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00:00:06This is a day that ended in tragedy for three of the biggest names in the music business.
00:00:11Buddy Holly of the Crickets, Richie Valens, and also the Big Brother.
00:00:18They were three of rock and roll's greatest stars, and in the late 1950s, their music rocked the nation.
00:00:24If you knew Peggy's blue, then you'd know why I'd feel blue without Peggy.
00:00:31Buddy Holly's music lifted you up with a passion of happiness that wouldn't let go after the record was over.
00:00:43Richie truly was one of the first ethnic artists to cross over.
00:00:49Hello, baby!
00:00:52Yeah, this is the Big Bopper speaking.
00:00:55Hello, baby!
00:00:57It's just one of the most indelible little hooks that anybody's ever created.
00:01:03In the winter of 1959, Destiny brought Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper together.
00:01:09The Winter Dance Party.
00:01:11A three-week jaunt through the heart of the Midwest.
00:01:14The part of America that freezes solid in February.
00:01:17He said, Bob, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and J.P. are dead.
00:01:25Their plane crashed.
00:01:27They're dead.
00:01:29Forty years ago, on February 3rd, 1959, in a frozen Iowa cornfield, rock and roll suffered its first and greatest
00:01:37tragedy.
00:01:42It was just horrible.
00:01:44Big memories was horrible.
00:01:47I remember this like yesterday.
00:01:48No tears.
00:01:50It's just heroes aren't supposed to die.
00:01:53It was the end of an era.
00:01:54It was the end of an innocence for rock and roll.
00:01:58It was the day the music died.
00:02:00I wish I had at least had an opportunity to have said goodbye.
00:02:06So bye, bye, Miss American Heart.
00:02:11Now, through rare footage, seldom seeing photos, and the voices of those who lived it,
00:02:16Behind the Music looks back at the day that changed the course of rock and roll.
00:02:20The day that inspired an anthem.
00:02:21Singing this will be the day that I die.
00:02:24The day the music died.
00:02:26And this will be the day that I die.
00:02:41Long, long time ago,
00:02:45I can still remember
00:02:47How that music used to make me smile.
00:02:53And I knew if I had my chance
00:02:57That I could make those people dance
00:03:00And maybe they'd be happy for a while.
00:03:06But February made me shiver
00:03:10With every paper I'd deliver
00:03:13Bad news on the doorstep
00:03:17I couldn't take one more step
00:03:22I can't remember if I cried
00:03:25When I read about his widowed bride
00:03:29But something touched me deep inside
00:03:34The day the music died
00:03:44On February 2, 1959, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and J.P. Richardson, known as the Big Bopper,
00:03:51took the stage of the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, and played before a packed house of ecstatic teenagers.
00:03:57It was the biggest night the small town had ever experienced.
00:04:01For the three stars, it would be the last night of their lives.
00:04:04Walking into the Surf Ballroom is like walking into a time machine.
00:04:07As you walk across an empty ballroom
00:04:09And you hear your footsteps just echo off the walls
00:04:12You want to imagine Buddy Holly up there performing
00:04:16Richie Valens up there performing
00:04:17The Big Bopper, Ho Ho Ho's in a long jacket
00:04:21You try to imagine that, you really do
00:04:24It's a time machine
00:04:26I'm not going to get spiritual and say
00:04:27I have felt their presence and heard their songs and echoes in there
00:04:31But I have stood on that stage and said
00:04:32Why did it happen that they had to die?
00:04:43Rock and roll exploded onto the music scene in 1954 with Bill Haley and the Comets and Elvis Presley
00:04:49Rock and roll is cool, daddy, and you know it
00:04:51Their fusion of white country swing and black rhythm and blues ignited teen spirit
00:04:56Elvis was a white dude singing black music, black style
00:05:01And when he was on the Ed Sullivan Show and Buddy Holly saw him
00:05:04He said, I can't believe somebody could do that on network television
00:05:07And that just changed Buddy
00:05:09You knew when you looked at him
00:05:12He knew what he wanted
00:05:14He wanted to be a singing star
00:05:22Buddy Holly's rapid rise to stardom began on September 7th, 1936
00:05:27With his birth in Lubbock, Texas
00:05:28Young Buddy lived for music
00:05:30And by the mid-1950s, he was a teenage rock and roll prodigy
00:05:34Anxious to make his mark
00:05:40He became very impatient when he'd seen other fellas about his age breaking in the music
00:05:46Like Elvis Presley and the Everly Brothers
00:05:49He knew he was just as good or better than they were
00:05:52Buddy formed a band with his friends Jerry Allison, Nicky Sullivan, and Joe B. Maldon
00:05:56They called themselves the Crickets
00:05:58It was 1957, and before the year was out, Buddy Holly would be a star
00:06:08Buddy went to see The Searchers, a John Ford movie
00:06:11John Wayne said every 30 minutes, every 15 minutes, 20 minutes, he would say
00:06:14That'll be the day, Pilgrim
00:06:17Holly wrote the song
00:06:26By September 57, That'll Be The Day was the number three song in the nation
00:06:31Within months, Buddy scored another big hit with a song named for drummer Jerry Allison's girlfriend
00:06:36If you knew Peggy Sue
00:06:39Then you know why I feel good without Peggy
00:06:44Jerry said, well, let's put Peggy Sue's name on there
00:06:46Because at that time, I wasn't speaking to Jerry
00:06:51So I think Buddy was kind of playing a little bit of Cupid
00:06:57Peggy Sue, oh, I'll fly high end for you
00:07:01Oh, Peggy Sue
00:07:03The song worked.
00:07:04Jerry and Peggy Sue got married, and in just four months, Peggy Sue made the top ten, selling over a
00:07:10million copies.
00:07:11Your big hit right from the starters have been sort of a long...
00:07:14Well, we've had a few rough times, I guess you'd say, but we've been real lucky getting it this quick.
00:07:19Well, Texas, nice to have you up here.
00:07:21Let's have a very nice time for these Texas records.
00:07:24With two hits climbing the charts, Buddy and his band played their first national tour with some of rock and
00:07:29roll's biggest names.
00:07:31Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, and Eddie Cochran.
00:07:34It was a grueling tour, and when it was over, Nicky Sullivan quit the crickets.
00:07:39That tour took more out of me than anything I had ever done in my life.
00:07:44Think about your own self for a moment that you had to work 21 hours a day, and that had
00:07:50gone on for about five months.
00:07:53Something has to give, and I gave.
00:07:55All my love, all my kissing, you don't know what you've ever missing, oh boy.
00:08:01Buddy and the Crickets continued as a trio, and by January of 58, they had their third top ten hit
00:08:06in less than a year.
00:08:07Oh boy.
00:08:08Oh!
