Jiles Perry "J.P." Richardson Jr., better known by his stage name The Big Bopper, was an American musician and disc jockey. His best-known compositions include "Chantilly Lace," "Running Bear", and "White Lightning", the latter of which became George Jones's first number-one hit in 1959. He was killed in an airplane crash in Clear Lake, Iowa, in 1959, along with fellow musicians Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, and the pilot, Roger Peterson.
Richardson in 1958
Advertisement featured in Cashbox magazine, 13 December 1958
Monument in front of Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa
Monument at crash site, September 16, 2003
George Glenn Jones was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for a long list of hit records, and is well known for his distinctive voice and phrasing. For the last two decades of his life, Jones was frequently referred to as "the greatest living country singer", "The Rolls-Royce of Country Music", and had more than 160 chart singles to his name from 1955 until his death in 2013.
Jones performing in Metropolis, Illinois, in 2002
Hank Williams, Jones's biggest musical influence
One of George Jones's duet partners was Melba Montgomery. In the 1960s, they recorded a series of duets such as "We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds".
Tammy Wynette in 1971