Today is the 57th anniversary of 'the day the music died'

"The day the music died.” Many have heard the saying – with the exception of some younger generations who may not even know the meaning behind the famous lyrics – but for those who have heard it and understand the tragedy behind it, it was truly a sad day. Fifty-seven years ago today, Feb. 3, musicians Jiles Perry Richardson Jr. – better known as The Big Bopper – Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens died in a plane crash – along with pilot Roger Peterson – in Clear Lake, Iowa, on the way to play a show in Moorhead. “I had tickets with my boyfriend at the time, and we got there to the Moorhead Armory,” said Jackie Anton, who now lives near Lake Park, “and we sat and waited and waited and waited. Pretty soon, they came out and announced that there had been a plane crash and that Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens had been killed.” She said it was a moment she still remembers as clearly today as 57 years ago. The armory was packed with fans, and the announcers told them that they had hired another band to perform the concert. That band was Bobby Vee and the Shadows. “They played and it was great,” Anton said. She said she and her boyfriend and friends had gotten the tickets because they were big fans, and this was “the middle of rock and roll. That was incredible.”
With times much different in the 1950s than today – i.e. no cell phones, no social media – they hadn’t heard about the plane crash until they were at the concert. And apparently not many people had, since the place was packed. “We were all just stunned. We couldn’t believe it,” Anton said. “We thought that would be the end and we’d be going home … That’s when Bobby Vee and the Shadows came in. They played very well and we just loved it. “It was really a shock. I can still see myself sitting there,” she said with a laugh, “when they came out and announced that. It was unreal.” One person who decided to forego the concert once he found out about the plane crash was Detroit Lakes resident Bill Blake, who attended high school in Fargo at the time. “I remember I liked him,” he said of Buddy Holly. “I liked his music, but I liked what I knew about him personally as being a good guy. I wanted to see him because he was just getting really popular. I was sad that that had happened,” he added of the plane crash. Blake was in high school, tickets were reasonably priced and he liked Buddy Holly’s music, so he purchased tickets to attend the show. But he never attended the show because tragedy struck. “I just happened to have tickets. Everybody was going,” Blake said. “I think the tickets were really inexpensive. I had a date, so I had tickets.” After the plane crashed, even though the concert still went on with replacements, Blake decided to turn his tickets back in and get a refund rather than go to the concert. “I was kind of poor back then,” he said with a laugh. “I didn’t have any money. I was in high school. “I haven’t thought about it in a long time. I just remember it was pretty sad day,” Blake added. Anton said that about 20 years ago, she lived in Sacramento, Calif., and was at the state fair there. Bobby Vee and the Shadows were slated to play, and she told her daughter that they had to stay and watch. During the concert, Bobby Vee asked if anyone in the audience happened to have been at one of his first concerts, the Moorhead one in 1959. Anton and one other person in the audience raised their hands and were called on stage to talk about it. “He was just astonished,” she said of Vee’s reaction. “He couldn’t believe there were two people there that had been at that concert.” The crash Back in 1959, Richardson joined Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and Dion and the Belmonts for a “Winter Dance Party” tour. That fateful February night, they had just played in Clear Lake, Iowa, and Holly had chartered a plane to Moorhead. They had been traveling by bus, and it had broken down once already, and Holly just wanted to get to Fargo-Moorhead early. The plane he chartered was only a four-seater though, so aside from the pilot and Holly, only two more passengers could fly with him. The flight was booked for $36 each, which is equivalent to about $290 today with inflation over the years. Frankie Sardo was out greeting the crowd, and Valens flipped a coin with Tommy Allsup and lost. Richardson was ill and asked Waylon Jennings to give up his seat on the plane so he could get some rest. In Jennings’ autobiography, he says that Holly jokingly ribbed Jennings on this decision saying, “Well, I hope your ol’ bus freezes up again.” Jennings jokingly replied, “Well, I hope your ol’ plane crashes.” Jennings said those words haunted him the rest of his life. So Holly, Richardson and Valens boarded the plane – a 1947 single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza – with their pilot, who was young, tired and unqualified to fly the plane, at 12:30 a.m. on Feb. 3. The sky was clear, but snow blew across the runway; a snowstorm was coming. Peterson took off but was never told of two weather advisories of an oncoming blizzard. Airborne only a few minutes, it was determined that Peterson flew directly into the oncoming blizzard, lost control of the plane and it crashed in a cornfield at 220 miles an hour, tossing the passengers in the air. It crashed less than six miles from the takeoff. The three musicians’ bodies were thrown from the plane and lay outside for 10 hours, with snow drifts forming around their bodies. Peterson’s body remained in the plane. Show must go on Though three of the four main acts on tour died in a plane crash on Feb. 3, the show went on, and that night, as scheduled, a concert took place in Moorhead. It was the start of a successful music career for local boy