Memorial at Buddy Holly Plane Crash Site, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa

"The Day the Music Died." In the early morning hours of Feb. 3, 1959, a small aircraft carrying rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and JP "The Big Bopper" Richardson, crashed at this site, killing them and pilot Roger Peterson. The artists had played the night before at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa as part of the Winter Dance Party Tour.

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