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00:00But February made me shiver With every paper I'd deliver
00:07Bad news on the doorstep I couldn't take one more step
00:15I can't remember if I cried When I read about his widowed bride
00:24But something touched me deep inside The day the music died
00:37On February 2, 1959, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and J.P. Richardson, known as the Big Bopper,
00:44took the stage of the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, and played before a packed house of ecstatic teenagers.
00:51It was the biggest night the small town had ever experienced.
00:54For the three stars, it would be the last night of their lives.
00:58Walking into the Surf Ballroom is like walking into a time machine.
01:01As you walk across an empty ballroom and you hear your footsteps just echo off the walls,
01:06you want to imagine Buddy Holly up there performing, Richie Valens up there performing,
01:11the Big Bopper, his ho-ho-hos in a long jacket.
01:15And you try to imagine that, you really do.
01:17It's a time machine.
01:19I'm not going to get spiritual and say I have felt their presence and heard their songs and echoes in
01:24there,
01:24but I have stood on that stage and said, why did it happen that they had to die?
01:36Rock and roll exploded onto the music scene in 1954 with Bill Haley and the Comets and Elvis Presley.
01:43Rock and roll is cool, daddy, and you know it.
01:45Their fusion of white country swing and black rhythm and blues ignited teen spirit.
01:50Elvis was a white dude singing black music, black style.
01:54And when he was on the Ed Sullivan show, Buddy Holly saw him.
01:57He said, I can't believe somebody could do that on network television.
02:01That just changed Buddy.
02:02You knew, when you looked at him, he knew what he wanted.
02:07He wanted to be a singing star.
02:15Buddy Holly's rapid rise to stardom began on September 7, 1936, with his birth in Lubbock, Texas.
02:22Young Buddy lived for music, and by the mid-1950s, he was a teenage rock and roll prodigy, anxious to
02:28make his mark.
02:33He became very impatient when he'd seen other fellas about his age breaking into music, like Elvis Presley and the
02:41Everly Brothers.
02:42He knew he was just as good or better than they were.
02:45Buddy formed a band with his friends Jerry Allison, Nicky Sullivan, and Joe B. Malden.
02:50They called themselves the Crickets.
02:51It was 1957, and before the year was out, Buddy Holly would be a star.
03:01Buddy went to see The Searchers, a John Ford movie.
03:04John Wayne said every 30 minutes, every 15 minutes, 20 minutes, he would say,
03:08That'll be the day, Pilgrim.
03:10Holly wrote the song.
03:12Well, that'll be the day when you say goodbye, yes.
03:16That'll be the day when you make me cry.
03:19By September 57, That'll Be the Day was the number three song in the nation.
03:25Within months, Buddy scored another big hit with a song named for drummer Jerry Allison's girlfriend.
03:30If you knew Peggy Sue, then you know why I'd be a girl without Peggy Sue.
03:37Jerry said, well, let's put Peggy Sue's name on there, because at that time, I wasn't speaking to Jerry.
03:44So I think Buddy was kind of playing a little bit of Cupid.
03:56The song worked.
03:57Jerry and Peggy Sue got married, and in just four months, Peggy Sue made the top ten, selling over a
04:03million copies.
04:04Is that a big hit right from the start, or has it been sort of a long...
04:07Well, we've had a few rough times, I guess you say, but we've been real lucky getting it this quick.
04:12Texas, nice to have you up here.
04:14Thank you, though.
04:14Let's have a very nice hand for these Texas questions.
04:18With two hits climbing the charts, Buddy and his band played their first national tour with some of rock and
04:23roll's biggest names.
04:24Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, and Eddie Cochran.
04:28It was a grueling tour, and when it was over, Nicky Sullivan quit the crickets.
04:32That tour took more out of me than anything I had ever done in my life.
04:38Think about your own self for a moment that you had to work 21 hours a day, and that had
04:44gone on for about five months.
04:46Something has to give, and I gave.
04:54Buddy and the Crickets continued as a trio, and by January of 58, they had their third top ten hit
04:59in less than a year.
05:01Oh, boy.
05:02What do you got coming up in the future for records?
05:05Well, we've got one that was just released the other day by the Crickets called Oh, Boy.
05:08That'll mean that you've got three songs in our chart that that comes up.
05:12How do you think it compares with the others?
05:14Well, I like Oh, Boy better than that of the day, but of course, I'm no judge.
05:19All my life I've been waiting.
05:22There'll be no hesitation, oh, boy.
05:24Less than a year after they began, Buddy and his band were now huge stars, and their fame spread to
05:30England and Australia.
05:31But as quickly as success had come, it wasn't fast enough for 21-year-old Buddy Holly.
05:37He acted like he didn't have enough time to do what he wanted to do.
05:40I don't know whether he thought maybe his life would be cut short or his career would be cut short,
05:44or he was just in a hurry to do something.
05:48He'd grow up in a hurry.
05:53Buddy fell in love in the summer of 58.
05:56While visiting New York, he met a young woman working at a record company.
06:00As usual, Buddy moved fast, and within two months, he and Maria Elena Santiago were married.
