On February 3, 1959, a small four-seater plane took off from a tiny airport in Clear Lake, Iowa, in the middle of a snowstorm. On board were three of the biggest young rock and roll stars in America: 22-year-old Buddy Holly, 17-year-old Ritchie Valens, and 28-year-old J.P. 'The Big Bopper' Richardson. They had finished a concert hours earlier and were sick of riding a freezing tour bus, so they chipped in for a quick flight to the next show in Minnesota.
The pilot was only 21 and hadn't been trained for flying in such heavy weather. Minutes after takeoff, the plane went down in a snowy cornfield. All four people on it were lost. Buddy Holly had already changed music with hits like 'Peggy Sue,' Ritchie Valens had just made 'La Bamba' a smash, and the Big Bopper's 'Chantilly Lace' was playing on every radio. Fans were stunned when they heard the news the next morning.
More than a decade later, singer Don McLean wrote a long song called 'American Pie' that called it 'the day the music died,' and the nickname stuck forever. The crash showed how fast a bright future could vanish, but it also turned those three musicians into legends. Their songs still get sung at parties, jukeboxes, and school dances, and every February 3, fans gather at the Iowa cornfield to remember three guys who helped invent the sound of rock and roll.
