February 3rd, 1959. A small aircraft took off from Clear Lake, IA heading to Fargo, ND. It never made it’s destination.

On board were 3 young men who were at various stages in their rock and roll careers; Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly and Jiles P. Richardson – aka The Big Bopper. All three young men were killed, and as immortalized in Don McClean’s classic parable “American Pie“, it became known as the day the music died.

Along with American Pie, as this last week was the 50th anniversary of that tragic night here are three more songs the rock and rollers are best known by:

Ritchie Valens, Donna: Ritchie wrote this in honor of his girlfriend at the time. The flip side was La Bamba.

Buddy Holly, Peggy Sue: This song was actually written about one of the band members (Jerry Allison) girlfriends, who later became his wife.

The Big Bopper, Chantilly Lace: Probably the Big Bopper’s most well known song – by the way, did you know he was the person that coined the term music video?

“And as the flames climbed high into the night, to light the sacrificial light I saw Satan laughing with delight, the day the music died”

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