06:11He posed to her on their first date, and she asked him, or told him, rather, in her words, that
06:17you haven't known me long enough.
06:19And he says, well, I haven't got time.
06:22That sounds like Buddy.
06:25I haven't got time.
06:27Holly moved to New York to be with his new bride, and near the heart of the music business.
06:31But Cricket's Jerry Allison and Joe B. Malden stayed in Texas.
06:35As the group started to split up, Buddy withdrew a little bit, because he was hurt that we would walk
06:42away from all of this, this fame and fortune.
06:45Oh, misery, misery.
06:51By December 1958, Buddy Holly was an anxious young man, without a band and without a hit record.
06:58Buddy had recorded some new songs, which had come out and disappointed him, as far as charts.
07:04He got up to the 50s, and he got up to the 40s, so he was not having number ones
07:07and number twos again.
07:09Not only had his career hit a lull, but 22-year-old Buddy needed money.
07:13He had a lot of holdings.
07:14He had a lot of publishing money due to him and things like that, but he didn't have cash in
07:17his pocket.
07:18His one option was to earn cash and boost his record sales by going back on tour.
07:23And the only tour at that time that he could have gone on was his winter dance party tour.
07:27He was forced to go on a tour he didn't really want to go on, in a time of the
07:32year when he didn't want to do it,
07:33in order to make money to pay the bills for his wife and a child that was going to come
07:39along.
07:40I know that...
07:45that he didn't want to go.
07:57Buddy Holly's string of top ten hits ended in 1958, that same year as Buddy's star was losing its luster.
08:04Two new rock and roll luminaries blazed onto the charts, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper.
08:09Hello, baby.
08:13Yeah, this is the Big Bopper speaking.
08:16The Big Bopper was the stage name of J.P. Richardson, a Beaumont, Texas, disc jockey with a talent for
08:22funny ad-libs and a knack for writing songs.
08:25He knew music.
08:27Not that he was an accomplished musician.
08:29He played the guitar.
08:31But he knew music.
08:33He had a feel for music.
08:36The Big Bopper was born Giles Perry Richardson on October 12, 1930.
08:41The eldest son of an oil field worker, J.P. grew up poor.
08:45His roots were quite humble.
08:48He had a close family, but certainly no economic good fortune in his life.
08:55J.P. struggled all his young life to get ahead.
08:58And by the age of 21, he was a married man determined to give his family all the things he
09:04never had.
09:04And that's basically the reason he went to the music business.
09:07You know, if he could have probably made a couple hundred bucks a week in radio, that would have probably
09:10done him at the time.
09:11But he couldn't.
09:12In 1958, 27-year-old Richardson was spinning records on the radio.
09:17I told the witch doctor I was in love with you.
09:20A big man with a big sense of humor, he noted the popularity of novelty tunes like The Witch Doctor
09:26and The Purple People Eater.
09:27Songs that made no sense, but lots of money.
09:33What he decided he was going to do was record a record which put these two characters together.
09:41And it was called The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor.
09:44On the flip side, the big bopper recorded Chantilly Lace.
09:48Chantilly Lace and a pretty face and a pony tail hanging down, wiggling the walk and a giggle and a
09:56talk.
09:57Make the world go round.
10:00Well, it caught up.
10:01It just simply caught up.
10:03The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor was immediately forgotten.
10:07And Chantilly Lace was the rage.
10:09Oh, baby, that's the one I like.
10:12By the fall of 1958, Chantilly Lace made the top ten and was one of the most played records in
10:18the country.
10:19Oh, baby, you know what I like.
10:23The song promised to give the bopper, his wife and family, the financial security they yearned for.
10:29But he needed to promote the record.
10:30And to do that, he had to take his music on the road.
10:33So in December of 58, the big bopper was booked on the winter dance party tour.
10:38He didn't like to be away from his family.
10:41That was the hardest thing in the world for him.
10:43At the airport, J.P. hugged his five-year-old daughter, Debra, and said goodbye to his wife, Titsi,
10:48who was six months pregnant with their second child.
10:51She didn't want him to go, but they knew that, you know, this was a special thing for him.
10:56I mean, you know, with Buddy and Richie and Dion and the Belmonts.
11:01And, you know, these are people that Mother had heard of and listened to.
11:04And, you know, it was quite an exciting thing for him.
11:06The big bopper then headed north to join the winter dance party.
11:10Well, come on, let's go, let's go, let's go, little daughter.
11:14And tell me that you never need me.
11:18Come on, come on, let's go.
11:23For 17-year-old Richie Valens, the youngest star on the tour,
11:26the winter dance party was the high point of a career that was just starting to take off.
11:30He was so excited about the stars that he was going to meet.
11:35And he was very, very excited about meeting Buddy Holly.
11:40Well, I gotta get me too.
11:43She knows just what to do.
11:45You have to realize that his career was eight months long.
11:50You know, from the time he was discovered, he recorded the first album until February 3rd, 59.
11:55And he packed a lot of living into eight months, you know.
12:02Richie Valens was born Richard Valenzuela on May 13th, 1941.
12:07The second of five children, his life in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles was difficult.
