Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings.Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty; Beth Gwinn/Getty
In the 1971 classic “American Pie,“Don McLeanwrote about “The Day the Music Died” — a.k.a. Feb. 3, 1959, when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and “The Big Bopper” J.P. Richardson were famously killed in a plane crash during a United States concert tour.
Five decades later, the tragedy was explored in aJuly 2022 episode of iHeartRadio’sToo Much Informationpodcast, where hosts Jordan Runtagh and Alex Heigl break down McLean’s hit song and discuss the events leading up to the plane crash.
Long before boarding the plane, Holly — famous for songs like “That’ll Be the Day” and “Peggy Sue” — was performing shows throughout the Midwest on the Winter Dance Party tour alongside Valens, Richardson, Dion and the Belmonts as well as Frankie Sardo. The musicians referred to the shows as “the tour from hell,” as they had to travel hundreds of miles each day and move all their own equipment in temperatures as low as -35 degrees Fahrenheit, per the podcast.
Ritchie Valens, “The Big Bopper” J.P. Richardson.Richard C. Miller/Donaldson Collection/Getty; Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
Weather conditions caused one performer to be hospitalized for frostbite, and many others came down with the flu. Holly was in a terrible mood in the hours leading up to a Feb. 2 concert in Clear Lake, Iowa — which would unknowingly be his last performance. After the show, he decided to avoid the cold and rent a private plane to fly himself and some of the musicians to their next gig in Fargo, North Dakota.
Supposedly, after hearing about the seat switch, Holly told Jennings, “Well, I hope your ol' bus freezes up.” In an eerie response that allegedly haunted Jennings until his death in 2002, he replied, “Well, I hope your ol' plane crashes.”
The flight took off at 12:55 a.m. on Feb. 3 and crashed into a cornfield about five minutes later, with the cause believed to be a weather-induced error on 21-year-old pilot Roger Peterson’s part. He wasn’t trained to fly in such poor conditions, which led to the crash that killed Holly at 22, Valens at 17 and Richardson at 28.
“The Day the Music Died”.Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
In the aftermath, Holly’s wife Maria learned about his death on television and later suffered a miscarriage due to “psychological trauma,” per the podcast. Similarly, his mother learned of his death while listening to the radio. The tragedy allegedly caused authorities to instate protocols requiring names of the deceased to be concealed from the public until family has been notified.
“Through my relationship with Buddy, I was able to discover my peculiar writing talent and, much to my amazement, help bring Buddy and his music back from the dead,” continued the musician. “In a sense, ‘American Pie’ contains the spiritual connection to Buddy Holly that was always in me. It’s as if we both gave each other new life.”
source: people.com
