A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.
On Feb. 3, 1959, young rock ’n’ roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson died in a small plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.
The early morning crash was immortalized as “the day the music died,” but in truth air travel during the winter of 1959 was a challenge, and the crash was just one of several during the first few days of February.
In fact, though the legend of Valens and Holly grew — no doubt thanks to the Hollywood treatment — the accident was relegated to Page 2 of the Deseret News the next day.
“3 rock ‘n’ roll singers die in plane crash,” the short story read.
“CLEAR LAKE IOWA — Three stars of a rock ‘n’ roll troupe, including Richie Valens, a 17-year-old Elvis Presley-style singer, and a pilot were killed Tuesday in a plane crash.
“The other victims were Buddy Holly, another top singer in the teenage tradition, and J.P. Richardson —known professionally as ‘The Big Bopper’ — and Roger Peterson, 201, the pilot.”
On Page 1, the coverage was of a jet-prop airliner crash in which the pilots missed the runway in the fog and rain at LaGuardia Airport in New York and plunged into the East River. In all, 65 passengers and crew died.
On the very same night, the Deseret News reported that two other passenger planes, including one carrying dancer Gene Kelly and 123 others on a flight from Paris to New York, and another from New York to Los Angeles, experienced problems but landed safely.
Two days earlier, 25 men with the Idaho Air National Guard survived when their C47 transport planed crashed and burned in Kerrville, Texas, while trying to make a belly landing. Three men died in the crash. Reports indicated 19 inches of ice on the plane’s wings.

The tour
The 1959 Winter Dance Party tour was a 24-day rock ‘n’ roll tour of the Midwest that featured Holly, Valens, Richardson and other artists.
Holly, a rockabilly singer from Lubbock, Texas, whose real name was Charles Hardin Holley, was just 22 when he died. But he had recorded dozens of songs, including the hits “That’ll Be the Day,” “Peggy Sue” and “Rave On.”
The group had performed on Feb. 2, but Holly decided to rent a four-seat Beechcraft Bonanza to fly to Fargo, North Dakota, for the next stop on the 24-date tour.
Valens won a coin toss with Holly’s guitarist, Tommy Allsup, for one seat on the plane, and the Big Bopper was given the seat that was to go to Holly’s bassist, Waylon Jennings.
The Deseret News on Feb. 4 reported the “show would go on,” and that other musicians on the Winter Dance Party Tour of 1959 would perform that night.

Movies like the “Buddy Holly Story” and “La Bamba” have built the memory of the young singers, and some of their songs are still popular. Holly’s band, The Crickets, continued to perform for many years, including in Utah in the 1990s.
Artists from Bob Dylan to Paul McCartney have said their music was influenced by his style. In his 1972 hit “American Pie,” Don McLean described Holly’s death as “the day the music died.”
Here are some stories from Deseret News archives about Holly, Valens and the “day the music died.”
“Holly’s original band to play at Kingsbury Hall”
“The music lives on in ‘Buddy Holly Story’”
“‘The Day the Music Died’: Buddy Holly — Feb. 3, 1959″
“Buddy Holly’s widow to sell watch he wore when he died”
“Valens’ family wants him in rock hall of fame; Singer of ‘La Bamba’ died after 9-month career”
“A litany of musicians killed in air accidents”
“‘Outlaw’ Waylon Jennings dies”