Bobby Vee, who was 15 at the time. He and some other musicians were gathered and performed at the concert – and were well received. In 1963, Bobby Vee released a tribute album, “I Remember Buddy Holly.” In the liner notes, Vee says, “I remember a few years ago when Buddy was scheduled to appear at a dance in my home town of Fargo, North Dakota. It was going to be a big event for the whole town, but even more so for me. I was anxiously looking forward to seeing Buddy in action.” [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"2301167","attributes":{"alt":"Bobby Vee and the Shadows took the stage in Buddy Holly's place after he, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens died. (SUBMITTED)","class":"media-image","height":"202","title":"Bobby Vee and the Shadows took the stage in Buddy Holly's place after he, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens died. (SUBMITTED)","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"229"}}]]After Holly’s plane crashed, “the local radio station broadcast a plea for local talent to entertain at the scheduled dance. About a week before this, I had just organized a vocal and instrumental group of five guys. Our style was modelled after Buddy’s approach and we had been rehearsing with Buddy’s hits in mind.” They volunteered to take the stage in Holly’s absence, naming themselves The Shadows. “For some time now, I have wanted to make an album in tribute to Buddy, but I wasn’t sure it was the proper thing to do. However, during the past year, I have received many requests to do such an album. “…I have made many records, but I have never forgotten Buddy Holly and his influence on my singing style and my career.” Bobby Vee and The Shadows may sound familiar, as they have taken the stage at The Pavilion in Detroit Lakes many times. Blake said he knew Vee because they were the same grade in school, and while Blake attended Shanley High School and Vee was at Fargo Central, Blake knew him and followed Vee’s career after it took off. “I knew him back then, and I used to go down to Detroit Lakes to the Pavilion a lot. It was a popular spot for high school kids, we danced a lot, and he played down there quite a bit,” Blake said. “He was a good guy. I liked Bobby Vee. He was a good person, a really nice kid.”"The day the music died.” Many have heard the saying – with the exception of some younger generations who may not even know the meaning behind the famous lyrics – but for those who have heard it and understand the tragedy behind it, it was truly a sad day. Fifty-seven years ago today, Feb. 3, musicians Jiles Perry Richardson Jr. – better known as The Big Bopper – Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens died in a plane crash – along with pilot Roger Peterson – in Clear Lake, Iowa, on the way to play a show in Moorhead. “I had tickets with my boyfriend at the time, and we got there to the Moorhead Armory,” said Jackie Anton, who now lives near Lake Park, “and we sat and waited and waited and waited. Pretty soon, they came out and announced that there had been a plane crash and that Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens had been killed.” She said it was a moment she still remembers as clearly today as 57 years ago. The armory was packed with fans, and the announcers told them that they had hired another band to perform the concert. That band was Bobby Vee and the Shadows. “They played and it was great,” Anton said. She said she and her boyfriend and friends had gotten the tickets because they were big fans, and this was “the middle of rock and roll. That was incredible.” [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"2301165","attributes":{"alt":"Buddy Holly glasses mark an Iowa field where Holly, Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper and their pilot died. (SUBMITTED PHOTO)","class":"media-image","height":"368","title":"Buddy Holly glasses mark an Iowa field where Holly, Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper and their pilot died. (SUBMITTED PHOTO)","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"480"}}]]With times much different in the 1950s than today – i.e. no cell phones, no social media – they hadn’t heard about the plane crash until they were at the concert. And apparently not many people had, since the place was packed. “We were all just stunned. We couldn’t believe it,” Anton said. “We thought that would be the end and we’d be going home … That’s when Bobby Vee and the Shadows came in. They played very well and we just loved it. “It was really a shock. I can still see myself sitting there,” she said with a laugh, “when they came out and announced that. It was unreal.” One person who decided to forego the concert once he found out about the plane crash was Detroit Lakes resident Bill Blake, who attended high school in Fargo at the time. “I remember I liked him,” he said of Buddy Holly. “I liked his music, but I liked what I knew about him personally as being a good guy. I wanted to see him because he was just getting really popular. I was sad that that had happened,” he added of the plane crash. Blake was in high school, tickets were reasonably priced and he liked Buddy Holly’s music, so he purchased tickets to attend the show. But he never attended the show because tragedy struck. “I just happened to have tickets. Everybody was going,” Blake said. “I think the tickets were really inexpensive. I had a date, so I had tickets.” After the plane crashed, even though the concert still went on with replacements, Blake decided to turn his tickets back in and get a refund rather than go to the concert. “I was kind of poor back then,” he said with a laugh. “I didn’t have any money. I was in high school. “I haven’t thought about it in a long time. I just remember it was pretty sad day,” Blake added. Anton said that