Three Stars (song) way to an airport. Although recorded in 1959, Cochran's version was not released until 1966 as a UK single and for the first time in the US on the album Legendary Masters Series. Cochran audibly breaks into sobs in his recording, most notably in the second verse. "Three Stars" was also covered by: Three Stars (song) "Three Stars" is a song written by Tommy Dee in 1959, as a tribute to Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper), who died in a plane crash earlier that year. The song was recorded by Tommy Dee with Carol Kay
The Big Bopper across the icy field before the mangled plane came to rest against a barbed-wire fence, while Peterson's body remained entangled in the main mass of plane wreckage. The bodies of Holly and Valens came to rest several feet away from the wreckage on open ground, while Richardson was thrown approximately 100 feet beyond the wreckage, across the fence line and into the next cornfield, wearing only a red-checked flannel shirt and light blue cotton pants. All three died instantly of massive head and chest injuries. Richardson was survived by his wife Adrienne Joy Wenner (1936-2004) and five year-old daughter Debra