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
Heartbeat (Buddy Holly song) Heartbeat (Buddy Holly song) "Heartbeat" is a rockabilly song credited to Bob Montgomery and Norman Petty and originally recorded by Buddy Holly in 1958. The B-side of the single was "Well... All Right" (Buddy Holly, Norman Petty, Jerry Allison, Joe Mauldin). "Heartbeat" was the second to last of Holly's singles to be released during his lifetime. It was a minor hit in the United States, reaching number 82 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart. Holly's single had more chart impact in the UK, reaching number 30 in January 1959 and again upon its reissue in April 1960. In the interim