The Belmonts the Belmonts were part of the historic and tragic Winter Dance Party tour that lost three performers in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa--Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. DiMucci was offered a seat on the plane by Holly, but thought the fee of $36 was too much for such a short plane ride and declined. Photographs taken at the concert the night before the accident show Holly filling in on drums for The Belmonts, whose drummer had frostbite. Being a skilled drummer already, Carlo Mastrangelo filled in on drums for several of the other
The Big Bopper across the icy field before the mangled plane came to rest against a barbed-wire fence, while Peterson's body remained entangled in the main mass of plane wreckage. The bodies of Holly and Valens came to rest several feet away from the wreckage on open ground, while Richardson was thrown approximately 100 feet beyond the wreckage, across the fence line and into the next cornfield, wearing only a red-checked flannel shirt and light blue cotton pants. All three died instantly of massive head and chest injuries. Richardson was survived by his wife Adrienne Joy Wenner (1936-2004) and five year-old daughter Debra