12:12He was only 10 years old when his father died, leaving the family in poverty.
12:16It was a rough childhood.
12:18I would say a very rough childhood, because in the first place, he came from a very poor family.
12:22These are small little wooden houses on wood sills.
12:25And under the house, they scooped out so people were sleeping up there.
12:30And that's where Richie was sleeping.
12:31His main goal in life was to make records so he could make money and buy his mom a new
12:37home.
12:38And that's all he talked about.
12:39Richie began playing the guitar as a young boy.
12:42And by the time he was in his teens, he was already winning fans.
12:50All along, he knew he was going to be a star.
12:53He just knew it.
12:55At school, when we had concerts, he just rocked the place.
12:59I mean, we were rocking and rolling.
13:01Ooh, my energy.
13:03Richie's energetic style attracted the attention of record producer Bob Keene.
13:07There was this kind of bull-like guy standing up there, a young fella.
13:11And he was cranking away on a guitar with a little beat-up amp.
13:14And he was just really cook.
13:19Keene signed Richie Valenzuela to a deal and promptly changed his name.
13:24Being Latin could have been a very big deterrent for him.
13:27But fortunately, I got the idea to change his name so nobody knew what he was before he got out
13:32there and got his face in front of people.
13:41In the summer of 58, Richie released his first record, Come On, Let's Go.
13:46By autumn, it was on the national charts.
13:49Richie's biggest hit came next, a song dedicated to his best girl, Donna.
14:01He called me up on the telephone one night, and he said, I wrote a song for you.
14:08I had a girl, Donna was her name, said she loved me, I'd never been the same.
14:22While Donna made teens swoon, its flip side, La Bamba got them dancing.
14:27La Bamba, La Bamba, La Bamba, La Bamba, La Bamba, La Bamba, La Bamba, La Bamba, La Bamba, La Bamba,
14:34La Bamba, La Bamba, La Bamba.
14:38Was a very important figure.
14:40Richie Valens was the first Chicano rock and roll star.
14:44I mean, he was truly a pioneer in that sense.
14:48And young.
14:49I mean, who knows what he would have gone on to do, given the cojones he had, but also the
14:55smarts that he had and the talent that he had.
14:57As Richie's popularity soared, his manager, Bob Keen, pushed to keep him before the public.
15:02He even landed Richie a feature role in the rock and roll movie, Go Johnny Go.
15:12In December of 58, just seven months after Richie was discovered, Keen booked him on his first big tour, the
15:19Winter Dance Party.
15:20Friends and family were proud to see him go.
15:23I had no fear that he would not return.
15:27I knew he would return.
15:31Hi, everybody.
15:33This is Richie Valens.
15:34And I hope to see you all real soon.
15:35Teenage rock and roll sensation Richie Valens was eager to join the Winter Dance Party tour in January 1959.
15:42Even though it was a Buddy Holly tour, he was really the number one hotshot at that time, because his
15:48record was really up there and getting an awful lot of airplay.
15:51Before Richie left for the Midwest, his mother held a goodbye party at the new house her hit-making son
15:56had bought for her.
15:57And my father wouldn't let me go.
15:59So, I didn't forgive him for that for a long, long time.
16:07Richie's family drove him to the airport for his flight to the Midwest.
16:29I wish I had at least had an opportunity to have said goodbye.
16:45The Winter Dance Party.
16:47A three-week jaunt through the heart of the Midwest.
16:51The part of America that freezes solid in February.
16:54There was Richie Valens, the Big Bopper, Frankie Sardo, Dion and the Belmonts, and Buddy Holly.
17:00Along with his three new sidemen, Waylon Jennings, Tommy Olsep, and Charlie Bunch.
17:05Maybe, baby, I'll have you.
17:09Buddy Holly had put together a new band for the 1959 Winter Dance Party Tour, including his friend, a Texas
17:16disc jockey named Waylon Jennings.
17:18He'd gone downtown and bought a bass, and he said, you've got two weeks to learn how to play that
17:22thing.
17:22I had an enormous idea of what did what on the bass, but I memorized where I put my fingers
17:29on which songs.
17:30Buddy also recruited drummer Carl Bunch and guitarist Tommy Olsep.
17:35The Winter Dance Party was ready to roll.
17:39The middle of winter was cold, cold.
17:42I don't know whose idea it was, but it really was a bad idea.
17:46We were going down the road, and it was 40 below, and the bus froze up.
17:51And there we sat in a snowstorm with a bus frozen.
17:55That's not our drummer's feet got frostbite on the bus.
17:58We got to where we hated that bus.
18:02But we were in showbiz.
18:04Three weeks of one-night stands and all-night bus rides.
18:0821 days of being bounced around the insides of a bus like ping-pong balls.
18:13The problem was whoever scheduled the tour.
18:15You started way over here, went 400 miles to your next venue, and then went back 30 miles from the
18:20first one to do your third one, if you know what I'm trying to say.
18:24Hopscotching back and forth.
18:25As the bus zigzagged across the icy Midwest, tour promoters arranged to fill an open date in the schedule by
18:31booking a concert in Clear Lake, Iowa.
