Buddy Holly

Buddy Holly was a central figure of late 1950s rock and roll. With hits, "That'll be the Day," "Everyday," and "Peggy Sue." Holly made his second appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in January 1958 and soon after, toured Australia and the UK. In early 1959, he assembled a new band and embarked on a tour of the midwestern U.S. After a show in Clear Lake, Iowa, he chartered an airplane to travel to his next show, in Moorhead, Minnesota. Soon after take-off, the plane crashed, killing him, Ritchie Valens & The Big Bopper, in a tragedy later referred to by Don McLean as "The Day the Music Died."