The saddest day in Rock n’ Roll history, February 3^rd 1959. The day when the music died!

Exactly 62 years ago, three young and emerging stars of Rock n’ Roll, who was a part of the winter dance party tour, were killed in an air crash near clear lake, Iowa. These stars were Buddy Holly, who was 22 years old, J.P. Richardson, who was 28 years old and the youngest and the most tragic was Ritchie Valens, who was just 17 years old.

Who were Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson?

Buddy Holly was a self-taught musician, was encouraged by seeing Elvis Presley performs in Lubbock. He formed a band with bandmates Niki Sullivan, Jerry Allison, and Joe B. Mauldin named “The Crickets”. His first record was a hit with many chart-topping songs. He and his band was a big influence on future musicians, especially the legendary “The Beatles” (Crickets and Beatles, does it ring a bell?).  Jiles” The Big Bopper” Richardson was a disk Jockey who was known for his buffoon stage persona, was well-loved by the audience. He even held a world record of continuous on-air broadcast, which went on to five days. The most tragic out of all was Ritchie Valens, a young, popular upcoming musician who was just seventeen years old at the time of the crash. He was a pioneer of the Rock n’ Roll and the Chicano rock movement. He dropped his high school to devote his time and energies to music. In his short career of eight months, he gave the cult classic hits like “LaBamba” and“Donna”.

 The Winter Dance Party

All of these musicians and artists went on a tour all around the Midwest named winter dance party. The tour was to go on four three and a half weeks. It was ill-fated from the start as many crew members and musician were down with flu, and the tour bus often broke down. This gruelling schedule took a toll on Buddy Holly, and he booked a chartered flight to Frago. He, along with Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, boarded the plane. Due to the bad weather conditions, the plane crashed six miles north of the airport.

The day the music died.

So, the world lost some of the few promising and talented musicians who had a promising career ahead of them. These musicians were immortalized by Don McLean’s “American Pie” song.

But February made me shiver with every paper I delivered. Bad news on the doorsteps, I couldn’t take one more step.