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
The Buddy Holly Story (album) The Buddy Holly Story (album) The Buddy Holly Story is the first posthumously released compilation album by Buddy Holly and the Crickets. The album was released on February 28, 1959 by the Coral Records less than a month after Holly's death. The album featured previously released singles by Buddy Holly on both the Brunswick label (with the Crickets) and the Coral label (as a solo artist). The album became a top twenty hit in the United States and England. The album was certified Gold in the U.S. in 1969 by the RIAA. Of the twelve songs released on the original