‘The Day the Music Died’: 60 year anniversary

Ten days before the music died, rock ‘n’ roll was alive and well in Kenosha.

Buddy Holly joined rising stars Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson as part of the Dion and the Belmonts for their second stop on the infamous Winter Dance Party tour on Jan. 24, 1959.

According to the Associated Press, more than 1,500 teenagers squeezed themselves into a packed ballroom to watch the band performance.

The Winter Dance Party tour had just had a successful opener the night before at the George Devine’s Ballroom in Milwaukee.

The tour wasn’t all fun and games though, the non-stop tour quickly took a turn for the worse following a successful encore performance in Kenosha. Freezing temperatures and broken-down buses made this difficult and dangerous for the band.

There was one particular time when the bus stalled in Duluth, Minn., and Holly’s drummer, Carl Brunch, had to be hospitalized after getting frostbite on his feet.

After eleven days of being on tour, Holly refused to ever step foot on another bus, causing his to book the next flight he could find for the tour’s next stop: Moorhead, Minn.

Minutes after takeoff, the plane crashed, killing all four people onboard: Billy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, and pilot Roger Peterson.

Through the crash, Don McLean’s dubbed the hit song, “American Pie,” on Feb. 3, 1959. It would go on to be known as “The Day the Music Died.”

To read more about the accident, click here.