00:08:09What do you got coming up in the future for records?
00:08:11Well, we've got one that was just released the other day by the Crickets called Oh Boy.
00:08:15That'll mean that you've got three songs in our chart that that comes up.
00:08:18How do you think it compares with the others?
00:08:20Well, I like Oh Boy better than that'll be today, but of course I'm no judge.
00:08:26All my life I've been waiting, and I can't be no head to take an old boy.
00:08:31Less than a year after they began, Buddy and his band were now huge stars, and their fame spread to
00:08:36England and Australia.
00:08:38But as quickly as success had come, it wasn't fast enough for 21-year-old Buddy Holly.
00:08:43He acted like he didn't have enough time to do what he wanted to do.
00:08:46I don't know whether he thought maybe his life would be cut short, or his career would be cut short,
00:08:51or he was just in a hurry to do something and get his hope.
00:08:55He grew up in a hurry.
00:08:56Just you know why.
00:08:59Buddy fell in love in the summer of 58.
00:09:02While visiting New York, he met a young woman working at a record company.
00:09:06As usual, Buddy moved fast, and within two months, he and Maria Elena Santiago were married.
00:09:11I know two loved ones.
00:09:17He posed to her on their first date, and she asked him, or told him, rather, in her words, that
00:09:23you haven't known me long enough.
00:09:25He says, well, I haven't got time.
00:09:29That sounds like Buddy.
00:09:31I haven't got time.
00:09:33Holly moved to New York to be with his new bride, and near the heart of the music business.
00:09:38But crickets Jerry Allison and Joe B. Malden stayed in Texas.
00:09:41As the group started to split up, Buddy withdrew a little bit, because he was hurt that we would walk
00:09:48away from all of this, this fame and fortune.
00:09:58By December 1958, Buddy Holly was an anxious young man, without a band, and without a hit record.
00:10:04Buddy had recorded some new songs, which had come out and disappointed him as far as charts.
00:10:10He got up to the 50s, and he got up to the 40s, who was not having number ones and
00:10:14number twos again.
00:10:15Not only had his career hit a lull, but 22-year-old Buddy needed money.
00:10:19He had a lot of holdings.
00:10:20He had a lot of publishing money due to him and things like that, but he didn't have cash in
00:10:24his pocket.
00:10:25His one option was to earn cash and boost his record sales by going back on tour.
00:10:29And the only tour at that time that he could have gone on was his winter dance party tour.
00:10:33He was forced to go on a tour he didn't really want to go on, in a time of the
00:10:38year when he didn't want to do it,
00:10:40in order to make money to pay the bills for his wife and a child that was going to come
00:10:45along.
00:10:46I know that...
00:10:51that he didn't want to go.
00:11:03Buddy Holly's string of top ten hits ended in 1958, that same year as Buddy's star was losing its luster,
00:11:10two new rock and roll luminaries blazed onto the charts, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper.
00:11:15Hello, baby.
00:11:19Yeah, this is the Big Bopper speaking.
00:11:22The Big Bopper was the stage name of J.P. Richardson, a Beaumont, Texas disc jockey with a talent for
00:11:28funny ad-libs and a knack for writing songs.
00:11:31He knew music. Not that he was an accomplished musician. He played the guitar. But he knew music. He had
00:11:39a feel for music.
00:11:42The Big Bopper was born Giles Perry Richardson on October 12, 1930. The eldest son of an oil field worker,
00:11:50J.P. grew up poor.
00:11:51His roots were quite humble. He had a close family, but certainly no economic good fortune in his life.
00:12:01J.P. struggled all his young life to get ahead. And by the age of 21, he was a married
00:12:07man determined to give his family all the things he never had.
00:12:11That's basically the reason he went to the music business. You know, if he could have probably made a couple
00:12:14hundred bucks a week in radio, that would have probably done him at the time. But he couldn't.
00:12:18In 1958, 27-year-old Richardson was spinning records on the radio.
00:12:23I told the witch doctor I was in love with you.
00:12:26A big man with a big sense of humor, he noted the popularity of novelty tunes like The Witch Doctor
00:12:32and The Purple People Eater. Songs that made no sense, but lots of money.
00:12:39What he decided he was going to do was record a record which put these two characters together. And it
00:12:48was called The Purple People Eater meets The Witch Doctor.
00:12:50On the flip side, the big bopper recorded Chantilly Lace.
00:12:54Chantilly Lace and a pretty face and a pony tail hanging down, wiggling the walk and a giggle and a
00:13:02talk. Make the world go round.
00:13:06Well, it caught on. It just simply caught on. The Purple People Eater meets The Witch Doctor was immediately forgotten.
00:13:13And Chantilly Lace was the rage.
00:13:16Oh, baby, that's the one I like.
00:13:18By the fall of 1958, Chantilly Lace made the top ten and was one of the most played records in
00:13:24the country.
00:13:25Oh, baby, you know what I like.
00:13:30The song promised to give the bopper, his wife and family, the financial security they yearned for.
00:13:35But he needed to promote the record. And to do that, he had to take his music on the road.
00:13:40So in December of 58, the big bopper was booked on the winter dance party tour.
00:13:44He didn't like to be away from his family. That was the hardest thing in the world for him.
00:13:49At the airport, JP hugged his five-year-old daughter, Deborah, and said goodbye to his wife, Titsi, who was
00:13:54six months pregnant with their second child.
00:13:57She didn't want him to go, but they knew that, you know, this was a special thing for him.
00:14:02I mean, you know, with Buddy and Richie and Dion in the Belmonts.
00:14:07And, you know, these are people that Mother had heard of and listened to.
00:14:10And, you know, it was quite an exciting thing for him.
00:14:13The big bopper then headed north to join the winter dance party.
00:14:16Well, come on, let's go, let's go, let's go, little darling.
00:14:21And tell me that you never need me.
00:14:24Come on, come on, let's go.
00:14:27Again, again, again, again.
00:14:29For 17-year-old Richie Valens, the youngest star on the tour, the winter dance party was the high point
00:14:34of a career that was just starting to take off.
00:14:37He was so excited about the stars that he was going to meet.
00:14:42And he was very, very excited about meeting Buddy Holly.
00:14:51You have to realize that his career was eight months long.
00:14:56You know, from the time he was discovered, he recorded the first album until February 3rd, 59.
00:15:01And he packed a lot of living into eight months, you know.
00:15:08Richie Valens was born Richard Valenzuela on May 13th, 1941.
00:15:13The second of five children, his life in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles was difficult.
00:15:18He was only 10 years old when his father died, leaving the family in poverty.
00:15:23It was a rough childhood. I would say a very rough childhood.
00:15:26Because in the first place, he came from a very poor family.
00:15:29These are small little wooden houses on wood sills.