18:33The General Artists Corporation called Mr. Carol Anderson at the surf ball and said,
18:39We have an open date.
18:41It's a little bit out of our way, but we can make it.
18:44The guys can drive the bus down to Mason City.
18:46Would you be interested in the show?
18:48And Carol said, Bob, I have a chance to bring in Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Booper.
18:53I said, Book the show.
18:55Absolutely, just book it.
18:56And the ticket sales took right off.
18:59On the 11th day of the tour, after playing Ten Towns in the past 10 nights, a cold, tired, and
19:04disgusted Buddy Holly wanted to get himself and his two bandmates off the Bridget tour bus.
19:09He decided that after the show in Clear Lake that night, they would fly ahead to the next gig.
19:14Well, we were on the bus, and he said, When do we get to Clear Lake?
19:17He said, Let's see if we can't charter a plane and fly up to Fargo, North Dakota.
19:24He was actually doing it as just kind of as a favor to us, you know, where he could get
19:29in and get a little rest and everything.
19:31That evening, the Winter Dance Party bus limped into Clear Lake, Iowa, and the stars staggered out.
19:37When they came in here, they were almost frustrated.
19:39A big bopper was running a fever.
19:42He was just perspiring profusely.
19:44Buddy Holly had a question for the surf ballroom's manager, Carol Anderson.
19:48They wanted to get in and get ahead, and they asked me if there was a charter flight out of
19:54here.
19:54They were tired.
19:55They were hungry.
19:56We got them some food, some at the surf ball, and a couple of the guys went across the street
19:59to the restaurant.
20:00And I remember Buddy getting off and asking, Is there a laundromat around where we could get our clothes washed?
20:06And I guess it was the hour.
20:07There wasn't one, or it was clothes or something.
20:10But I remember they could not get clothes washed at that particular time.
20:14That was the reason that Buddy wanted to fly, you know, so he could get some laundry done.
20:20Because we'd been out 12 days, and our shirts were starting to stand up on their own, you know.
20:26The Winter Dance Party's stars may have been worn out,
20:28but 1,500 local teenagers were ready to rock.
20:34Well, we arrived at the surf ballroom, and the line was already there,
20:38and the parents are lined up, and people are waiting to get in and to buy tickets,
20:42and they just poured into the surf ballroom.
20:45The floor was about three-fourths full, solid with people, up to the...
20:50And a few of them sat around in the first row of booths around here.
20:54It was a big night.
20:55Nobody in that area, northeast Iowa, had ever seen stars this big in their life.
21:01And for all of these youngsters, and for this young kid disc jockey,
21:06it was the biggest thrill of my life.
21:09At 8 p.m., the curtains parted on the stage of the surf ballroom.
21:13Hello, baby!
21:16Yeah, this is the Big Bopper speaking.
21:19The Big Bopper came out.
21:22And he did his telephone routine and had everybody laughing.
21:27Will I, what?
21:30Oh, baby, you know what I like.
21:35Chantilly lace and a pretty face and a pony tail hanging down.
21:41We had Richie Valens.
21:44The next song I'll do for you is named Doc.
21:48Oh, my gosh.
21:51The girls went crazy over Richie Valens.
21:53I had a girl, and all of them was her name.
22:00Said she loved me.
22:03I'd never been the same.
22:06But I love my girl.
22:11And all of them were getting me.
22:16And he was about four seconds into his music,
22:18and it was this Richie had been there all his life.
22:29He was just shy, you know.
22:32But what was wild is he was wild on stage, you know.
22:36It was like two different people.
22:38He just warmed to the kids and had everybody singing and dancing,
22:41of course, to La Bamba.
22:42And I don't know how many times he had to sing that.
22:45It was a real up night.
22:46Everybody was rocking and everybody having a good time.
22:49I'm going to tell you how it's going to be.
22:54And he's going to give you what you mean.
22:58When Buddy first started,
22:59there was that just constant cheering and yelling and cheering.
23:03With all the kids screaming, you could just barely hear your hands.
23:05It was kind of wild, you know.
23:07Oh, you know my love and my pain.
23:13When he changed the mood, he'd go into a bit of a quiet tune.
23:16And everybody would hush and listen to him.
23:19Well, all right, so I'm being foolish.
23:22Well, all right, let people know.
23:26About the dreams and wishes you wish.
23:30And the night when the lights are low.
23:33The stars of the winter dance party burned up the stage until midnight.
23:37While they rocked,
23:38Carol Anderson called Dwyer Flying Service to charter a plane for Buddy and his band.
23:43The plane could take up to three passengers at $36 apiece.
23:47Love will be all right.
23:53When the curtain came down, Buddy, Waylon, and Tommy also rushed to catch their flight to the next stop on
24:00the tour.
24:00Word got around amongst the performers that Holly and his two sidemen were going to fly out instead of bussing
24:07it.
24:07The big bopper couldn't stand the thought of those 430 frozen miles between Clear Lake and Moorhead.
24:14Next stop on the tour, he made a deal with Waylon James.
24:19He had the flu real bad.
