Rockabilly 1959. Then in April 1960, while touring with Gene Vincent in the UK, their taxi crashed into a concrete lamp post, killing Eddie at the young age of 21. The grim coincidence in this all was that his posthumous UK number-one hit was called "Three Steps to Heaven". Rockabilly music enjoyed great popularity in the United States during 1956 and 1957, but radio play declined after 1960. Factors contributing to this decline are usually cited as the 1959 death of Buddy Holly in an airplane crash (along with Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper), the induction of Elvis Presley into
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