Jack Frye as an assistant. However, the project was cancelled. Frye died February 3, 1959 in a car accident in Tucson, Arizona, exactly 33 years to the day after his founding of Standard Air Lines. The death received limited coverage, due to the deaths of famous musicians Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly, and The Big Bopper in a plane crash on the same day. He was originally buried in Tucson, but now is at rest in Wheeler, Texas. In Martin Scorsese's 2004 biopic of Howard Hughes, "The Aviator", Frye was portrayed by actor Danny Huston. Jack Frye William John "Jack" Frye (March 18,
The Big Bopper "Running Bear", but the recording was not released until August 1959, six months after his death. The song became a #1 hit for three weeks in January 1960. The man who launched Richardson as a recording artist was Harold "Pappy" Daily from Houston. Daily was promotion director for Mercury and Starday Records and signed Richardson to Mercury. Richardson's first single, "Beggar to a King", had a country flavor, but failed to gain any chart action. He soon cut "Chantilly Lace" as "The Big Bopper" for Pappy Daily's D label. Mercury bought the recording and released it at the end of