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Ritchie Valens

Ritchie Valens – 17 years old (photo from Biography.com)

From The Writer’s Almanac, via Ken Finton: It was on this day in 1959 that rock stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson died in a plane crash outside Clear Lake, Iowa. They were partway through a grueling “Winter Dance Party Tour” through the upper Midwest. Twenty-two-year-old Holly was reluctant to participate in the tour. He was sick of touring, his wife was pregnant, and they were scheduled to play 24 cities in 24 days. But he needed the money – his split from his band and manager the year before had left him with legal and financial problems.

The tour was even worse than Holly imagined. The winter was one of the coldest in decades, and the tour stops were poorly planned, zigzagging back and forth between states. They traveled on a freezing cold bus – slept sitting up in the hard seats. They performed in dirty clothes because they had no time to do laundry. One night when the temperature was 30 degrees below zero, the bus broke down on a rural road in Wisconsin’s north woods; the passengers huddled under blankets and burned newspapers in the aisles until the sheriff arrived. Holly’s drummer had frostbitten feet. They canceled their afternoon show that day but played that night in Green Bay, and arrived the next day in Clear Lake, Iowa.

In Clear Lake, they played a sold-out show at the Surf Ballroom to more than 1,000 teenagers. Holly was so sick of the miserable bus that he decided to hire a charter plane to take them to their next stop in Moorhead, Minnesota. Holly wanted to rest, and figured he could do everyone’s laundry before that night’s show. The charter plane would only fit three people. Holly’s bass player on the tour was future country music star Waylon Jennings, who agreed to give up his seat to the Big Bopper, who was sick. Holly’s guitarist flipped a coin with Ritchie Valens, and Valens won. The plane took off from Clear Lake in the early morning hours of February 3rd. There was a light snow, but the sky seemed clear; the pilot did not know that there was a blizzard warning.

The plane crashed just a few minutes later in a cornfield outside of town. ~ The Writer’s Almanac

http://garrisonkeller.com

[Did you know? Ritchie Valens did not speak Spanish fluently. He had to be coached on the lyrics to “La Bamba”!]

 

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