00:15:32And under the house, they scooped out.
00:15:34So people were sleeping out there. And that's where Richie was sleeping.
00:15:37His main goal in life was to make records so he could make money and buy his mom.
00:15:42A new home. And that's all he talked about.
00:15:45Richie began playing the guitar as a young boy.
00:15:48And by the time he was in his teens, he was already winning fans.
00:15:51Now, now, now, now, honey. We gonna rock all night.
00:15:56All along, he knew he was gonna be a star. He just knew it.
00:16:01At school, when we had concerts, he just rocked the place.
00:16:04I mean, we were rockin' and rollin'.
00:16:07Ooh, my head.
00:16:09Richie's energetic style attracted the attention of record producer Bob Keen.
00:16:13And here was this kind of bull-like guy standing up there, young fella.
00:16:17And he was crankin' away on a guitar with a little beat-up amp.
00:16:21And he was just really cooked.
00:16:25Keen signed Richie Valenzuela to a deal and promptly changed his name.
00:16:30Being Latin could have been a very big deterrent for him.
00:16:33But fortunately, I got the idea to change his name so nobody knew what he was
00:16:38before he got out there and got his face in front of people.
00:16:48In the summer of 58, Richie released his first record, Come On, Let's Go.
00:16:52By Autumn, it was on the national charts.
00:16:55Richie's biggest hit came next, a song dedicated to his best girl, Donna.
00:17:06He called me up on the telephone one night, and he said,
00:17:13I wrote a song for you.
00:17:15I had a girl, Donna was her name.
00:17:22If he left me, I'd never been the same.
00:17:27While Donna made teens swoon, its flip side, La Bamba got them dancing.
00:17:42Richie Valenz was a very important figure.
00:17:46Richie Valenz was the first Chicano rock and roll star.
00:17:50I mean, he was truly a pioneer in that sense, and young.
00:17:55I mean, who knows what he would have gone on to do, given the cojones he had,
00:18:00but also the smarts that he had and the talent that he had.
00:18:03As Richie's popularity soared, his manager Bob Keen pushed to keep him before the public.
00:18:08He even landed Richie a feature role in the rock and roll movie Go Johnny Go.
00:18:18In December of 58, just seven months after Richie was discovered,
00:18:22Keen booked him on his first big tour, the Winter Dance Party.
00:18:26Friends and family were proud to see him go.
00:18:29I had no fear that he would not return.
00:18:34I knew he would return.
00:18:38Hi, everybody. This is Richie Valenz.
00:18:42I will be on the Winter Dance Party coming your way very shortly.
00:18:46I will be having a ball singing for you, and I hope to see you all real soon.
00:18:49Teenage rock and roll sensation Richie Valenz was eager to join the Winter Dance Party tour in January 1959.
00:18:57Even though it was a Buddy Holly tour, he was really the number one hotshot at that time,
00:19:02because his record was really up there and getting an awful lot of better plays.
00:19:05Well, I gotta get me too.
00:19:07She knows just what to do.
00:19:10She's just the wrong one.
00:19:13She knows what to do.
00:19:16She knows what to do.
00:19:18He went for the Midwest.
00:19:19His mother held a goodbye party at the new house her hit-making son had bought for her.
00:19:23And my father would let me go.
00:19:25I didn't forgive him for that for a long, long time.
00:19:30You're mine.
00:19:33Richie's family drove him to the airport for his flight to the Midwest.
00:19:37The last time we saw him was at the airport.
00:19:42I would always run to the insurance to get insurance for him.
00:19:46And he says, I don't need that insurance, dear.
00:19:49I don't need that insurance.
00:19:50Yes, you do.
00:19:51You're gonna take it.
00:19:53And that was the last time we'd seen him when he left to Iowa on that tour.
00:19:57I wish I had at least had an opportunity to have said goodbye.
00:20:11The Winter Dance Party.
00:20:13A three-week jaunt through the heart of the Midwest.
00:20:16The part of America that freezes solid in February.
00:20:20There was Richie Valens, the Big Bopper, Frankie Sardo, Dion and the Belmonts, and Buddy Holly.
00:20:26Along with his three new sidemen, Waylon Jennings, Tommy Olsup, and Charlie Bunch.
00:20:32Maybe, baby, I'll have you.
00:20:35Buddy Holly had put together a new band for the 1959 Winter Dance Party tour, including his friend, a Texas
00:20:41disc jockey named Waylon Jennings.
00:20:43He'd gone downtown and bought a bass, and he said, you've got two weeks to learn how to play that
00:20:47thing.
00:20:48I had an adorably idea what did what on the bass, but I memorized where I put my fingers on
00:20:55which songs.
00:20:57Buddy also recruited drummer Carl Bunch and guitarist Tommy Olsup.
00:21:01The Winter Dance Party was ready to roll.
00:21:05The middle of winter was cold, cold.
00:21:08I don't know whose idea it was, but it really was a bad idea.
00:21:12We were going down the road, and it was 40 below, and the bus froze up.
00:21:17And there we sat in a snowstorm with a bus frozen.
00:21:21That's when our drummer's feet got frostbite on the bus.
00:21:24We got to where we hated that bus. We really did.
00:21:28But we were in showbiz.
00:21:30Three weeks of one-night stands and all-night bus rides.
00:21:3421 days of being bounced around the insides of a bus like ping-pong balls.
00:21:39The problem was whoever scheduled the tour.
00:21:41You started way over here, went 400 miles to your next venue,
00:21:44and then went back 30 miles from the first one to do your third one, if you know what I'm
00:21:48trying to say.
00:21:50Hopscotching back and forth.
00:21:51As the bus zigzagged across the icy Midwest, tour promoters arranged to fill an open date in the schedule
00:21:56by booking a concert in Clear Lake, Iowa.
00:21:59The General Artists Corporation called Mr. Carol Anderson at the surf ball and said,
00:22:05we have an open date. It's a little bit out of our way, but we can make it.
00:22:10The guys can drive the bus down to Mason City. Would you be interested in the show?
00:22:14And Carol said, Bob, I have a chance to bring in Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Booper.
00:22:19I said, book the show. Absolutely just book it. And the ticket sales are put right off.
00:22:25On the 11th day of the tour, after playing Ten Towns in the past ten nights,
00:22:29a cold, tired, and disgusted Buddy Holly wanted to get himself and his two bandmates off the frigid tour bus.
00:22:35He decided that after the show in Clear Lake that night, they would fly ahead for the next gig.
00:22:40Well, we were on the bus and he said, when we get to Clear Lake, he said, let's see if
00:22:45we can't charter a plane and fly up to Fargo, North Dakota.
00:22:50He was actually doing it just kind of as a paper to us, you know, where he could get in
00:22:55and get a little rest and everything.