about 20 years ago, she lived in Sacramento, Calif., and was at the state fair there. Bobby Vee and the Shadows were slated to play, and she told her daughter that they had to stay and watch. During the concert, Bobby Vee asked if anyone in the audience happened to have been at one of his first concerts, the Moorhead one in 1959. Anton and one other person in the audience raised their hands and were called on stage to talk about it. “He was just astonished,” she said of Vee’s reaction. “He couldn’t believe there were two people there that had been at that concert.” The crash Back in 1959, Richardson joined Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and Dion and the Belmonts for a “Winter Dance Party” tour. That fateful February night, they had just played in Clear Lake, Iowa, and Holly had chartered a plane to Moorhead. They had been traveling by bus, and it had broken down once already, and Holly just wanted to get to Fargo-Moorhead early. The plane he chartered was only a four-seater though, so aside from the pilot and Holly, only two more passengers could fly with him. The flight was booked for $36 each, which is equivalent to about $290 today with inflation over the years. Frankie Sardo was out greeting the crowd, and Valens flipped a coin with Tommy Allsup and lost. Richardson was ill and asked Waylon Jennings to give up his seat on the plane so he could get some rest. In Jennings’ autobiography, he says that Holly jokingly ribbed Jennings on this decision saying, “Well, I hope your ol’ bus freezes up again.” Jennings jokingly replied, “Well, I hope your ol’ plane crashes.” Jennings said those words haunted him the rest of his life. So Holly, Richardson and Valens boarded the plane – a 1947 single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza – with their pilot, who was young, tired and unqualified to fly the plane, at 12:30 a.m. on Feb. 3. The sky was clear, but snow blew across the runway; a snowstorm was coming. Peterson took off but was never told of two weather advisories of an oncoming blizzard. Airborne only a few minutes, it was determined that Peterson flew directly into the oncoming blizzard, lost control of the plane and it crashed in a cornfield at 220 miles an hour, tossing the passengers in the air. It crashed less than six miles from the takeoff. The three musicians’ bodies were thrown from the plane and lay outside for 10 hours, with snow drifts forming around their bodies. Peterson’s body remained in the plane. Show must go on Though three of the four main acts on tour died in a plane crash on Feb. 3, the show went on, and that night, as scheduled, a concert took place in Moorhead. It was the start of a successful music career for local boy Bobby Vee, who was 15 at the time. He and some other musicians were gathered and performed at the concert – and were well received. In 1963, Bobby Vee released a tribute album, “I Remember Buddy Holly.” In the liner notes, Vee says, “I remember a few years ago when Buddy was scheduled to appear at a dance in my home town of Fargo, North Dakota. It was going to be a big event for the whole town, but even more so for me. I was anxiously looking forward to seeing Buddy in action.”
After Holly’s plane crashed, “the local radio station broadcast a plea for local talent to entertain at the scheduled dance. About a week before this, I had just organized a vocal and instrumental group of five guys. Our style was modelled after Buddy’s approach and we had been rehearsing with Buddy’s hits in mind.” They volunteered to take the stage in Holly’s absence, naming themselves The Shadows. “For some time now, I have wanted to make an album in tribute to Buddy, but I wasn’t sure it was the proper thing to do. However, during the past year, I have received many requests to do such an album. “…I have made many records, but I have never forgotten Buddy Holly and his influence on my singing style and my career.” Bobby Vee and The Shadows may sound familiar, as they have taken the stage at The Pavilion in Detroit Lakes many times. Blake said he knew Vee because they were the same grade in school, and while Blake attended Shanley High School and Vee was at Fargo Central, Blake knew him and followed Vee’s career after it took off. “I knew him back then, and I used to go down to Detroit Lakes to the Pavilion a lot. It was a popular spot for high school kids, we danced a lot, and he played down there quite a bit,” Blake said. “He was a good guy. I liked Bobby Vee. He was a good person, a really nice kid.”"The day the music died.” Many have heard the saying – with the exception of some younger generations who may not even know the meaning behind the famous lyrics – but for those who have heard it and understand the tragedy behind it, it was truly a sad day.Fifty-seven years ago today, Feb. 3, musicians Jiles Perry Richardson Jr. – better known as The Big Bopper – Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens died in a plane crash – along with pilot Roger Peterson – in Clear Lake, Iowa, on the way to play a show in Moorhead.“I had tickets with my boyfriend at the time, and we got there to the Moorhead Armory,” said Jackie Anton, who now lives near Lake Park, “and we sat and waited and waited and waited. Pretty soon, they came out and announced that there had been a plane crash and that Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens had been killed.”She said it was a moment she still remembers as clearly today as 57 years ago.The armory was packed with fans, and the announcers told them that they had hired another band to perform the concert. That band was Bobby Vee and the Shadows.“They played and it was great,” Anton said.She said she and her boyfriend and friends had gotten the tickets because they were big fans, and this was “the middle of rock and roll. That was incredible.”