24:20He asked me, would you let me have your place on the plane?
24:23I said, well, if it's all right with Buddy, it's okay with me.
24:26It's funny how, you know, two minutes in a life can turn around.
24:31Several people's lives.
24:33Yeah, Dad was about 20 pounds lighter.
24:35He might have been able to fit on that bus somewhere and get comfortable.
24:38You know, who knows?
24:40I may never have asked.
24:42You know, there's a thing that happened that night.
24:44Buddy was leaning back against the wall and just came by the chair laughing at me because he says,
24:51you're not going on the plane tonight, huh?
24:52And I said, no.
24:54He said, well, I hope your old bus freezes up.
24:58And I said, well, again, you know.
25:00And I said, well, I hope your old plane crashes, you know.
25:04Now, I was awful young and it took me a long time to get over that.
25:09As Buddy, the big bopper, and Tommy Olsa prepared to leave, Tommy made one last check of the dressing room
25:16and ran into Richie Valens.
25:17Richie was standing there signing autographs.
25:20For some reason, he said, you're going to let me fly and I just flipped a 50 cent piece and
25:25said, call it.
25:26You know, you know, he cold heads.
25:29Richie won the toss and a seat on the plane.
25:33A cold northeast wind blew as Carol Anderson drove Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the big bopper to the Mason
25:40City Airport.
25:4121-year-old pilot Roger Peterson was waiting with a single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza.
25:47February 3rd, 1959.
25:50Just past midnight, Buddy Holly, the big bopper, and Richie Valens climbed aboard a single-engine, four-seater Beechcraft Bonanza
25:59at Mason City Airport, Iowa.
26:01The biggest stars in rock and roll had just disappeared.
26:11In the pre-dawn hours of February 3rd, 1959, a plane carrying Buddy Holly, the big bopper, and Richie Valens
26:19took off into the wintry Iowa sky.
26:22The next morning, about a quarter after seven, the phone rang and I was still home and it was Mr.
26:30Dwyer.
26:31And he says, Carol, he said, uh, our party that went out last night never got to fire.
26:39DJ Bob Hale was at radio station KIRV.
26:42And while he was on, a little after nine o'clock, the bulletin bell rang on the UPI telling us
26:47that there was a wreckage found of a light aircraft outside the Mason City Clear Lake Airport.
26:54And I broke in with that bulletin.
26:57I didn't even think about the plane from the night before.
27:00It didn't even dawn on me.
27:03And I just read the bulletin and we went on with music.
27:05And about 30 seconds later, the phone rang.
27:07It was Carol Anderson, the manager of the surf ballroom.
27:11He said, Bob, I've just been out to that wreckage site of that airplane you had the bulletin on.
27:16I said, why were you there?
27:18He said, to identify the bodies.
27:20I said, what do you mean?
27:21And he said, Bob, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. are dead.
27:27Their plane crashed.
27:28They're dead.
27:42The plane went down minutes after takeoff, just five miles northwest of the airport.
27:48The official cause listed way back then by the FAA was pilot error.
27:52I don't believe that because this young pilot knew that airplane or Jerry Dwyer would not have put him in
27:58that airplane.
28:00I am convinced that it's that storm that caused the plane crash.
28:04They knocked the snow off the roof of a house about a mile back.
28:09And that plane just gradually went into the ground.
28:13The one wing had hit the ground and tore out a chunk of ground about four inches deep and about
28:21three foot long.
28:24And that was frozen solid, that ground.
28:27And from then on, it was just a corkscrew.
28:30I mean, it just end over, end over, end.
28:32And it all ended up along the line fence there.
28:36All the cables were wrapped around the tails up in the air.
28:40All three stars were thrown from the twisted wreckage.
28:44The body of pilot Roger Peterson was pinned inside the shattered plane.
28:51I've seen two bodies laying just, oh, 12 to 15 feet from the airplane.
28:59One was Buddy Holly and one was Ritchie Valens.
29:04And I said to Sheriff Valens, where's the third one?
29:08He said, across the line there, the fence there, about 40 rows of corny and the big bopper lays over
29:15there.
29:21This is a day that ended in tragedy for three of the biggest names in the music business.
29:26The names in order of bigness probably would be Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly of the Crickets, and also the big
29:32bopper.
29:33The big bopper was 28 years old.
29:35Buddy Holly, 22.
29:37Ritchie Valens was only 17.
29:44I had KFWB on, and just as I passed the front of the play team, I'll never forget it,
29:48is this jockey center, now the late, great Ritchie Valens.
29:53And it was just like somebody had hit me in the stomach with a baseball bat.
29:57I really had a tremendous physical reaction.
30:04The announcer said three top rock and roll singers have been killed, and one of them is Ritchie Valens.
30:11I mean, I was terrified.
30:13I screamed, and I couldn't.
30:16It's pretty hard to even talk about it.
30:19And we had a schoolmate come and say, aren't you Ritchie Valens, sister?
30:27And I was like, yeah, well, he's dead.
30:29And I looked at them, and I said, no way.
30:31My brother's not dead.
30:31You're just jealous.
30:33And they go, well, we heard it on the news.
