The Day the Music Died

On a cold winter's night on February 3, 1959, a small private plane took off from Clear Lake, Iowa bound for Fargo, N.D. It never made its destination. When that plane crashed, it claimed the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, J.P. "Big Bopper" Richardson and the pilot, Roger Peterson. Three of Rock and Roll's most promising performers were gone. As Don McLean wrote in his classic music parable, American Pie, it was "the day the music died."

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.

Inscribed on Ritchie Valens' grave are the words, "Come On, Let's Go."

Hope this wasnt too much for everyone to read, i know from watching LA BAMBA sooo many times we all know the story, but today was one of the sadest days is musics history.