With times much different in the 1950s than today – i.e. no cell phones, no social media – they hadn’t heard about the plane crash until they were at the concert. And apparently not many people had, since the place was packed.“We were all just stunned. We couldn’t believe it,” Anton said. “We thought that would be the end and we’d be going home … That’s when Bobby Vee and the Shadows came in. They played very well and we just loved it.“It was really a shock. I can still see myself sitting there,” she said with a laugh, “when they came out and announced that. It was unreal.”One person who decided to forego the concert once he found out about the plane crash was Detroit Lakes resident Bill Blake, who attended high school in Fargo at the time.“I remember I liked him,” he said of Buddy Holly. “I liked his music, but I liked what I knew about him personally as being a good guy. I wanted to see him because he was just getting really popular. I was sad that that had happened,” he added of the plane crash.Blake was in high school, tickets were reasonably priced and he liked Buddy Holly’s music, so he purchased tickets to attend the show.But he never attended the show because tragedy struck.“I just happened to have tickets. Everybody was going,” Blake said. “I think the tickets were really inexpensive. I had a date, so I had tickets.”After the plane crashed, even though the concert still went on with replacements, Blake decided to turn his tickets back in and get a refund rather than go to the concert.“I was kind of poor back then,” he said with a laugh. “I didn’t have any money. I was in high school.“I haven’t thought about it in a long time. I just remember it was pretty sad day,” Blake added.Anton said that about 20 years ago, she lived in Sacramento, Calif., and was at the state fair there. Bobby Vee and the Shadows were slated to play, and she told her daughter that they had to stay and watch.During the concert, Bobby Vee asked if anyone in the audience happened to have been at one of his first concerts, the Moorhead one in 1959. Anton and one other person in the audience raised their hands and were called on stage to talk about it.“He was just astonished,” she said of Vee’s reaction. “He couldn’t believe there were two people there that had been at that concert.”The crashBack in 1959, Richardson joined Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and Dion and the Belmonts for a “Winter Dance Party” tour. That fateful February night, they had just played in Clear Lake, Iowa, and Holly had chartered a plane to Moorhead.They had been traveling by bus, and it had broken down once already, and Holly just wanted to get to Fargo-Moorhead early.The plane he chartered was only a four-seater though, so aside from the pilot and Holly, only two more passengers could fly with him.The flight was booked for $36 each, which is equivalent to about $290 today with inflation over the years.Frankie Sardo was out greeting the crowd, and Valens flipped a coin with Tommy Allsup and lost. Richardson was ill and asked Waylon Jennings to give up his seat on the plane so he could get some rest.In Jennings’ autobiography, he says that Holly jokingly ribbed Jennings on this decision saying, “Well, I hope your ol’ bus freezes up again.” Jennings jokingly replied, “Well, I hope your ol’ plane crashes.”Jennings said those words haunted him the rest of his life.So Holly, Richardson and Valens boarded the plane – a 1947 single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza – with their pilot, who was young, tired and unqualified to fly the plane, at 12:30 a.m. on Feb. 3. The sky was clear, but snow blew across the runway; a snowstorm was coming. Peterson took off but was never told of two weather advisories of an oncoming blizzard.Airborne only a few minutes, it was determined that Peterson flew directly into the oncoming blizzard, lost control of the plane and it crashed in a cornfield at 220 miles an hour, tossing the passengers in the air. It crashed less than six miles from the takeoff.The three musicians’ bodies were thrown from the plane and lay outside for 10 hours, with snow drifts forming around their bodies. Peterson’s body remained in the plane.Show must go onThough three of the four main acts on tour died in a plane crash on Feb. 3, the show went on, and that night, as scheduled, a concert took place in Moorhead.It was the start of a successful music career for local boy Bobby Vee, who was 15 at the time. He and some other musicians were gathered and performed at the concert – and were well received.In 1963, Bobby Vee released a tribute album, “I Remember Buddy Holly.” In the liner notes, Vee says, “I remember a few years ago when Buddy was scheduled to appear at a dance in my home town of Fargo, North Dakota. It was going to be a big event for the whole town, but even more so for me. I was anxiously looking forward to seeing Buddy in action.”