

Singer Don McLean memorialized Holly, Valens and Richardson in the 1972 No. Aged just 17 at the time of the crash, his career lasted just eight months. Ritchie Valens was a Mexican American singer and guitarist. Valens was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. The Big Bopper was an American singer known for his rockabilly style and his 1958 song Chantilly Lace.
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In 1987, Valens’ life was portrayed in the movie La Bamba, and the title song, performed by Los Lobos, became a No.

The third crash victim was Ritchie Valens, born Richard Valenzuela in a suburb of Los Angeles, who was only 17 when the plane went down but had already scored hits with “Come On, Let’s Go,” “Donna” and “La Bamba,” an upbeat number based on a traditional Mexican wedding song (though Valens barely spoke Spanish). He developed a stage show based on his radio persona, “The Big Bopper.”
Richardson’s most famous recording was the rockabilly “Chantilly Lace,” which made the Top 10. Use italics (lyric) and bold (lyric) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part If you don’t understand a lyric, use To learn more, check out our.“The Big Bopper” Richardson, 28, started out as a disk jockey in Texas and later began writing songs. By the mid-1950s, Holly and his band had a regular radio show and toured internationally, playing hits like “Peggy Sue,” “Oh, Boy!,” “Maybe Baby” and “Early in the Morning.” Holly wrote all his own songs, many of which were released after his death and influenced such artists as Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney.Īnother crash victim, J.P. Holly, born Charles Holley in Lubbock, Texas, and just 22 when he died, began singing country music with high school friends before switching to rock and roll after opening for various performers, including Elvis Presley. However, Richardson, who had the flu, convinced Holly’s band member Waylon Jennings to give up his seat, and Ritchie Valens won a coin toss for another seat on the plane. 1 hit with “That’ll Be the Day.”Īfter mechanical difficulties with the tour bus, Holly had chartered a plane for his band to fly between stops on the Winter Dance Party Tour.

Holly and his band, the Crickets, had just scored a No. Investigators blamed the crash on bad weather and pilot error. One day later, Ritchie Valens died in the same airplane crash that killed Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. “The Big Bopper” Richardson are killed when their chartered Beechcraft Bonanza plane crashes in Iowa a few minutes after takeoff from Mason City on a flight headed for Moorhead, Minnesota. In February of 1959, La Bamba reached its peak at 22. Rising American rock stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P.
