On February 3, 1959, American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and "The Big Bopper" J. P. Richardson were all killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, together with pilot Roger Peterson. The event became known as "The Day the Music Died" after singer-songwriter Don McLean referred to it as such in his 1971 song "American Pie".
The wreckage of the Bonanza at the crash site
A V-tailed Bonanza similar to N3794N, the accident aircraft
Concert poster for the ill-fated "Winter Dance Party" tour.
A conventional artificial horizon: sky on top, ground at the bottom
Charles Hardin Holley, known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer and songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texas, during the Great Depression, and learned to play guitar and sing alongside his siblings. Holly's style was influenced by gospel music, country music, and rhythm and blues acts, which he performed in Lubbock with his friends from high school.
Holly in 1957
Buddy Holly and the Crickets in 1957 (top to bottom: Allison, Holly and Mauldin)
Cashbox advertisement, August 3, 1957
Signpost near the Clear Lake crash site