The Day the Music Died
The wreckage of the Bonanza at the crash site | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | February 3, 1959 |
| Summary | Crashed following loss of control in poor weather at night |
| Site | |
| Aircraft | |
| A V-tailed Bonanza similar to N3794N, the accident aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Beechcraft Bonanza |
| Operator | Dwyer Flying Service, Mason City, Iowa, U.S. |
| Registration | N3794N |
| Flight origin | Mason City Municipal Airport, Iowa, U.S. |
| Destination | Hector Airport, North Dakota, U.S. |
| Occupants | 4 |
| Passengers | 3 (Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper) |
| Crew | 1 |
| Fatalities | 4 |
| Survivors | 0 |
On February 3, 1959, American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and "The Big Bopper" J. P. 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", a phrase popularized by Don McLean 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 American Midwest. Rising artists Valens, Richardson and vocal group Dion and the Belmonts had joined the tour as well. The long journeys between venues in poorly heated tour buses contributed to illness and fatigue among the performers.
After performing in Clear Lake, Holly chartered a plane to reach their next venue in Moorhead, Minnesota. Richardson, suffering from the flu, swapped places with Jennings, taking his seat on the plane, while Allsup lost his seat to Valens on a coin toss. Shortly after takeoff, in wintry conditions, the Beechcraft Bonanza crashed into a field, killing all four on board.
The event has since been mentioned or referenced in various media. Various monuments have been erected at the crash site and in Clear Lake, where an annual memorial concert is held at the Surf Ballroom, the venue that hosted the artists' last performances.