By Keefer ON THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY: The Day The Music Died 1959 - Buddy Holly, JP Richardson (aka The Big Bopper) and Ritchie Valens, along with pilot Roger Peterson, died in a plane crash shortly after takeoff from Clear Lake, Iowa. The three musicians were traveling to Fargo, N.D., for the next show on their Winter Dance Party Tour, which covered 24 cities in three weeks. Holly had arranged the tour after the breakup of his band, The Crickets. By this time, Holly had enough of the freezing, unreliable tour bus and decided to hire a plane from a local flying service to take him to the next gig in Moorhead, Minnesota, to avoid another miserable night on the road. The plan was to fly to Fargo, North Dakota, which was close to Moorhead.