30:38And when I got home, Mama was sitting in a chair surrounded by people, and I knew it was true.
30:44And I just ran to her, and I said, not Ritchie.
30:47Mama, no.
30:49And I just remember, you know, falling on my knees and burying my head in her lap.
30:54I was so sure that that wasn't him on the plane.
30:58I was so sure that it was wrong that I'd call the house or I'd go over there, and everything
31:03would be fine.
31:04It wouldn't be him.
31:05He was on the bus.
31:09But it was wrong.
31:12In Texas, former cricket guitarist Nicky Sullivan heard the news from a fan and asked his mother to call Buddy
31:18Holly's mother to confirm it.
31:20And when Mrs. Holly answered, I remember we were close to 7.30, 8 o'clock in the morning.
31:26Is it true what I heard about Buddy?
31:29Mrs. Holly, Buddy's mother, said, oh, I don't know what.
31:35My God, she didn't know.
31:37She had no idea.
31:44My wife told me, you better get out of your work clothes and put on some clean clothes and go
31:50to your mother's house.
31:51And I said, why?
31:53She wouldn't tell me for a little while.
31:54And then she said, well, we heard over the radio that Buddy was in a plane crash.
31:58And I said, is he alive?
32:01She said, I don't know.
32:02But she said, I think they said that everyone was dead.
32:09And so that's the way we got the news.
32:11It was on the air before we were notified.
32:15The news soon reached Cricket's drummer, Jerry Allison, and his wife, Peggy Sue.
32:19Jerry was devastated.
32:23Just paralyzed.
32:25It was just like turning the lights out.
32:29You know, it's like the sun didn't shine.
32:31And if it didn't care, it just hit all.
32:35It had just stopped.
32:41Buddy's wife, Maria Elena, was grief-stricken when she learned of the crash.
32:45Within months, she would miscarry their unborn child.
32:54In Beaumont, Texas, J.P. Richardson's best friend had just come home after his shift at
32:59the radio station when he got the call.
33:01I was stunned.
33:03I was numb.
33:05I immediately got up and went to the radio station.
33:08And it was confirmed that the crash had occurred and that J.P. had perished.
33:14And it was the day that our lives stopped.
33:19And there's someone who's watching over you tonight.
33:28Later, I did talk with his wife.
33:31It was very difficult for Titsi to accept J.P.'s death.
33:35She was very young and a five-year-old daughter.
33:38Six months pregnant with me.
33:42And this terrible thing took her husband away.
33:44She could see the end of the rainbow within sight.
33:48And it was immediately grabbed away from her.
33:51Over you tonight.
33:55Over you tonight.
34:02At approximately one o'clock in the morning on February 3rd, 1959, Buddy Holly,
34:09Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper were killed in a plane crash.
34:13Later that morning, the other members of the Winter Dance Party reached the next stop on their tour
34:17and were greeted with the grim news.
34:19The road manager and I walked in the hotel.
34:23And there was a TV in the lobby.
34:24And there was a picture of the Big Bopper on TV.
34:27I said, put me in a room next to Buddy Holly.
34:29He said, are you at that show?
34:31And I said, yeah.
34:32He said, well, then you know those guys got killed in a plane crash.
34:34I said, what?
34:35He said, just like that.
34:37He said, yeah, those guys got killed in a plane crash this morning.
34:39So, you know, just, bam, we knew about it.
34:44J.P. Richardson was dead.
34:47And I was alive.
34:48And because he was dead, I was alive.
34:51Although the Winter Dance Party was devastated by the deaths of three of its top performers,
34:56the tour continued.
34:57And that night, Waylon Jennings had to stand in for his pal, Buddy, and sing his song.
35:02I just wanted to go home.
35:04I'd never faced anything like that.
35:06I'd never known anyone that close to who had died.
35:10Crying, waiting, hoping you'll come back.
35:17I just can't see.
35:19I'll get you off my mind.
35:25Teenagers across the country and around the world were stunned to learn that three of rock
35:30and roll's brightest stars had been killed in a plane crash.
35:33A lot of the kids, the boys particularly, were already wearing black armbands.
35:36And, did you hear what happened?
35:38They wouldn't even say it out loud.
35:39They were whispering it.
35:41And it just, it hit us real hard.
35:43Very, very hard.
35:44I was standing in my living room and came on the radio.
35:47The plane went down last night, taking three rock and roll players, J.P. Richardson, known
35:51as the Big Bopper, Richie Valens, and Buddy Holly.
35:55I remember my stomach dropped.
35:57And I was standing in this position, my shoulders down, like you're the radio.
36:01My shoulders down like this and I looked at it like that.
36:03And I stood there for about 15, 20 minutes.
36:04It didn't move.
36:07In 59, as a paper boy, I went and cut open these papers one day.
36:13And there it said, Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper and Richie Valens had been killed in a plane crash.
36:20I remember it was just like somebody took and punched me right in the face.
36:25I just couldn't believe it.
36:27It took the best people off of that tour.
36:30It took the best people.
36:32I'm talking about kind, good-hearted people that you can't imagine being bad to somebody.
