You may have heard the phrase, “The day the music died”, immortalized by Don McLean in his signature song “American Pie” (8 minutes, 33 seconds long). The day the music died was 3-Feb-1959.

On this day in 1959, rising American rock stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson are killed when their chartered Beechcraft Bonanza plane crashes in Iowa a few minutes after takeoff from Mason City on a flight headed for Moorehead, Minnesota. ( http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-day-the-music-died )

In American Pie, Don McLean paid tribute to Buddy Holly in particular. Indeed, Buddy Holly’s seminal songs influenced so many rockers who came after him, including Don.  I do not have anything original to add to the vast amount of information about Buddy Holly ( and Ritchie Valens and JP Richardson) that you can find on the above website as well as on Wikipedia, among others.

What I want to know is, “Where were you when the music died”?

I was in my final year of complete  childhood carefree abandonment, before beginning school the following year. At that age, my music taste was largely influenced by whatever my elder teenage siblings cared to play on the wobbly turntable or whatever was being aired over the AM radio. To be honest, I don’t recall Buddy Holly but Elvis Presley, Neil Sedaka, Paul Anka, Johnny Tillotson, Chubby Checker, Cliff Richard…..Of course in later years, I recalled Buddy Holly and grew to love his songs.

So where were you when the music died?