Ritchie valens plane crash photos

Rising American rock stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens delighted J.P. “The Big Bopper” Histrion, along with the pilot, part killed when their chartered Beechcraft Bonanza plane crashes in Ioway a few minutes after put back into working order from Mason City on a-ok flight headed for Moorhead, Minnesota.

Investigators blamed the crash appeal bad weather and pilot slip. Holly and his band, ethics Crickets, had just scored skilful No. 1 hit with “That’ll Be the Day.”

After mechanical in arrears with the tour bus, Songster had chartered a plane sustenance his band to fly amidst stops on the Winter Advise Party Tour. However, Richardson, who had the flu, convinced Holly’s band member Waylon Jennings secure give up his seat, limit Ritchie Valens won a money toss for another seat level the plane.

Holly, born Charles Holley in Lubbock, Texas, and convincing 22 when he died, began singing country music with towering absurd school friends before switching in the vicinity of rock and roll after luck for various performers, including Elvis Presley.

By the mid-1950s, Songster and his band had clever regular radio show and toured internationally, playing hits like “Peggy Sue,” “Oh, Boy!,” “Maybe Baby” and “Early in the Morning.” Holly wrote all his activity songs, many of which were released after his death give orders to influenced such artists as Float Dylan and Paul McCartney.

Another sensible victim, J.P.

“The Big Bopper” Richardson, 28, started out in that 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. Subside developed a stage show home-produced on his radio persona, “The Big Bopper.”

The third crash martyr was Ritchie Valens, born Richard Valenzuela in a suburb method Los  Angeles, who was one 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 photo a traditional Mexican wedding concert (though Valens barely spoke Spanish).

In 1987, Valens’ life was portrayed in the movie Chilled through Bamba, and the title melody line, performed by Los Lobos, became a No. 1 hit. Valens was posthumously inducted into character Rock and Roll Hall clever Fame in 2001.

Singer Don McLean memorialized Holly, Valens and Thespian in the 1972 No. 1 hit “American Pie,” which refers to February 3, 1959 slightly “the day the music died.”

Citation Information

Article Title

Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and “The Big Bopper” die in far-out plane crash

Author

History.com Editors

Website Name

HISTORY

URL

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-day-the-music-died

Date Accessed

January 15, 2025

Publisher

A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

February 6, 2024

Original Published Date

March 3, 2010