00:22:57That evening, the Winter Dance Party bus limped into Clear Lake, Iowa, and the stars staggered out.
00:23:02When they came in here, they were almost frostbite.
00:23:06The Big Bopper was running a fever. He was just perspiring profusely.
00:23:10Buddy Holly had a question for the surf ballroom's manager, Carol Anderson.
00:23:14They wanted to get in and get ahead, and they asked me if there was a charter flight out of
00:23:20here.
00:23:20They were tired. They were hungry. We got them some food, some at the surf ballroom.
00:23:24A couple of guys went across the street to the restaurant.
00:23:26And I remember Buddy getting off and asking, is there a laundromat around where we could get our clothes washed?
00:23:32And I guess it was the hour. There wasn't one, or it was clothes or something.
00:23:36But I remember they could not get clothes washed there at that particular time.
00:23:40That was the reason that Buddy wanted to fly, you know.
00:23:43So they get some laundry done.
00:23:45Because we'd been out 12 days, and our shirts were starting to stand up on their own, you know.
00:23:51The Winter Dance Party stars may have been worn out, but 1,500 local teenagers were ready to rock.
00:24:00Well, we arrived at the surf ballroom, and the line was already there, and the parents are lined up,
00:24:05and people are waiting to get in and to buy tickets, and they just poured into the surf ballroom.
00:24:11The floor was about three-fourths full, solid with people.
00:24:16And a few of them sat around in the first row of booths around here.
00:24:20It was a big night. Nobody in that area, Northeast Iowa, had ever seen stars this big in their life.
00:24:27And for all of these youngsters, and for this young kid disc jockey, it was the biggest thrill of my
00:24:34life.
00:24:35At 8pm, the curtains parted on the stage of the surf ballroom.
00:24:38Hello, baby. Yeah, this is the Big Bopper speaking.
00:24:45The Big Bopper came out, and he did his telephone routine and had everybody laughing.
00:24:53Will I want? Oh, baby, you know what I like.
00:25:01Chantilly Lane and a pretty place and a morning tale hanging down.
00:25:07We had Richie Valens.
00:25:10The next song I'll do for you is named Donna.
00:25:14Oh, my God.
00:25:17The girls went crazy over Richie Valens.
00:25:40And he was about four seconds into his music, and it was this Richie had been there all his life.
00:25:56He was just shy, you know. But what was wild is he was wild on stage, you know.
00:26:02It was like two different people.
00:26:04He just warmed to the kids and had everybody singing and dancing, of course, to La Bamba.
00:26:08And I don't know how many times he had to sing that.
00:26:11It was a real up night. Everybody was rocking and everybody having a good time, you know.
00:26:15I'm gonna tell you how it's gonna be.
00:26:18Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, you gonna be a real up night.
00:26:23Ha, ha, ha, ha.
00:26:24When Buddy first started, there was that just constant cheering and yelling and cheering and yelling.
00:26:29With all the kids screaming, you just barely hear your hands.
00:26:31It was just kind of wild, you know.
00:26:33Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, you know my love.
00:26:38And then, when he changed the mood, he'd go into a bit of a quiet tune.
00:26:42And everybody would hush and listen to it.
00:26:44Well, alright, so I'm being pushed.
00:26:48Well, alright, let people know.
00:26:52About the dreams and wishes you wish.
00:26:56In the night when lights are low.
00:26:59Well, alright.
00:26:59The stars of the Winter Dance Party burned up the stage until midnight.
00:27:03While they rocked, Carol Anderson called Dwyer Flying Service to charter a plane for Buddy and his band.
00:27:08The plane could take up to three passengers at $36 apiece.
00:27:13Love has been alright.
00:27:19When the curtain came down, Buddy, Waylon, and Tommy Alsop rushed to catch their flight to the next stop on
00:27:26the tour.
00:27:27Word got around amongst the performers that Holly and his two sidemen were going to fly out instead of bussing
00:27:33it.
00:27:33The big bopper couldn't stand the thought of those 430 frozen miles between Clear Lake and Moorhead.
00:27:40Next stop on the tour, he made a deal with Waylon Jennings.
00:27:45He had the flu real bad.
00:27:46He asked me, would you let me have your place on the plane?
00:27:49I said, well, if it's alright with Buddy, it's okay with me.
00:27:52It's funny how, you know, two minutes in a life can turn around several people's lives.
00:27:59Yeah, Dad was about 20 pounds lighter.
00:28:01He might have been able to fit on that bus somewhere and get comfortable.
00:28:04You know, who knows?
00:28:06You may never have asked.
00:28:08You know, there's a thing that happened that night.
00:28:10Buddy was leaning back against the wall and just came by the chair laughing at me because he says, you're
00:28:17not going on the plane tonight, huh?
00:28:19And I said, no.
00:28:20He said, well, I hope your old bus freezes up.
00:28:24And I said, well, again, you know, and I said, well, I hope your old plane crashes.
00:28:28You know, now I was awful young and it took me a long time to get over that.
00:28:35As Buddy, the big bopper, and Tommy Alsop prepared to leave, Tommy made one last check of the dressing room
00:28:42and ran into Richie Valens.
00:28:43Richie was standing there signing autographs.
00:28:45For some reason, he said, you're going to let me fly and I just fit the sand piece and said,
00:28:51call it, you know.
00:28:53You know, he called it.
00:28:55Richie won the toss in a seat on the plane.
00:28:59A cold northeast wind blew as Carol Anderson drove Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the big bopper to the Mason
00:29:05City Airport.
00:29:0721-year-old pilot Roger Peterson was waiting with a single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza.
00:29:13February 3rd, 1959, just past midnight, Buddy Holly, the big bopper, and Richie Valens climbed aboard a single-engine, four
00:29:23-seater Beechcraft Bonanza at Mason City Airport, Iowa.
00:29:29The big bopper and Richie Valens crawled in the back two seats of the plane and I shook hands to
00:29:35each one of them as they got in and wished them well.
00:29:40And the pilot got in, I said, have a nice trip, and Buddy Holly come up and he was the
00:29:47last one to get in.
00:29:48And I held the door, shook hands to Buddy Holly and I said, I wish you only the best.
00:29:55And he said, thanks.
00:29:57When they left the surf ballroom, the stars were shining.
00:30:00It was a cold, crisp northern Iowa night.
00:30:03My wife and I got in our car to drive home.
00:30:06As we're driving, the snow starts to come in right across the road, right across our lights.
00:30:11And I remember vividly saying to my wife, look at that, the snow is incredible.
00:30:16On the right straight press road, I hope the guys got off the ground before the storm came into town.
00:30:22The U.S. Weather Bureau issued a flash advisory warning of bad weather on the plane's route.
