The Day the Music Died Celebration Day

Today, February 3, we celebrate The Day the Music Died Day, which commemorates the untimely death of singers Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper. These three rock and roll singers died in an airplane crash on February 3, 1959 near Clear Lake, Iowa at the height of their popularity.

Pilot Roger Peterson was also killed.

The investigation of the accident determined that soon after take off, a combination of poor weather conditions and pilot error caused spatial disorientation that made pilot Roger Peterson lose control of the plane. Hubert Dwyer, owner of the flight service company, could not establish radio contact and reported the aircraft missing the next morning. He took off in his own Cessna 180 and spotted the wreckage less than six miles (9.7 km) northwest of the originating airport in a cornfield. He notified the authorities who dispatched Deputy Bill McGill, who drove to the wreck site and found the bodies of the passengers and pilot. They were later identified by Carroll Anderson.

Singer Don McLean memorialized Holly, Valens and Richardson in the 1972 No. 1 hit “American Pie.”