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"The Day The Music Died"


cheaptrick77

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FEBRUARY 3, 1959

 

A small airplane departing from Clear Lake, Iowa (bound for Fargo, North Dakota) carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, J.P. Richardson (a.k.a. "The Big Bopper") and pilot Roger Peterson (the forgotten man) crashes on a cold winter's night, killing all four men.

 

from http://www.fiftiesweb.com/crash.htm:

Waylon Jennings gave his seat up to Richardson, who was running a fever and had trouble fitting his stocky frame comfortably into the bus seats.

 

When Holly learned that Jennings wasn't going to fly, he said, "Well, I hope your old bus freezes up." Jennings responded, "Well, I hope your plane crashes." This friendly banter of friends would haunt Jennings for years.

 

Allsup told Valens, I'll flip you for the remaining seat. On the toss of a coin, Valens won the seat and Allsup the rest of his life.

 

The plane took off a little after 1 A.M. from Clear Lake and never got far from the airport before it crashed, killing all onboard.

 

A cold N.E wind immediately gave way to a snow which drastically reduced visibility. The ground was already blanketed in white. The pilot may have been inexperienced witht he instrumentation.

 

One wing hit the ground and the small plane corkscrewed over and over. The three young stars were thrown clear of the plane, leaving only pilot Roger Peterson inside.

 

Over the years there has been much speculation as to whether a shot was fired inside the plane which disabled or killed the pilot. Logic suggests that encased in a sea of white snow, with only white below, Peterson just flew the plane into the ground.

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Those 3 died the year I was born. I feel that Buddy Holly may have been one of the greatest musical talents of the 20th century had he not died. Just consider his body of work by the age of 22. When most of us were 22 we could barely balance a checkbook.

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  • 5 years later...
Those 3 died the year I was born. I feel that Buddy Holly may have been one of the greatest musical talents of the 20th century had he not died. Just consider his body of work by the age of 22. When most of us were 22 we could barely balance a checkbook.

I agree. Holly would have been one of the all-time greats, in performing and song writing.

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  • 11 months later...
Those 3 died the year I was born. I feel that Buddy Holly may have been one of the greatest musical talents of the 20th century had he not died. Just consider his body of work by the age of 22. When most of us were 22 we could barely balance a checkbook.

I agree with you about Buddy Holly and also believe that it applies to Hank Williams, who died when he was only 29. The circumstances of their deaths were very different, of course, with Holly being in an accident and Williams living a destructive life style.

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