The Day The Music Died

The day the music died

Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper became rock's first casualties in a plane crash 50 years ago

By JOHN KRYK -- Sun Media

Buddy Holly

Fifty years ago this Tuesday -- on Feb. 3, 1959 -- three of the then biggest acts in rock 'n' roll were killed in an airplane crash.

Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and "The Big Bopper" (J.P. Richardson) all died instantly. They were ejected upon impact as an inexperienced pilot got confused in a snowstorm and inadvertently flew his single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza right into the ground -- in a remote corn field near Clear Lake, Iowa.

Such a travesty, such a waste. This was the first time those words were spoken about rock 'n' rollers, but certainly not the last.

It is remembered as "The Day the Music Died," thanks to that famous lyric from Don McLean's classic 1971 ode American Pie.

Holly -- born Charles Hardin Holley -- hailed from Lubbock, Tex. On his own or with his backing band The Crickets, he'd scored a slew of hits since 1957 with That'll Be the Day, Oh! Boy, Maybe Baby, Peggy Sue and It Doesn't Matter Anymore. Today, Holly is remembered as both a ground-breaking songwriter and guitar player for the rock 'n' roll form.

Everyone from The Beatles to the Rolling Stones to Bruce Springsteen have listed him as a major influence. He was only 22.

Valens -- born Richard Steven Valenzuela -- was a pioneer of latin rock from Pacoima, Calif. He had just broken big with the hit Donna, which would reach No. 2 on the U.S. charts. Perhaps the song he's most remembered for now, La Bamba, reached only No. 22. He was 17.

Source:- http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/H/Holly_Buddy/2009/01/30/8207861-sun.html

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Had a bit of a freaky coincedence with this today, someone asked me what I thought the best song ever was, and I said, "American Pie" which of course is where "the day the music died" came from...