Buddy Holly The Rolling Stones had a hit version of the song in 1964. Richards later said, "[Holly] passed it on via the Beatles and via [the Rolling Stones] ... He's in everybody". Don McLean's popular 1971 ballad "American Pie" was inspired by Holly's death and the day of the plane crash. The song's lyric, which calls the incident "The Day the Music Died", became popularly associated with the crash. McLean's album "American Pie" is dedicated to Holly. In 2015, McLean wrote, "Buddy Holly would have the same stature musically whether he would have lived or died, because of his accomplishments ...
Don McLean Don McLean Donald McLean III (born October 2, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter. He is best known for his 1971 song "American Pie", which was a number-one US hit for four weeks in 1972 and stayed put at 2 for 3 weeks in the UK, as well as a hit for Madonna in 2000. McLean's other well-known songs include: "And I Love You So", sung by Elvis Presley, Perry Como, Helen Reddy, and Glen Campbell, among others; "Vincent", a tribute to the 19th-century Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh; "Crying", a cover of the Roy Orbison song and a surprise number