Back in the Day: the day the music died

February 3, 1959 Three of the earliest heroes of Rock and Roll – Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and JP ‘The Big Bopper’ Richardson – are killed along with their pilot Roger Peterson when their plane crashes in Iowa, USA.

Richardson, best known for his hit Chantilly Lace, had not been supposed to be on the flight but, suffering from flu and preferring not to take an unheated bus, took the seat of Holly’s bandmember Waylon Jennings.

Valens, who at the age of 17 had already found success with his song La Bamba, was only on the flight after winning a coin-flip with another Holly band member Tommy Allsop.

The best known of the passengers however was 22-year-old Buddy Holly. He and his band The Crickets had enjoyed a string of hits such as Peggy Sue, That’ll Be the Day, Oh Boy! and Maybe Baby. The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and Elton John are among the performers who admit they were largely influenced by Holly’s music.

An investigation found the plane crash was caused by bad weather and human error by a pilot unaccustomed to such conditions. Countless tributes have since been paid to the event, perhaps the most famous being Don McLean’s 1971 song American Pie, referring to February 3, 1959 as “the day the music died.”

TRIBUTES AND COVERS

John Lennon - Maybe Baby
The Beatles - Words of Love
Paul McCartney speaks about Holly's influence
The Rolling Stones - Not Fade Away
Bob Dylan pays tribute to Buddy Holly at 1998 Grammy Awards

Also on February 3: Greece gains recognition as a sovereign state (1830); the founding of the Benelux Economic Union (1958); Australia carries out capital punishment for the last time (1967).

Born on February 3: Felix Mendelssohn (1809), Walter Bagehot (1826), Simone Weil (1909), Val Doonican (1927), Joachim Löw (1960).

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