February 3

Buddy Holly (Charles Harden Holley), Richie Valens (Richard Steven Valenzuela) and the Big Bopper (Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr.) were extraordinarily popular stars in the emerging genre of Rock and Roll in the 50s. Iowa apparently is a huge center for surfing enthusiasts. The three, in support of a tour, were traveling together when the tour’s manager filled in an open day by arranging a show at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, on February 2, 1959. Hard though this may be to believe, this is back in the 50s when winters featured snow and cold weather. The tour bus the three bands were using had a broken heater and before opening the Surf Ballroom show, Buddy Holly had decided that he had had enough of the bus and convinced both Valens and the Big Bopper to charter a plane to get them to Fargo, North Dakota, which was close to their next show in Minnesota. These three giants, who were trailblazers in Rock and Roll, became inspirations to all people following them in to the rock and roll arena, everyone from promoter Bill Graham to Lynyrd Skynrd and Randy Rhoades, when on the 3rd as they tried to fly to Fargo, the plane they were in crashed, killing all three icons. Yes, folks, as Don McLean pointed out in his song American Pie, the music died on the 3rd in 1959.