Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly Big Bopper Die In Plane Crash Today

Ritchie Valens
Ritchie Valens

Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper, three legendary singers died in a plane crash today (February 3, 1959) near Clear Lake, Iowa, while traveling to Moorhead, Minnesota to perform a concert.

Holly, 22, had chartered the plane because he was fed up with the miserable conditions on the “The Winter Dance Party” tour. The conditions were so dire that Holly’s drummer Carl Bunch was frostbitten in his feet while on the tour.