In 1959 Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper played their last show on stage during the Winter Dance Party tour.
The next morning the three rock stars would be killed in a plane crash, and the moment would be dubbed "The Day the Music Died." Don McLean would record one of the most revered songs in music with his 1971 song "American Pie," which chronicles the moment. The tour was marred from its inception, as the tour was long journeys between venues and the tour buses were cold and uncomfortable, which affected performers with cases of flu and frostbite.
Buddy Holly had a plane booked for himself and his band which consisted of future country legend Waylon Jennings who played in Holly's band as he was not touring with the crickets. The Big Bopper was suffering from the flu at the time and got a seat on the plane by switching seats with Jennings, Ritchie Valens who was also ill won a seat on the plane via a coin toss, which was chronicled in the movie La Bamba. Jokingly before he got on the plane Holly would tell Jennings that he hoped he "freezes his ass off on the bus," Jennings would sarcastically say back, "Yeah, well I hope your plane crashes." That moment would haunt Jennings for the rest of his life.
At 9:35 am, Hubert Jerry Dwyer, owner of the plane service hired by Holly did a flyby of the flight's route to the airport as it failed to land on time. The poor weather conditions, caused the pilot to lose control of the aircraft, which crashed into a cornfield, killing all four on board.
Monuments have been erected at the crash site and an annual memorial concert is held at the Surf Ballroom, where the last performance of the three was held.