This Day in History: <br />The Day the Music Died February 3, 1959 Rising American rock stars <br />Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens <br />and J.P. “The Big Bopper” <br />Richardson are killed. Their chartered Beechcraft <br />Bonanza plane crashed in <br />Iowa a few minutes after <br />takeoff from Mason City. 22 year-old Holly <br />had chartered the <br />plane for his band. Because Richardson had the flu, <br />he convinced Holly’s band member <br />Waylon Jennings to give up his seat. 17 year-old <br />Valens won a <br />coin toss for a seat. Singer Don McLean memorialized <br />the crash in the 1972 No. 1 hit, <br />“American Pie,” which refers <br />to the tragedy as “the day the music died.”