[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"2301167","attributes":{"alt":"Bobby Vee and the Shadows took the stage in Buddy Holly's place after he, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens died. (SUBMITTED)","class":"media-image","height":"202","title":"Bobby Vee and the Shadows took the stage in Buddy Holly's place after he, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens died. (SUBMITTED)","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"229"}}]]After Holly’s plane crashed, “the local radio station broadcast a plea for local talent to entertain at the scheduled dance. About a week before this, I had just organized a vocal and instrumental group of five guys. Our style was modelled after Buddy’s approach and we had been rehearsing with Buddy’s hits in mind.”They volunteered to take the stage in Holly’s absence, naming themselves The Shadows.“For some time now, I have wanted to make an album in tribute to Buddy, but I wasn’t sure it was the proper thing to do. However, during the past year, I have received many requests to do such an album.“…I have made many records, but I have never forgotten Buddy Holly and his influence on my singing style and my career.”Bobby Vee and The Shadows may sound familiar, as they have taken the stage at The Pavilion in Detroit Lakes many times.Blake said he knew Vee because they were the same grade in school, and while Blake attended Shanley High School and Vee was at Fargo Central, Blake knew him and followed Vee’s career after it took off.“I knew him back then, and I used to go down to Detroit Lakes to the Pavilion a lot. It was a popular spot for high school kids, we danced a lot, and he played down there quite a bit,” Blake said.“He was a good guy. I liked Bobby Vee. He was a good person, a really nice kid.”"The day the music died.” Many have heard the saying – with the exception of some younger generations who may not even know the meaning behind the famous lyrics – but for those who have heard it and understand the tragedy behind it, it was truly a sad day.Fifty-seven years ago today, Feb. 3, musicians Jiles Perry Richardson Jr. – better known as The Big Bopper – Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens died in a plane crash – along with pilot Roger Peterson – in Clear Lake, Iowa, on the way to play a show in Moorhead.“I had tickets with my boyfriend at the time, and we got there to the Moorhead Armory,” said Jackie Anton, who now lives near Lake Park, “and we sat and waited and waited and waited. Pretty soon, they came out and announced that there had been a plane crash and that Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens had been killed.”She said it was a moment she still remembers as clearly today as 57 years ago.The armory was packed with fans, and the announcers told them that they had hired another band to perform the concert. That band was Bobby Vee and the Shadows.“They played and it was great,” Anton said.She said she and her boyfriend and friends had gotten the tickets because they were big fans, and this was “the middle of rock and roll. That was incredible.”[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"2301165","attributes":{"alt":"Buddy Holly glasses mark an Iowa field where Holly, Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper and their pilot died. (SUBMITTED PHOTO)","class":"media-image","height":"368","title":"Buddy Holly glasses mark an Iowa field where Holly, Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper and their pilot died. (SUBMITTED PHOTO)","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"480"}}]]With times much different in the 1950s than today – i.e. no cell phones, no social media – they hadn’t heard about the plane crash until they were at the concert. And apparently not many people had, since the place was packed.“We were all just stunned. We couldn’t believe it,” Anton said. “We thought that would be the end and we’d be going home … That’s when Bobby Vee and the Shadows came in. They played very well and we just loved it.“It was really a shock. I can still see myself sitting there,” she said with a laugh, “when they came out and announced that. It was unreal.”One person who decided to forego the concert once he found out about the plane crash was Detroit Lakes resident Bill Blake, who attended high school in Fargo at the time.“I remember I liked him,” he said of Buddy Holly. “I liked his music, but I liked what I knew about him personally as being a good guy. I wanted to see him because he was just getting really popular. I was sad that that had happened,” he added of the plane crash.Blake was in high school, tickets were reasonably priced and he liked Buddy Holly’s music, so he purchased tickets to attend the show.But he never attended the show because tragedy struck.