This Day in History:
The Day the Music Died February 3, 1959 Rising American rock stars
Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens
and J.P. “The Big Bopper”
Richardson are killed. Their chartered Beechcraft
Bonanza plane crashed in
Iowa a few minutes after
takeoff from Mason City. 22 year-old Holly
had chartered the
plane for his band. Because Richardson had the flu,
he convinced Holly’s band member
Waylon Jennings to give up his seat. 17 year-old
Valens won a
coin toss for a seat. Singer Don McLean memorialized
the crash in the 1972 No. 1 hit,
“American Pie,” which refers
to the tragedy as “the day the music died.”