Frankie Sardo Frankie Sardo Frank Sardo Avianca (September 16, 1936 – February 26, 2014), who performed as Frankie Sardo, was an American rock and roll singer, actor and film producer. He was a member of the ill-fated Winter Dance Party in 1959 after which Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson lost their lives in a plane crash the morning after a show in Clear Lake, Iowa. He was born Frank Marco Sardo on September 16, 1936, in Brooklyn, New York, into an Italian-American family. His father, Marco Sardo Sr. was a bricklayer and his mother Anita (Avianca) Sardo,
American Pie (song) of the other lyrics has long been debated, and for decades, McLean declined to explain the symbolism behind the many characters and events mentioned. However, the overall theme of the song is the loss of innocence of the early rock and roll generation as symbolized by the plane crash which claimed the lives of three of its heroes. In 2017, McLean's original recording was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or artistically significant". While it has been claimed that Don McLean began writing the song in upstate Saratoga Springs,