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N0KFQ > TODAY 03.02.17 15:27l 56 Lines 2411 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 21137_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Feb 3
Path: IW8PGT<CX2SA<XE1FH<ZL2BAU<N9PMO<NS2B<N3IP<KA3BVJ<N0KFQ
Sent: 170203/1318Z 21137@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ6.0.13
1959
The day the music died
On this day in 1959, rising American rock stars Buddy Holly,
Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson are killed
when their chartered Beechcraft Bonanza plane crashes in Iowa a
few minutes after takeoff from Mason City on a flight headed for
Moorehead, Minnesota. Investigators blamed the crash on bad
weather and pilot error. Holly and his band, the Crickets, had
just scored a No. 1 hit with "That'll Be the Day."
After mechanical difficulties with the tour bus, Holly had
chartered a plane for his band to fly between stops on the Winter
Dance Party Tour. However, Richardson, who had the flu, convinced
Holly's band member Waylon Jennings to give up his seat, and
Ritchie Valens won a coin toss for another seat on the plane.
Holly, born Charles Holley in Lubbock, Texas, and just 22 when he
died, began singing country music with high school friends before
switching to rock and roll after opening for various performers,
including Elvis Presley. By the mid-1950s, Holly and his band had
a regular radio show and toured internationally, playing hits
like "Peggy Sue," "Oh, Boy!," "Maybe Baby" and "Early in the
Morning." Holly wrote all his own songs, many of which were
released after his death and influenced such artists as Bob Dylan
and Paul McCartney.
Another crash victim, J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, 28,
started out as a disk jockey in Texas and later began writing
songs. Richardson's most famous recording was the rockabilly
"Chantilly Lace," which made the Top 10. He developed a stage
show based on his radio persona, "The Big Bopper."
The third crash victim was Ritchie Valens, born Richard
Valenzuela in a suburb of Los Angeles, who was only 17 when the
plane went down but had already scored hits with "Come On, Let's
Go," "Donna" and "La Bamba," an upbeat number based on a
traditional Mexican wedding song (though Valens barely spoke
Spanish). In 1987, Valens' life was portrayed in the movie La
Bamba, and the title song, performed by Los Lobos, became a No. 1
hit. Valens was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame in 2001.
Singer Don McLean memorialized Holly, Valens and Richardson in
the 1972 No. 1 hit "American Pie," which refers to February 3,
1959 as "the day the music died."
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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