed musical idols. The glasses can be found on the roadside, but the actual crash site is set back from the road, and can be harder to find. However, visitors have reported that the locals, including the farmer on whose property the memorial resides, are more than happy to help.
"And I had the beginning of it now. I wrote that first part from 'A long, long time ago' right until 'the day the music died' in one go. I just wrote it as I sang. It came out of my mouth just like that. And I just had to figure out where to take it from there."
"The same group of people that elected Kennedy produced Dylan. It's just my theory," McLean says. "Each year, I think, 'Damn, it's still working, isn't it?' Right up through Trump. I mean, today's music is perfect for Trump. Empty. Loud."
If right-wingers want to throw a punch at musicians for inspiring bad behavior among America's youth, they can lay off poor Marilyn Manson, whose worst influence is his fashion directive. But they'd be dead-on if they pointed to the likes of Kid Rock, Insane Clown Posse, Red Hot Chili Peppers and, especially, Limp Bizkit.
The worst perpetrator was Limp Bizkit, the huge metal-rap band. I witnessed the megalomania of singer Fred Durst in June, when he nearly caused a riot at Shoreline Amphitheater during the LIVE-105 show by encouraging the audience to rush the guards and get close to the stage. Stagehands, recognizing they were outnumbered by whacked-on-music kids, wisely stepped to the side and let nature take its course.
Rage Against the Machine had the daunting task of following the disaster and quelling the crowd. The band apparently did so by not only turning down the volume, but by giving kids music fused with a message to hang onto. Not one of "peace and love" - this group is as angry as the next band - but at least one with a consciousness. As longtime agents for social change, Rage was the one band to channel anything from 1969.
Musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. Richardson died along with the pilot Roger Peterson in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa. In the thick of winter, the poor flight conditions led to the Peterson losing control of the plane, causing it to crash and claim the lives of all four people on board.
One of them was Buddy Holly, a singer-songwriter who wrote many songs during his short career and is credited with defining the rock and roll lineup of two guitars, bass, and drums. His music had a huge influence on musicians such as Bob Dylan and The Beatles.
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So go the lyrics to the first verse of Don McLean's 1971 folk rock song "American Pie," which went to #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 the following year. What was this music that made him smile, when was this February day that made him shiver, and what did he mean by "the day the music died?" McLean is singing of rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, J.P. Richardson (known professionally as the Big Bopper), and Ritchie Valens, who died in a plane crash in the early hours of February 3, 1959. On The Day the Music Died, we remember their passing and honor their legacy.
The three musicians were taking part in the Winter Dance Party, a grueling 24 date tour of the Midwest in January and February of 1959, which had at least one show every night, if not two. Holly's band consisted of Tommy Allsup and Waylon Jennings. Dion and the Belmonts were also on the tour, as was Frankie Sardo.
Fans asked for autographs and waved goodbye as the musicians boarded the Beechcraft Bonanza plane at the Mason City airport, about 3.5 miles from the Surf Ballroom. It was about 12:30 am on the morning of February 3. According to Waylon Jennings' autobiography, Holly had said, "I hope your damned bus freezes up again," to which Waylon replied, "Well, I hope your 'ol plane crashes." 2ff7e9595c
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