This Day in History:, The Day the Music Died.
February 3, 1959.
Rising American rock stars
Buddy Holly, J.P. “The Big Bopper”
Richardson and Ritchie Valens 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 the seat.
Singer Don McLean memorialized
the crash in “American Pie,” referring to
the tragedy as “the day the music died.”