On this day Charles Hardin Holley, better known as ‘Buddy Holly’, died in a plane crash at the age of 22 while on tour in America. Fellow musicians, Richie Valens and J.P. Richardson ‘The Big Bopper’ also died in the same tragic accident. Buddy was a central and pioneering figure of the mid-1950s rock and roll scene and a major influence on later popular music artists, including Bob Dylan, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Elton John and many others. Don McLean would later refer to the tragedy as “the day the music died” in his major hit ‘American Pie’. Buddy Holly was among the first artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 1986.
Buddy Holly Dies in Plane Crash
3rd February 1959