“I just happened to have tickets. Everybody was going,” Blake said. “I think the tickets were really inexpensive. I had a date, so I had tickets.”After the plane crashed, even though the concert still went on with replacements, Blake decided to turn his tickets back in and get a refund rather than go to the concert.“I was kind of poor back then,” he said with a laugh. “I didn’t have any money. I was in high school.“I haven’t thought about it in a long time. I just remember it was pretty sad day,” Blake added.Anton said that about 20 years ago, she lived in Sacramento, Calif., and was at the state fair there. Bobby Vee and the Shadows were slated to play, and she told her daughter that they had to stay and watch.During the concert, Bobby Vee asked if anyone in the audience happened to have been at one of his first concerts, the Moorhead one in 1959. Anton and one other person in the audience raised their hands and were called on stage to talk about it.“He was just astonished,” she said of Vee’s reaction. “He couldn’t believe there were two people there that had been at that concert.”The crashBack in 1959, Richardson joined Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and Dion and the Belmonts for a “Winter Dance Party” tour. That fateful February night, they had just played in Clear Lake, Iowa, and Holly had chartered a plane to Moorhead.They had been traveling by bus, and it had broken down once already, and Holly just wanted to get to Fargo-Moorhead early.The plane he chartered was only a four-seater though, so aside from the pilot and Holly, only two more passengers could fly with him.The flight was booked for $36 each, which is equivalent to about $290 today with inflation over the years.Frankie Sardo was out greeting the crowd, and Valens flipped a coin with Tommy Allsup and lost. Richardson was ill and asked Waylon Jennings to give up his seat on the plane so he could get some rest.In Jennings’ autobiography, he says that Holly jokingly ribbed Jennings on this decision saying, “Well, I hope your ol’ bus freezes up again.” Jennings jokingly replied, “Well, I hope your ol’ plane crashes.”Jennings said those words haunted him the rest of his life.So Holly, Richardson and Valens boarded the plane – a 1947 single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza – with their pilot, who was young, tired and unqualified to fly the plane, at 12:30 a.m. on Feb. 3. The sky was clear, but snow blew across the runway; a snowstorm was coming. Peterson took off but was never told of two weather advisories of an oncoming blizzard.Airborne only a few minutes, it was determined that Peterson flew directly into the oncoming blizzard, lost control of the plane and it crashed in a cornfield at 220 miles an hour, tossing the passengers in the air. It crashed less than six miles from the takeoff.The three musicians’ bodies were thrown from the plane and lay outside for 10 hours, with snow drifts forming around their bodies. Peterson’s body remained in the plane.Show must go onThough three of the four main acts on tour died in a plane crash on Feb. 3, the show went on, and that night, as scheduled, a concert took place in Moorhead.It was the start of a successful music career for local boy Bobby Vee, who was 15 at the time. He and some other musicians were gathered and performed at the concert – and were well received.In 1963, Bobby Vee released a tribute album, “I Remember Buddy Holly.” In the liner notes, Vee says, “I remember a few years ago when Buddy was scheduled to appear at a dance in my home town of Fargo, North Dakota. It was going to be a big event for the whole town, but even more so for me. I was anxiously looking forward to seeing Buddy in action.”
After Holly’s plane crashed, “the local radio station broadcast a plea for local talent to entertain at the scheduled dance. About a week before this, I had just organized a vocal and instrumental group of five guys. Our style was modelled after Buddy’s approach and we had been rehearsing with Buddy’s hits in mind.”They volunteered to take the stage in Holly’s absence, naming themselves The Shadows.“For some time now, I have wanted to make an album in tribute to Buddy, but I wasn’t sure it was the proper thing to do. However, during the past year, I have received many requests to do such an album.“…I have made many records, but I have never forgotten Buddy Holly and his influence on my singing style and my career.”Bobby Vee and The Shadows may sound familiar, as they have taken the stage at The Pavilion in Detroit Lakes many times.Blake said he knew Vee because they were the same grade in school, and while Blake attended Shanley High School and Vee was at Fargo Central, Blake knew him and followed Vee’s career after it took off.“I knew him back then, and I used to go down to Detroit Lakes to the Pavilion a lot. It was a popular spot for high school kids, we danced a lot, and he played down there quite a bit,” Blake said.“He was a good guy. I liked Bobby Vee. He was a good person, a really nice kid.”