The Day the Music Died. An In-Depth Look at What Happen.
There is a lot many people do not know about the horrible day "the music died." February 3, 1959 was the day a plane crashed carrying some of America's most popular musicians of the 50's, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “the Big Bopper” Richardson. The plane was only a few miles away from the airport and in the air for only minutes before crashing. I am going to break down what happen, maybe you will learn something new about the situation.
His last tour is famously called "Tour From Hell"
Buddy Holly was trying to step out on his own and away from his original band "The Crickets." His last tour, "Winter Dance Party," was suppose to do this for him. The tour was scattered across the map with no regard to how far one town was from the other. It was exhausting and the musicians were in freezing temperatures.
The musicians (Holly's new band consisting of Waylon Jennings, Tommy Allsup , Carl Bunch, as well as Ritchie Valens and J.P. “the Big Bopper” Richardson) were traveling in unheated busses, it was reportedly so cold that that the drummer had caught frost bite in his feet, some of the musicians caught the flu, and the busses were constantly breaking down and stopping mid drive due to freezing over. The musicians would reportedly start torn newspaper on fire in the bus while huddling together to stay warm. Holly was at his wits end. The show that Holly never made it to was 365 miles away. Holly needed sleep and was tired of the cold, he decided to charter a plane and allow two others to come along if they would split the cost.
Bob Dylan saw him play just three days before.
Bob Dylan, a young 17 year old high school student at the time had gone to see Buddy Holly in the Winter Dance Party. Dylan remembers being in the first row saying it was "as if there was a halo around Buddy's head." He claims he felt as if Holly was with him when he was recording his first record. According to Link Ray, when asked how Holly was with him during the recording Dylan said “While we were recording, every place I turned there was Buddy Holly. You know what I mean? It was one of those things. Every place you turned. You walked down a hallway and you heard Buddy Holly records like ‘That’ll Be the Day.’... But after we recorded and left, you know, it stayed in our minds. Well, Buddy Holly’s spirit must have been someplace, hastening this record". Dylan has since put Buddy Hollys record ‘Not Fade Away’ in his top 12 albums of all time. It is safe to say that that performance had a lasting impression on a young Dylan.
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Waylon Jennings was originally supposed to be on the plane.
Waylon Jennings who is now famous for his hits such as "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" and "Amanda" was in Holly's new band put together for the tour. Originally Both Ritchie Valens and J.P. “the Big Bopper” Richardson were not supposed to be aboard the plane. Holly had first offered one of the spare two seats on the plane to Dion DiMucci of "Dion and the Belmonts" who was on the tour. He had offered the seat for $36. That price was too steep for DiMucci because he remembered it was the price for rent when growing up, he was not okay with spending that type of money. After DiMucci's pass Holly offered the seats to his bandmates, Waylon Jennings and Tommy Allsup. However, J.P. “the Big Bopper” Richardson had caught a terrible flu and asked Jennings to give up his seat, Jennings gave up his seat for his pal instantly. Ritchie Valens had also caught the flu and had asked Allsup for his seat. Allsup was reluctant at first but he offered to flipp a coin, resulting in Valens winning the seat.
According to his wife he knew something bad would happen.
According to Holly's wife, María Elena Holly, they both had nightmares before Holly had gone on tour. María had dreamt of a metor flying in a big ball of fire towards earth resulting in a huge explosion. When she woke up and told Holly about the dream he disclosed that he had had a weird dream as well in which him, his wife, and his brother where on a plane. In the dream he left his wife on a roof top and flew away instead of including her, both dreams left a strange feeling in the couple. According to SUN UK, María was meant to go on the tour with Holly, but at last minute Holly told her to stay due to her pregnancy and her having morning sickness.
The two had only been married for six months before the crash; she had to learn of her husbands death from a news report on T.V. She suffered terrible psychological trauma which resulted in her miscarrying. Holly's mother would later hear of his death on the radio, leading to her collapsing. Months after Holly's crash authorities begun a new policy in which they would not release names of victims until families were notified first.
Waylon Jennings Believed he had caused the crash.
When talking to CMT in 1999 Jennings reviled that he was scared to tell anyone what he had told Buddy Holly about his plane. Apparently once Holly had found out that Jennings was not going to be riding in his plane he jokingly told Jennings I hope the bus breaks down, in reply Jennings had told Holly "I hope your ol' plane crashes.” Jennings would have those words burden him for years to come, saying "God almighty, for years I thought I caused [the crash]."
The pilot was inexperienced.
At the time the FAA had only be in existence for a few months. This resulted with pilots not needing as much training using only the planes instruments. That night the blizzard was blinding, and Peterson was quite inexperienced. The theory is that the storm was so blinding and Peterson was not used to flying a plane of this type. The young pilot had also failed an instrument test just 9 months before. Without being able to see and with only the use of the airplanes instruments to conduct where in the sky they were Peterson thought he was accelerating up into the air, but in reality he was descending at over 150 miles an hour. The last thing the workers at the airport saw was the plane lights descending just 5 miles away. They weren't able to look for the wreck until 10 hours later, due to the weather. All the musicians were thrown from the plane, Peterson was the only person left inside.
Although the official report concludes that the pilot was too inexperienced to be flying during a snow storm, it is unclear what exactly happen as no witnesses survived. The plane had no malfunctions and the landing gear was still in the up positions, leading investigators to concluded he did not know where he was. A pilot with more experience could have piloted without having to see a horizon line; another note was that the planes gyroscope worked in the opposite way than Peterson was used to. However, many theories exist as to why the plane fell including one that Holly's pistol had gone off scaring the pilot and causing the crash. There is limited evidence on that theory however and no one is completely sure on an explantation.
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Buddy Holly Crash Site
Located at 22728 Gull Ave, Clear Lake, Iowa is the Crash site where the three musicians and pilot perished. Fans go and leave flowers or thick rimed glasses in remembrance of the stars. A giant sculpture of thick rim glasses stands, oddly enough, right over the spot where Holly's body was thrown from the plane.
After the horrible events the Winter Dance Party finished the tour with Bobby Lee filling in for Holly. The three men held individual funeral ceremonies. Both Holly and Richardson are laid to rest in Texas, Valens in California, and Peterson in Iowa. Reportedly Holly's widow did not attend the funeral and has yet to visit the gravesite, claiming she blames herself for his death. She believes if she had went with him he would have never taken a plane.