00:30:28But Pilot Roger Peterson never received the information.
00:30:37It was cold and windy, snowing.
00:30:40The time, not quite 1 a.m.
00:30:42Peterson aimed the plane towards heaven.
00:30:46The time of 4 November is taking off runway 17.
00:30:51It looked to me like it was a perfect takeoff.
00:30:55I crawled back into the car and started up and made a turn and looked in that direction.
00:31:03And I seen the lights disappear.
00:31:07Then I thought, maybe it's the curvature of the earth or something like that or an illusion that I had.
00:31:15But it wasn't.
00:31:17In the darkness, the plane carrying three of the biggest stars in rock and roll had just disappeared.
00:31:31In the pre-dawn hours of February 3, 1959, a plane carrying Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Richie Valens
00:31:39took off into the wintry Iowa sky.
00:31:42The next morning, about a quarter after 7, the phone rang, and I was still home, and it was Mr.
00:31:50Dwyer.
00:31:50And he says, Carol, he said, uh, our party that went out last night never got to fart.
00:31:58D.J. Bob Hale was at radio station KIRB.
00:32:02And while I was on, a little after 9 o'clock, the bulletin bell rang on the UPI telling us
00:32:07that there was a wreckage found of a light aircraft outside the Mason City Clear Lake Airport.
00:32:13And I broke in with that bulletin.
00:32:16I didn't even think about the plane from the night before.
00:32:19It didn't even dawn on me.
00:32:23And I just read the bulletin, and we went on with music.
00:32:25And about 30 seconds later, the phone rang.
00:32:27It was Carol Anderson, the manager of the surf ballroom.
00:32:30He said, Bob, I've just been out to that wreckage site of that airplane you had the bulletin on.
00:32:35I said, why were you there?
00:32:37He said, to identify the bodies.
00:32:39I said, what do you mean?
00:32:41And he said, Bob, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and J.P. are dead.
00:32:47Their plane crashed. They're dead.
00:32:51They were previously trying to put together a story, a story of a happy success for three young singers that
00:32:57ended in a very sad death this morning early in the cornfield near Mason City in Clear Lake, Iowa.
00:33:02The plane went down minutes after takeoff, just five miles northwest of the airport.
00:33:08The official cause listed way back then by the FAA was pilot error. I don't believe that.
00:33:13Because this young pilot knew that airplane or Jerry Dwyer would not have put him in that airplane.
00:33:19I am convinced that it's that storm that caused the plane crash.
00:33:24They knocked the snow off the roof of the house about a mile back.
00:33:28And that plane just gradually went into the ground.
00:33:32The one wing had hit the ground and tore out a chunk of ground about four inches deep and about
00:33:40three foot long.
00:33:43And that was frozen solid, that ground.
00:33:46And from then on, it was just a corkscrew.
00:33:49I mean, it just end over end over end.
00:33:52And it all ended up along the line fence there.
00:33:56All the cables were wrapped around. The tail was up in the air.
00:34:00All three stars were thrown from the twisted wreckage.
00:34:03The body of pilot Roger Peterson was pinned inside the shattered plane.
00:34:10I've seen two bodies laying just, oh, 12 to 15 feet from the airplane.
00:34:19One was Buddy Holly and one was Richie Valens.
00:34:24And I said to Sheriff Allen, where's the third one?
00:34:27He said to cross the line, or the fence there, about 40 rows of corny and the big bopper lays
00:34:34over there.
00:34:40This is a day that ended in tragedy for three of the biggest names in the music business.
00:34:45The names in order of bigness probably would be Richie Valens, Buddy Holly of the Crickets, and also the big
00:34:52boppers.
00:34:52The big bopper was 28 years old. Buddy Holly, 22. Richie Valens was only 17.
00:35:00You're mine.
00:35:03I had KFWB on, and just as I passed the front of the play team, I'll never forget it.
00:35:08The disc jockey set, and now the late, great Richie Valens.
00:35:12And it was just like somebody had hit me in the stomach with a baseball bat.
00:35:16I really had a tremendous physical reaction.
00:35:23The announcer says three top rock and roll singers have been killed, and one of them is Richie Valens.
00:35:30I mean, I was terrified. I screamed, and I couldn't. It's pretty hard to even talk about it.
00:35:39We had a schoolmate come and say, aren't you Richie Valens' sister?
00:35:46And I was like, yeah, well, he's dead.
00:35:48And I looked at them, and I said, no way. My brother's not dead. You're just jealous.
00:35:53And they go, well, we heard it on the news.
00:35:58And when I got home, Mama was sitting in the chair surrounded by people, and I knew it was true.
00:36:04I just ran to her, and I said, not Richie. Mama, no.
00:36:08And I just remember, you know, falling on my knees and burying my head in her lap.
00:36:14I was so sure that that wasn't him on the plane.
00:36:18I was so sure that it was wrong that I'd call the house, or I'd go over there, and everything
00:36:23would be fine.
00:36:24It wouldn't be him. He was on the bus. But he was wrong.
00:36:30I remember Donna coming over with her sister.
00:36:35And they'd hold us on her, she'd hold us on her lap.
00:36:40And she'd cry, and we'd cry.
00:36:43You know, and...
00:36:48I'm so sorry.
00:36:53There wasn't a lot of people to hold us during those times.
00:37:00In Texas, former cricket guitarist Nicky Sullivan heard the news from a fan, and asked his mother to call Buddy
00:37:06Holly's mother to confirm it.
00:37:08And when Mrs. Holly answered, I remember we were close to 7.30, 8 o'clock in the morning.
00:37:14Is it true what I heard about Buddy?
00:37:18Mrs. Holly, Buddy's mother, said,
00:37:20Oh, I don't know. What?
00:37:23My God, she didn't know.
00:37:26She had no idea.
00:37:33My wife told me, you better get out of your work clothes and put on some clean clothes and go
00:37:38to your mother's house.
00:37:39And I said, why?
00:37:41She wouldn't tell me for a little while.
00:37:43And then she said, well, we heard over the radio that Buddy was in a plane crash.
00:37:47And I said, is he alive?
00:37:49She said, I don't know.
00:37:51She said, I think.
00:37:53He said that everyone was dead.
00:37:58And so that's the way we got the news.
00:37:59It was on the air before we ever were notified.
00:38:03The news soon reached Crickets drummer Jerry Allison and his wife Peggy Sue.
00:38:08Jerry was devastated.
00:38:11Just paralyzed.
00:38:13It was just like turning the lights out.
00:38:17You know, it's like the sun didn't shine.
00:38:20And if it did, who cares?
00:38:21It just did all.
00:38:23It had just stopped.
00:38:29Buddy's wife, Maria Elena, was grief-stricken when she learned of the crash.
