On February 3, 1959, 22-year-old Buddy Holly, 28-year-old Jiles Perry Richardson Jr., better known by his stage name The Big Bopper, and 17-year-old Ritchie Valens, died in a plane crash along with the pilot Roger Peterson, shortly after takeoff from Clear Lake, Iowa.
Buddy Holly, who was from Lubbock, Texas, hired the plane after riding in a freezing tour bus on his way to the show in Clear Lake, Iowa. There was no heat on the bus. Holly, The Big Bopper, and Valens were traveling to Fargo, North Dakota, for the next show on their Winter Dance Party Tour.The tour was to cover 24 cities in three weeks with Holly as the biggest headliner. Waylon Jennings, Holly's friend from Lubbock, and Tommy Allsup joined the tour as backup musicians.
Waylon Jennings said in his 1996 autobiography that he was disappointed he had to ride on the freezing bus. He said his last words to Buddy Holly were, "I hope your damn plane crashes!" Jennings said this remark has haunted him since.In 1988, Buddy fan Ken Paquette built a monument to the singers, from stainless steel, and placed it at the crash site where the current owners of the land also planted four trees in memory of the victims.
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