Grammy-award honoree, Songwriters Hall of Fame member, and BBC Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Don McLean remembers Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, J.P. Richardson – “The Big Bopper” – and the pilot, Roger Peterson on the anniversary of the deadly plane crash just after their concert at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. The fateful day was coined ‘The Day The Music Died’ by Don McLean in his hit “American Pie.” The song was released in 1971 and spent four weeks at No. 1 in 1972.

On February 3, 1959, a chartered aircraft crashed in Mason City, Iowa just minutes after takeoff claiming the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, J.P. Richardson – “The Big Bopper” – and the pilot, Roger Peterson.

The fateful day was coined “The Day The Music Died” by Don McLean in his hit “American Pie.” The song was released in 1971 and spent four weeks at No. 1 in 1972. In 2001, thirty years later, the Recording Industry of America named it the fifth greatest song of the 20th century.