00:38:34Within months, she would miscarry their unborn child.
00:38:44In Beaumont, Texas, JP Richardson's best friend had just come home after his shift at the radio station when he
00:38:50got the call.
00:38:51I was stunned.
00:38:53I was numb.
00:38:54I immediately got up and went to the radio station.
00:38:58And it was confirmed that the crash had occurred and that JP had perished.
00:39:03And it was the day that our lives stopped.
00:39:08And there's someone who's watching over you tonight.
00:39:18Later, I did talk with his wife.
00:39:21It was very difficult for Tizzi to accept JP's death.
00:39:25I mean, she was very young, had a five-year-old daughter, six months pregnant with me, and this terrible
00:39:33thing took her husband away.
00:39:34She could see the end of the rainbow within sight, and it was immediately grabbed away from her.
00:39:41Over you tonight.
00:39:52At approximately one o'clock in the morning on February 3rd, 1959, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper
00:40:00were killed in a plane crash.
00:40:02Later that morning, the other members of the Winter Dance Party reached the next stop on their tour and were
00:40:07greeted with the grim news.
00:40:09The road manager and I walked in the hotel, and there was a TV in the lobby, and there was
00:40:14a picture of the Big Bopper on TV.
00:40:17I said, put me in a room next to Buddy Holly.
00:40:19He said, are you at that show?
00:40:21And I said, yeah.
00:40:21He said, well, then you know those guys got killed in a plane crash.
00:40:24I said, what?
00:40:25He said, just like that.
00:40:26He said, yeah, those guys got killed in a plane crash this morning.
00:40:29So, you know, just, bam, we knew about it.
00:40:34JP Richardson was dead, and I was alive.
00:40:38And because he was dead, I was alive.
00:40:41Although the Winter Dance Party was devastated by the deaths of three of its top performers, the tour continued.
00:40:47And that night, Waylon Jennings had to stand in for his pal, Buddy, and sing his song.
00:40:52I just wanted to go home, you know.
00:40:54I'd never, I'd never faced anything like that.
00:40:57I'd never known anyone that close who had died.
00:41:00Crying, waiting, hoping you'll come back.
00:41:07I just can't seem to get you off my mind.
00:41:15Teenagers across the country and around the world were stunned to learn that three of rock and roll's brightest stars
00:41:20had been killed in a plane crash.
00:41:22A lot of the kids were out, the boys particularly, were already wearing black armbands.
00:41:26And, did you hear what happened?
00:41:28They wouldn't even say it out loud.
00:41:29They were whispering it.
00:41:31And it just, it hit us real hard.
00:41:33Very, very hard.
00:41:33I was standing in my living room and, uh, came on the radio.
00:41:36The plane went down last night, taking three rock and roll players.
00:41:40J.P. Richardson, known as the Big Bopper, Richie Valens, and Buddy Holly.
00:41:44And I remember my stomach dropped.
00:41:47And I was standing in this position, my shoulders down, like you're the radio.
00:41:51The shoulders down like this, and I looked at it like that.
00:41:52And I stood there for about 15, 20 minutes, didn't move.
00:41:57And 59, as a paper boy, uh, I went and cut open these papers one day.
00:42:03And there it said, Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper and Richie Valens had been killed in a plane crash.
00:42:10I remember it was just like somebody took and, and punched me right in the face.
00:42:15I just couldn't believe it.
00:42:16Look up in the sky, up towards the north, there are three new stars.
00:42:2720-year-old rocker Eddie Cochran was stunned by the death of his close friend Buddy Holly.
00:42:32Cochran rose to fame with hits like Summertime Blues.
00:42:35Now he sang the blues again, in a tribute to The Three Fallen Stars.
00:42:40Richie, we're gonna miss you. Everybody sends their love.
00:42:48Richie, you were just starting to realize your dreams.
00:42:56Everyone calls me a kid, but you were only 17.
00:43:01It was the end of an era. It was the end of, uh, an innocence for rock and roll.
00:43:07And Richie, I think, as much as anybody, embodied that because he was still young.
00:43:12He was still vital. He was at the zenith of his dream, uh, when he fell.
00:43:19I see a stout man.
00:43:23A Big Bopper is your name.
00:43:28God has called you to heaven.
00:43:31Maybe for, for new fortune and fame.
00:43:33I've never seen a complete city, uh, come together and grieve the way that town did at that time.
00:43:41And there was a mourning and a sense of loss that was beyond what I could describe today.
00:43:47It was a real experience, a moving experience that I hope I'll never lose complete touch with.
00:43:55Buddy, I can still see you with that shy grin on your face.
00:44:02Seems like your hair was always a little messed up.
00:44:07Kinda out of place.
00:44:10Now, not many people actually knew you were, understood how you felt.
00:44:17But just a song from, just a song from you could make the coldest car melt.
00:44:22Eddie Cochran never got over the death of his friend.
00:44:25Ironically, he died in a car crash the following year at the age of 21.
00:44:29Buddy Holly, I'll always remember you with tears in my eyes.
00:44:35Gee, we're gonna miss you. Everybody sends their love.
00:44:45It took the best people off of that tour.
00:44:48It took the best people.
00:44:50I'm talking about kind, good-hearted people.
00:44:54That, uh, you can't imagine them being bad to somebody.
00:45:00And it took their lives.
00:45:03And I never understood that.
00:45:04And to this day, when I think about that, it makes me a little bit mad.
00:45:10Given the situation in rock and roll in 1959,
00:45:15the plane crash could have been almost a lethal blow.
00:45:19Elvis was in the army.
00:45:22Chuck Berry had a little bit of trouble with an underage girl.
00:45:26Jerry Lee Lewis' career was an eclipse because he had married his teenage cousin.
00:45:30Little Richard had decided he didn't want to play rock and roll anymore,
00:45:33and he had joined the ministry.
00:45:37So, the death of Buddy Holly and Richie Valens in the Big Bopper
00:45:42was kind of an exclamation point to this whole period.
00:45:45That plane crash nearly helped bury rock and roll,
00:45:50and we were stuck for a couple of years with a lot of teen idols
00:45:55that didn't have much backbone to their sound
00:45:56until the Beatles came over here and saved our souls.
00:46:06Pop music progressed from teen idols to the Beatles,
00:46:08and by the early 1970s, Holly, Valens, and the Boppers' music
00:46:12have been stashed away like forgotten oldies.
00:46:17Then Don McClain wrote about the day the music died.
00:46:24American Pie speaks to the loss that we feel.
00:46:27That's why that song has found the niche that it has.
00:46:37A decade after the deaths of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper,
00:46:41memories of the tragedy inspired the song that would become a pop anthem.
