The Big Bopper 40 radio airplay through January, 1959. With the success of "Chantilly Lace", Richardson took time off from KTRM radio and joined Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and Dion and the Belmonts for a "Winter Dance Party" tour starting on January 23, 1959. On the 11th night of the tour (February 2, 1959), they played at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. That night, Holly chartered an airplane from Dwyer Flying Service in Mason City, Iowa, intending to fly himself and his bandmates Waylon Jennings and Tommy Allsup to their next tour venue in Moorhead, Minnesota. The musicians had been traveling
The Buddy Holly Story (album) Story" as a 12" 33⅓ rpm LP record, they also released the four songs "It Doesn't Matter Anymore", "Heartbeat", "Raining In My Heart", and "Early in the Morning" – which were included on the LP version – as a 7" 45 rpm EP record which was also titled as "The Buddy Holly Story" (catalog number EC-81182). The EP peaked at #9 on "Billboard" magazine's Best Selling Pop EPs chart. In April 1960, Coral Records released a sequel to "The Buddy Holly Story" titled "The Buddy Holly Story, Vol. 2". The album was also used as the title of the soundtrack