36:41And it took their lives.
36:44And I never understood that.
36:46And to this day, when I think about that, it makes me a little bit mad.
36:52Given the situation in rock and roll in 1959, the plane crash could have been almost a lethal blow.
37:00Elvis was in the Army.
37:03Chuck Berry had a little bit of trouble with an underage girl.
37:07Jerry Lee Lewis's career was an eclipse because he had married his teenage cousin.
37:12Little Richard had decided he didn't want to play rock and roll anymore, and he had joined the ministry.
37:19So, the deaths of Buddy Holly and Richie Valens in the Big Bopper was kind of an exclamation point to
37:25this whole period.
37:27That plane crash nearly helped bury rock and roll,
37:31and we were stuck for a couple of years with a lot of teen idols that didn't have much backbone
37:37to their sound
37:38until the Beatles came over here and saved our souls.
37:47Pop music progressed from teen idols to the Beatles,
37:50and by the early 1970s, Holly, Valens, and the Bopper's music have been stashed away like forgotten oldies.
37:58Then Don McClain wrote about the day the music died.
38:01I started singing, bye-bye, Miss American Pie.
38:05American Pie speaks to the loss that we feel.
38:09That's why that song has found the niche that it has.
38:13I'm singing, this will be the day that I die.
38:18A decade after the deaths of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper,
38:22memories of the tragedy inspired the song that would become a pop anthem.
38:26When 1970 came around, and I was now beginning to make records,
38:31I suddenly began to write about Buddy Holly and remembering what happened.
38:36And started out with, you know, a long, long time ago.
38:39A long, long time ago
38:42I can still remember how that music used to make me smile
38:49Shortly after Buddy died, like the next year my father died,
38:54And I had been still trying to come to terms with my father's death and with Buddy Holly's death and
39:04with all these things that had happened.
39:05And so I put this in the song.
39:07I can't remember bad news on the doorstep
39:09I couldn't take one more step
39:13I can't remember if I cried
39:17What I read about his widowed bride
39:20But something touched me deep inside
39:36I only dedicated the album to Buddy
39:39I never said it was about him
39:41But radio people sensed right away that there was this connection with the day the music died
39:48And the dedication on the album
39:50They would play American Pie
39:52And they played That Will Be The Day
39:54And I remember hearing that on the radio
39:56And thinking, well, this is great
39:57This is amazing
39:58You know, what music can do
40:00You know, I'm bringing Buddy back
40:03To everybody
40:04As you believe in rock and roll
40:08Can music save your mortal soul
40:12And can you teach me how to dance real slow
40:17American Pie struck a chord
40:19And in January 1972
40:2113 years after the tragic crash
40:24It was the number one record in the country
40:26I was on a boat
40:27And I heard that song once
40:28Down in Fort Lauderdale
40:31And I started crying
40:34That's how much the song means to me
40:35Not only to me
40:37It means a lot to others as well
40:40McLean, with one really deft brush stroke
40:43Brought it all back home to me
40:45And help put those performers back on the map
40:49Singing, bye-bye
40:51Miss American Pie
40:53Drove my Chevy to the levee
40:55But the levee was dry
40:56Them good old boys
40:58Were drinking whiskey and rice
41:00Singing, this'll be the day that I die
41:03While Don McLean's anthem, American Pie
41:06Reminded rock and roll fans
41:07About the day the music died
41:08It was a movie that brought Buddy Holly
41:11Back to Life
41:11All of my love
41:13All of my kissing
41:14You don't know what you've been
41:16I'm into no boys
41:17I discovered Buddy
41:18When I was in the sixth grade
41:21Holly's music was such a portion of mine
41:23Because it lifted me
41:25It made me feel good
41:26It made me feel strong
41:27All of my life
41:28I've been waiting
41:29Tonight there'll be no
41:31Hesitating no boys
41:32Gary Busey had idolized Buddy Holly
41:34For more than 20 years
41:36In 1978
41:37He got the chance to play this hero
41:39In the Buddy Holly story
41:41Busey's transformation into Buddy Holly
41:43Earned him an Academy Award nomination
41:46And I had these glasses to look through
41:49With my hair all curled up
41:51And permanent
41:53And there was no more Gary Busey
41:54I couldn't find Gary Busey in the movie
41:56So I will tell you this
41:57That playing Buddy Holly
41:58Was the first experience I had making film
42:00In fact, it's the only experience
42:02I've had making film
42:03Where the spirit was with me
42:05And wrapped itself around me
42:07Just you know why
42:13Gary Busey wasn't the only one
42:15Moved by Holly's spirit
42:16For Buddy's widow, Maria Elena
42:18The film stirred deep emotions
42:20I met Maria Elena
42:21When the movie premiered
42:22And she started weeping
42:25And left during a song
42:26Just you know why
42:29True love ways
42:30I thought, boy, we really messed up
42:32But no, Buddy was in the room with her
42:34You know why
42:35Just you
42:37And I
42:38No true love way
42:43A decade later
42:45In 1987
42:46La Bamba resurrected the memory
42:48Of Richie Vallis
42:53As he researched and acted
42:55The leading role
42:56Lou Diamond Phillips
42:57Connected emotionally
42:58With Richie's family
43:00For me and for the family
43:02And in a very weird way
43:04In a very sort of existential way
43:06It was Richie all over again
43:08Richie was there
43:10I know, I put Lou through some stuff
43:13I mean, he did become Richie to me
43:16For those three months
43:17The only time it ever became
43:19A real issue
43:21And it became a difficulty
43:24Was the night that we shot
43:26The scene where
43:27Marshall Prince shot
43:28Playing Buddy Holly
43:29And myself
43:30And Steven Lee
43:31As the big bauber
43:32Get into the plane
43:32To take off
43:34To fly away
43:34It was Connie
43:35She came to the set
43:37Which might not have been
43:37Such a good idea for her
43:39Hey Richie
43:40Relax, man
43:40Everything's cool
43:43Besides the sky belongs
43:44To the stars, right?
