The Day the Music Died
The memorial marking the crash site, 2003
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| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | February 3, 1959 |
| Summary | Spatial disorientation, pilot not qualified to fly in IMC conditions. |
| Site | Near Clear Lake, Iowa, United States 43°13′13.3″N 93°22′53.1″W / 43.220361°N 93.381417°WCoordinates: 43°13′13.3″N 93°22′53.1″W / 43.220361°N 93.381417°W |
| Passengers | 3 |
| Crew | 1 |
| Fatalities | 4 (all) |
| Aircraft type | Beechcraft Bonanza |
| Operator | Dwyer Flying Service, Mason City, Iowa |
| Registration | N3794N |
| Flight origin | Mason City Municipal Airport, Iowa |
| Destination | Hector Airport, North Dakota |
On February 3, 1959, rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, together with pilot Roger Peterson. The event later became known as "The Day the Music Died", after singer-songwriter Don McLean so referred to it in his 1971 song "American Pie".
At the time, Holly and his band, consisting of Waylon Jennings, Tommy Allsup, and Carl Bunch, were playing on the "Winter Dance Party" tour across the Midwest. Rising artists Valens and Richardson had joined the tour as well.
The long journeys between venues on board the cold, uncomfortable tour buses adversely affected the performers, with cases of flu and even frostbite. After stopping at Clear Lake to perform, and frustrated by such conditions, Holly decided to charter a plane to reach their next venue in Moorhead, Minnesota. Richardson, who had flu, swapped places with Jennings, taking his seat on the plane, while Allsup lost his seat to Valens on a coin toss.
Soon after take-off, late at night and in poor, wintry weather conditions, the pilot lost control of the light aircraft, a Beechcraft Bonanza, which subsequently crashed into a cornfield, leaving no survivors.
The event has since been mentioned in various songs and films; a number of monuments have been erected at the crash site and in Clear Lake, where also an annual memorial concert is held at the same venue that hosted the artists' last performance.
Buddy Holly terminated his association with the Crickets in November 1958. For the start of the "Winter Dance Party" tour, he assembled a band consisting of Waylon Jennings (bass), Tommy Allsup (guitar), and Carl Bunch (drums), with the opening vocals of Frankie Sardo. The tour was set to cover 24 Midwestern cities in as many days. New hit artist Ritchie Valens, J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson and Dion DiMucci and his band The Belmonts joined the tour to promote their recordings and make an extra profit.
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