The Big Bopper (1955-2010). His son Jay Perry Richardson (1959-2013) was born two months later in April 1959. Richardson had been building a recording studio in his home in Beaumont, Texas and was planning to invest in a radio station. He had written 20 new songs that he planned to record himself or with other artists. His son also followed a musical career and was known professionally as "The Big Bopper, Jr.", performing around the world. He toured on the "Winter Dance Party" tour with Buddy Holly impersonator John Mueller on some of the same stages where his father had performed. In January
The Killer Rocks On Richardson, better known as the Big Bopper, who perished in a plane crash with Buddy Holly in 1959. Lewis had his doubts about recording the song but, as he explains in the "A Half Century of Hits" essay, his manager convinced him: “Sam Phillips’s brother, Jud, was managing me. He was well oiled on that session...I told him I didn’t even know 'Chantilly Lace.' He said, ‘Well, make it up.’ I did one take on it.” Producer Jerry Kennedy recalled of the sessions to Lewis biographer Nick Tosches, "He wanted everybody there. He didn't want anything overdubbed later. It was