GONN an airplane crash took the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper and their young pilot on February 3, 1959, "the Day the Music Died". Spurred by "Project GONN" of The PSPOT (an internet-based resource dedicated to the '60s music underground), a grassroots campaign led to the nomination of GONN in The Iowa Music Association Hall Of Fame And Museum. The band was inducted in a ceremony in 2004 and, as with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, was celebrated with a live concert by the inductees. The IRRMA post on the induction of GONN describes the
The Big Bopper is currently owned by his daughter-in-law, Patty Richardson, and managed by C3 Entertainment, a company that specializes in classic brands. C3 Entertainment currently manages an official tribute band featuring a Big Bopper impersonator, touring with the Winter Dance Party. In "Not Fade Away", a turbulent road novel taking place at the end of the fifties, Jim Dodge narrates an eventful trip to the Big Bopper's grave. Richardson was portrayed by Gailard Sartain in "The Buddy Holly Story", Stephen Lee in "La Bamba", and John Ennis in "". On the London stage, Richardson has been portrayed by John Simon Rawlings and