43:51She just starts trembling
43:52And she says to me
43:53Why did you go?
43:54Why did you have to go?
43:55Richie, why did you have to go?
43:56And she throws herself
43:57You know, onto me
43:58And she's crying
43:59And I'm holding her
44:01And she's just sobbing
44:02Over and over
44:03Why did you have to go?
44:04Why did you have to go?
44:05You know, it was
44:06Ah, I was lost at that time
44:08You know, I had no idea
44:10What to do
44:11There was so much pain still
44:13That we had never been able to
44:14Just let out
44:15We had never really been able to grieve
44:17Because everybody used to tell us
44:19Be quiet, don't cry
44:20And with La Bamba
44:22All of us were able to
44:23Finally, I guess, accept
44:26Let go
44:29If you do your best
44:34While the making of La Bamba
44:36Was a healing experience
44:37For Richie Valens' family
44:39For the Big Bopper's son
44:40Born three months
44:41After his father's death
44:42Finding closure
44:43Has been more difficult
44:44I wasn't raised
44:46Knowing that my father
44:48Was somebody special
44:49I just know that
44:50When I got into my teenage years
44:53I asked questions
44:56And I wasn't given answers
45:00The Big Bopper's son
45:02Also asked Bob Hale
45:03About his dad's last hours
45:05At the surf ballroom
45:06At that particular time
45:08Buddy's wife was expecting
45:10The Bopper's wife was expecting
45:11And my wife was expecting
45:12And while we were sitting there
45:14J.P. Richardson said to my wife
45:16Kathy
45:18May I put my hand on your tummy?
45:21She said
45:22Sure
45:22This is what I miss most
45:24About being on the road
45:27Feeling my baby move
45:28In my wife's tummy
45:31And when I told
45:32This story
45:33To J.P.'s son
45:34A few years ago
45:35The tears just
45:36Flowed
45:38Because he said
45:39Bobby I'm trying to find out
45:41Who my daddy is
45:46And
45:48He said
45:50Now I know
45:52My daddy loved me
45:53Before I was born
45:57That's what I remember most
45:59About that night
46:05Chantilly lace
46:06And a pretty face
46:08And a pony
46:08You know dad's
46:09You know he's more than a footnote
46:10To
46:11Buddy Holly's death
46:12And Richie Ballin's death
46:15Chantilly lace
46:16Was released in
46:17August of 58
46:19Dad was killed
46:20Less than six months later
46:22The song lives today
46:23And does it live
46:25Oh baby
46:26That's what I like
46:31Today J.P. carries on
46:33His father's rock and roll legacy
46:34With his own band
46:35In North Carolina
46:37Way back into the hills
46:39Live my baby
46:40And he had it still
46:41Some kids
46:42Their mother
46:43Father pass on
46:44Leave them a hardware store
46:47You know real estate
46:49Big fat chunk of change
46:52My dad left me his name
46:54And maybe a little bit
46:56Of his voice
47:08Four decades after the crash
47:10The music of three
47:12Of rock and roll's
47:13Early pioneers
47:13Lives on
47:16The big bopper's music
47:21Is heard in
47:22Any rock band
47:23That wants to get
47:24A little goofy
47:24Now and now
47:25He was the clown prince
47:27Of his day
47:37Richie Ballin's
47:38Can be heard in
47:40The music of
47:41Los Lobos
47:42In the music of
47:43Every
47:46Rock and roll band
47:47That features
47:48A Latino performer
47:56Buddy Holly's everywhere
47:58He's everywhere
47:59Anytime some kid
48:01Plugs a Fender guitar
48:02Into an amp
48:03He's there
48:18Well alright
48:20So I'm being pushed
48:22Well alright
48:24Let people know
48:26About the dreams
48:28And wishes
48:29You wish
48:30In the night
48:32When the lights
48:33Are low
48:34Well alright
48:36Well alright
48:38We'll live and love
48:41With all our might
48:42Well alright
48:43Well alright
48:45Our lifetime love
48:48Will be alright
48:57Well alright
48:58So I'm going steady
49:00It's alright
49:02When people say
49:05That those foolish kids
49:07Can't be ready
49:09For the love
49:11So thank you
49:11Thank you
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