The Day the Music Died unveiled at the crash site. A large plasma-cut steel set of Wayfarer-style glasses similar to those Holly wore sits at the access point to the crash site. A road originating near the Surf Ballroom, extending north and passing to the west of the crash site, is now known as Buddy Holly Place. The Day the Music Died On February 3, 1959, American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, together with pilot Roger Peterson. The event later became known as "The Day
The Big Bopper "Running Bear", but the recording was not released until August 1959, six months after his death. The song became a #1 hit for three weeks in January 1960. The man who launched Richardson as a recording artist was Harold "Pappy" Daily from Houston. Daily was promotion director for Mercury and Starday Records and signed Richardson to Mercury. Richardson's first single, "Beggar to a King", had a country flavor, but failed to gain any chart action. He soon cut "Chantilly Lace" as "The Big Bopper" for Pappy Daily's D label. Mercury bought the recording and released it at the end of