It was the event that was immortalized in the 1971 song “American Pie” by singer-songwriter Don McLean.
Appropriately referred to as “The Day the Music Died,” weather likely contributed to a commuter flight crash that killed rock n’ roll musicians Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper —whose real name was J.P. Richardson — and Ritchie Valens, along with pilot Roger Peterson.
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While on a grueling Midwest tour, Holly opted to charter a flight for himself and his bandmates from Mason City, Iowa to Fargo, North Dakota. The bus for the “Winter Dance Party” tour had been breaking down and temperatures were bitterly cold. Richardson, also known as “The Big Bopper,” asked Waylon Jennings, who was one of Holly’s band members if he could have his seat on the flight because he had been battling the flu.
Valens asked Tommy Allsup, Holly’s guitar player for his seat. They flipped a coin and Valens won the seat.
Across the Midwest, temperatures had been below zero and when the plane took off, snow bands were developing. The young pilot, Roger Peterson, took off in the Beechcraft Bonanza, without much experience flying in wintry weather. Snow began to accumulate on the plane, causing it to lose altitude.
The plane crashed 10 miles from the airport, killing all on board.
In June 1988, a memorial bearing the names of Peterson and the three entertainers was dedicated outside the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa.
Don McLean later famously addressed the plane crash in his 1971 song “American Pie” labeling it “The Day the Music Died.”
