This Day in History:, The Day the Music Died.<br />February 3, 1959.<br />Rising American rock stars <br />Buddy Holly, J.P. “The Big Bopper” <br />Richardson and Ritchie Valens are killed.<br />Their chartered Beechcraft Bonanza plane <br />crashed in Iowa a few minutes after <br />takeoff from Mason City.<br />22-year-old Holly <br />had chartered the <br />plane for his band.<br />Because Richardson had the flu, <br />he convinced Holly’s band member, <br />Waylon Jennings, to give up his seat.<br />17-year-old Valens won <br />a coin toss for the seat.<br />Singer Don McLean memorialized <br />the crash in “American Pie,” referring to <br />the tragedy as “the day the music died.”