00:46:45When 1970 came around, and I was now beginning to make records,
00:46:50I suddenly began to write about Buddy Holly and remembering what happened,
00:46:55and started out with, you know, a long, long time ago.
00:46:58Long, long time ago, I can still remember how that music used to make me smile.
00:47:08Shortly after Buddy died, like the next year my father died,
00:47:12and I had been still trying to come to terms with my father's death,
00:47:21and with Buddy Holly's death, and with all these things that had happened,
00:47:24and so I put this in the song.
00:47:26Bad news on the door set
00:47:29I couldn't take one more step
00:47:33I can't remember if I cried
00:47:36When I read about his widowed bride
00:47:40But something touched me deep inside
00:47:55I only dedicated the album to Buddy.
00:47:59I never said it was about him,
00:48:01but the radio people sensed right away
00:48:05that there was this connection with the day the music died
00:48:07and the dedication on the album.
00:48:09They would play American Pie, and they would play That Will Be The Day.
00:48:13And I remember hearing that on the radio and thinking,
00:48:15Well, this is great. This is amazing.
00:48:18You know, what music can do.
00:48:19You know, I'm bringing Buddy back to everybody.
00:48:24How do you believe in rock and roll?
00:48:27Can music save your mortal soul?
00:48:31And can you teach me how to dance real slow?
00:48:36American Pie struck a chord,
00:48:38And in January 1972,
00:48:4013 years after the tragic crash,
00:48:43it was the number one record in the country.
00:48:45I was on a boat, and I heard that song once
00:48:47down in Fort Lauderdale.
00:48:50And I started crying.
00:48:53That's how much the song means to me.
00:48:55Not only to me, it means a lot to others as well.
00:48:58And McLean, with one really deft brushstroke,
00:49:02brought it all back home to people
00:49:04and helped put those performers back on the map.
00:49:08Singing pie, fine, this American Pie
00:49:12Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
00:49:15Them good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye
00:49:19And singing this will be the day that I die
00:49:22While Don McLean's anthem, American Pie,
00:49:25reminded rock and roll fans about the day the music died,
00:49:28it was a movie that brought Buddy Holly back to life.
00:49:31All of my love, all of my kissin',
00:49:33you don't know what you've been a-missin', oh boy.
00:49:36I discovered Buddy when I was in the sixth grade.
00:49:40Holly's music was such a force in my life,
00:49:43because it lifted me, it made me feel good,
00:49:45it made me feel strong.
00:49:46All of my life I've been a-waitin'
00:49:48Tonight there'll be no hesitatin', oh boy.
00:49:51Gary Busey had idolized Buddy Holly for more than 20 years.
00:49:55In 1978, he got the chance to play his hero
00:49:58in the Buddy Holly story.
00:50:00Busey's transformation into Buddy Holly
00:50:02earned him an Academy Award nomination.
00:50:05And I had these glasses to look through
00:50:08with my hair all curled up and permanent,
00:50:12and there was no more Gary Busey.
00:50:14I couldn't find Gary Busey in the movie.
00:50:15So I will tell you this, that playing Buddy Holly
00:50:17was the first experience I had making film.
00:50:19In fact, it's the only experience I've had making film
00:50:22where the spirit was with me,
00:50:24and wrapped itself around me.
00:50:32Gary Busey wasn't the only one moved by Holly's spirit.
00:50:35For Buddy's widow, Maria Elena,
00:50:37the film stirred deep emotions.
00:50:39I met Maria Elena when the movie premiered,
00:50:41and she started weeping and left during a song.
00:50:45Just you know why.
00:50:48True love ways.
00:50:49I thought, boy, we really messed up.
00:50:51But no, Buddy was in the room with her.
00:50:53You know why.
00:50:55Just you and I.
00:50:58No true love ways.
00:51:04A decade later, in 1987, La Bamba resurrected the memory of Richie Vowell.
00:51:13As he researched and acted the leading role,
00:51:16Lou Diamond Phillips connected emotionally with Richie's family.
00:51:20For me, and for the family, and in a very weird way,
00:51:24in a very sort of existential way,
00:51:26it was Richie all over again.
00:51:28Richie was there.
00:51:29I know, I put Lou through some stuff.
00:51:33I mean, he did become Richie to me for those three months.
00:51:37The only time it ever became a real issue and it became a difficulty
00:51:44was the night that we shot the scene where Marshall Crenshaw
00:51:47playing Buddy Holly and myself and Steven Lee as the big bopper
00:51:51get into the plane to take off, to fly away.
00:51:54It was Connie.
00:51:55She came to the set, which might not have been such a good idea for her.
00:51:58Hey, Richie, you laugh, man.
00:52:00Everything's cool.
00:52:03Besides, the sky belongs to the stars, right?
00:52:11She just starts trembling and she says to me,
00:52:13Why did you go?
00:52:14Why did you have to go?
00:52:14Richie, why did you have to go?
00:52:16And she throws herself, you know, onto me and she's crying
00:52:19and I'm holding her and she's just sobbing over and over.
00:52:22Why did you have to go?
00:52:23Why did you have to go?
00:52:25You know, it was, ah, I was lost at that time.
00:52:28You know, I had no idea what to do.
00:52:31There was so much pain still that we had never been able to just let out.
00:52:35We had never really been able to grieve.
00:52:37Because everybody used to tell us, be quiet, don't cry.
00:52:40And with La Bamba, all of us were able to finally, I guess, accept, let go.
00:52:49If you do your best.
00:52:54While the making of La Bamba was a healing experience
00:52:57for Richie Vallon's family, for the Big Bopper's son born three months after his father's death,
00:53:02finding closure has been more difficult.
00:53:05I wasn't raised knowing that my father was somebody special.
00:53:09I just know that when I got into my teenage years, I asked questions and I wasn't given answers.
00:53:17One time I was in Houston and I was sitting on the bus before I went on.
00:53:24We was fixing to do a concert.
00:53:26And this guy, he's about 20 years old, bounced on the bus and plopped down beside me.
00:53:34And he said, my name is Big Bopper Junior and I want you to tell me about my daddy, you
00:53:41know.
00:53:42And I looked at him, you know, it really shocked me.
00:53:45So I said, your daddy was a good old boy and a hell of a crapshooter
00:53:49and how in the hell did you get on this bus?
00:53:54The Big Bopper's son also asked Bob Hale about his dad's last hours at the Cirque Ballroom.
00:54:01At that particular time, Buddy's wife was expecting, the Bopper's wife was expecting, and my wife was expecting.
00:54:07And while we were sitting there, J.P. Richardson said to my wife,
00:54:10Kathy, may I put my hand on your tummy?
00:54:15She said, sure.
00:54:17This is what I miss most about being on the road, feeling my baby move in my wife's tummy.
00:54:25And when I told this story to J.P.'s son a few years ago, the tears just flowed.
