Don McLean label for his second album, "American Pie." The album launched two number one hits in the title song and "Vincent". "American Pie"'s success made McLean an international star and piqued interest in his first album, which charted more than two years after its initial release. McLean's magnum opus, "American Pie", is a sprawling, impressionistic ballad inspired partly by the deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) in a plane crash in 1959, and developments in American youth culture in the subsequent decade. The song popularized the expression "The Day the Music Died" in reference to
Ritchie Valens (album) Ritchie Valens (album) Ritchie Valens is the first album by Ritchie Valens, posthumously released by Del-Fi Records in March 1959, one month after his death in a plane crash. It is his only studio album entirely composed of master tracks recorded at Gold Star Studios. The album peaked at #23 on the "Billboard" album chart. The original pressings are black and sea green with circles around the outer edge. The print font for the track listings on these labels is the same font used on the back of the album cover. Later pressings feature black labels with gold and sea