At the tim,e Croce was selling millions of records but was virtually broke as the result of some bad record deals. The Beechcraft E18S they charted could not gain altitude on takeoff and crashed into a tree. You can add to that death toll Croce's road manager, his booking agent, his opening act, and the pilot. September 20, 1973: Jim Croce and guitarist Maurice Muehleisen die in a plane crash
One of the opening bands? An early outfit of Cheap Trickster Rick Nielsen called The Grim Reapers. The night after this December 9 appearance on the Cleveland local television music show Upbeat, The Big O, and The Bar-Kays played what would be their last show at Leo's Casino.
The last song Holly performed in concert was "Rave On," ironically the last song Rick Nelson performed in concert before his own fatal date with the unfriendly skies.ĭecember 10, 1967: Otis Redding and four members of his Bar-Kays lose their lives in a plane crash P." Richardson Jr.) and Ritchie Valens (who was only 17 years old), respectively. Not wanting to spend another night in their tour bus (whose busted heater kept everyone in the cold), Holly chartered a plane, and at the last minute, Waylon Jennings and guitarist Tommy Allsup gave up their seats to The Big Bopper (a.k.a. Jiles Perry "J. Rock's first and most devastating tragedy claimed the lives of three headliners on the ill-fated Winter Dance Party Tour, plus the pilot Roger Peterson, who was not yet qualified to operate in weather that required flying solely by reference to instruments and couldn't read the gyroscope on the Beechcraft Bonanza. In honor of the anniversary of The Day the Music Died, here's a list of the worst accidents to befall members of the world of rock 'n' roll.įebruary 3, 1959: Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens die in a plane crash (As you probably know, it inspired the classic tune "American Pie.")īut that crash is hardly the only sudden tragedy in the music world. The most famous of these, of course, is the plane crash that took the young lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper 62 years ago today, on February 3, 1959. The history of rock 'n' roll is littered with tragedies, from the early deaths of legendary talents - such as Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, and too many others to count - to large-scale catastrophes like the Who concert stampede that killed 11 people in 1979 and the violent chaos of Woodstock '99.īut another, far-too-common occurrence are accidents of the car and plane variety that claim the lives of multiple musicians in a single, terrible event.
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