00:54:32Because he said, Bobby, I'm trying to find out who my daddy is.
00:54:41And he said, now I know my daddy loved me before I was born.
00:54:51That's what I remember most about that night.
00:55:02You know, Dad's, you know, he's more than a footnote to Buddy Holly's death and Richie Ballant's death.
00:55:09Chantilly Lace was released in August of 58.
00:55:13Dad was killed less than six months later.
00:55:16The song lives today and does it live.
00:55:19Oh, baby, that's what I like!
00:55:25Today, J.P. carries on his father's rock and roll legacy with his own band.
00:55:30In North Carolina way back in the hills
00:55:32A little my papa and he had it with you
00:55:35Some kids, their mother or father pass on, leave them a hardware store,
00:55:42you know, real estate, big fat chunk of change.
00:55:46My dad left me his name and maybe a little bit of his voice.
00:55:50Revenue through the mountain, or the place where he's here.
00:55:55They won't keep you trying to buggy, but my papa won't buggy no more.
00:55:59Wide lightning!
00:56:02Four decades after the crash, the music of three of rock and roll's early pioneers lives on.
00:56:08Let me in, honey! This is the Big Bopper knocking!
00:56:13The Big Bopper's music is heard in any rock band that wants to get a little goofy now and then.
00:56:19He was the clown prince of his day.
00:56:31Richie Valens can be heard in the music of Los Lobos,
00:56:36in the music of every rock and roll band that features a Latino performer.
00:56:50Buddy Holly's everywhere. He's everywhere.
00:56:53Any time some kid plugs a Fender guitar into an amp, he's there.
00:57:09In a cornfield on the outskirts of Clear Lake, Iowa,
00:57:13a simple memorial marks the site where the plane carrying Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper
00:57:18fell from the sky on February 3, 1959.
00:57:22Every February, on the anniversary of the tragedy, rock fans come here to pay tribute to the fallen stars.
00:57:28They gather at the now-legendary Surf Ballroom to celebrate their music.
00:57:33Well, that'll be the day when you say goodbye.
00:57:37Yes, that'll be the day when you make me cry.
00:57:41That stage is, um, that ballroom is a bit of a shrine for me.
00:57:49After the crash, DJ Bob Hale left K.I.R.B. in Iowa, went to Chicago,
00:57:54and became a popular broadcasting personality.
00:57:56I will say, honestly and unashamedly, I have stood there and said,
00:58:00thank you, Lord, for allowing me to have worked here,
00:58:05and I thank the Lord for allowing me to have met those three young men.
00:58:16I don't seem possible that it's that long a time,
00:58:24because they have lived in my mind as they were when they were the entertainers that night.
00:58:31Carol Anderson managed the Surf Ballroom until 1967.
00:58:35He still lives in Clear Lake.
00:58:37It hurt me pretty deeply.
00:58:41When I think about it, why three young people like that, clean-cut,
00:58:52and then I wipe all three of them out.
00:58:57Oh, Donna. Oh, Donna. Oh, Donna. Oh, Donna.
00:59:03I smile. Every time I hear the song, I smile.
00:59:06You know, that's my song.
00:59:08Donna Fox, the woman who inspired Richie Valens, married and had five children.
00:59:13Her California license plate reads, Donna.
00:59:17Just the other night, I had someone who said,
00:59:20you're Richie Valens, Donna. Aren't you?
00:59:23So they haven't forgotten him. So that's important.
00:59:26They haven't forgotten him.
00:59:28If you knew Peggy's blue, then you know why I feel blue without Peggy.
00:59:36Peggy Sue Garren and Crickets drummer Jerry Allison divorced in the 60s.
00:59:40Peggy Sue still lives in Lubbock.
00:59:41A lot of the 13-year-old boys, which I might add are avid Buddy Holly fans around the world,
00:59:49they write to me and they say, you know, the music makes me feel, and it's okay to feel.
00:59:53It's okay to have a girlfriend. It's okay to be excited. It's even okay to cry.
00:59:59And I think that's the strength of the music.
01:00:01I love you Peggy Sue.
01:00:06After Nicky Sullivan left the Crickets, he formed his own band.
01:00:09Twelve years later, he quit music altogether and is now a businessman in Missouri.
01:00:15As of 1978, 350 artists had recorded our music.
01:00:21The number is double that now, even 20 more years after the fact.
01:00:27That's the legacy that was left.
01:00:31I wish there was a way that Buddy could find out.
01:00:34Maybe he knows. Who knows?
01:00:42Tommy Alsop went on to produce Willie Nelson's first recordings.
01:00:46He lives in Nashville, where he continues to produce records and play guitar.
01:00:50Everywhere I go, people, you know, when they hear my name and somebody mentions something about Buddy Holly, they go,
01:00:56oh, yeah.
01:00:57How come he wasn't on that line, you know?
01:01:01And people still remember it.
01:01:03Never a week goes by when I don't think about it.
01:01:06After the death of his friend Buddy, Waylon Jennings began recording his own music and became one of country music's
01:01:12leading artists, selling over 40 million records worldwide.
01:01:16I wonder what they would have been doing now, you know?
01:01:19I didn't know Richie Ballin well enough to know.
01:01:21He was smart and a good musician and a good writer.
01:01:26So he would have still been in it.
01:01:28The Big Bopper would have probably owned most of the radio stations in the country.
01:01:33And Buddy probably would have had his own label.
01:01:38He was a great idea man.
01:01:40He loved music.
01:01:41I don't think he would ever quit singing.
01:01:45The day the music died, they say, but the music didn't die.
01:01:48Of course, Buddy's not with us anymore, but the music's still here.
01:01:52There's no excuses or reasons for my stay alive.
01:01:56It just is.
01:01:58As simple as saying.
01:02:10Well, all right, so I'm being foolish.
01:02:14Well, all right, let people know.
01:02:18About the dreams and wishes you wish.
01:02:22In the night.
01:02:23You were raised on radio?
01:02:25Prove it.
01:02:25What was the biggest song of 1978?
01:02:27How about 1967?
01:02:29Find out as host John Lovitz looks back on 40 years of the Billboard Top 40.
01:02:34Featuring every year's number one single.
01:02:36And the pop culture phenomenon and news events that rocked the world.
01:02:41Monday night, beginning at 8, 7 central, only on VH1.
01:02:44We can't cry a bit loud.
01:02:45We can't cry a bit loud.
01:02:47Moving on.
01:02:48We can't cry a bit low.
01:02:49Probably the music can be loses somewhat.
01:02:49Alright, sir.
01:02:50I'm still so jealous.
01:02:52It's alright when people say that those foolish kids can't be ready for the love comes
01:03:02their way well, alright, well alright, well alright.
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