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On February 3, 1959, the music world was shocked when American rock and roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and JP 'The Big Bopper' Richardson were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, along with pilot Roger Peterson. The event eventually became known as 'The Day the Music Died', after Don McLean's classic 1971 song 'American Pie'. Today (February 3) marks 61 years since the disaster. Here, we look back at who the tragic stars were and the legacy they left behind:

Buddy Holly, J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson and Richie Valens plummeted to their deaths as their plane crashed in the fields of Clear Lake, Iowa. Eleven years later, a singer-songwriter in Cold Springs, New York, poignantly wrote about the tragedy in the intro to his magnum opus “American Pie,” dubbing it “The Day the Music Died.” A 13-year-old paperboy at the time of the plane crash (“But February made me shiver/With every paper I’d deliver”), Don McLean was devastated over Holly’s death; he later said that the fallout from the event “created a sense of grief that lived inside of...

SOUTHEAST TEXAS - A pop ballad and rock singer from Port Arthur who became known for performing the song "Running Bear" has died. Johnny Preston Courville, 71, died at Baptist Beaumont Hospital Friday afternoon, according to his son, Scott Preston.

51 years ago this coming Wednesday, three rock n' roll pioneers were lost way too soon, Buddy Holly, J.P. Richardson aka 'The Big Bopper' and Ritchie Valens. I was only a kid but I knew something heartbreaking had occurred, and it was only later on that I began to fully appreciate the musical genius that was Buddy Holly. I came to love the music of that man, I tried to imagine the grief of Waylon Jennings, who gave his seat on that ill fated flight to J.P. Richardson, and the last words between him and Buddy, who said (paraphrased) "So...

Big Bopper's casket a macabre marketable on e-bay By RON FRANSCELL December, 27, 2008 Rock 'n' roll's most macabre historical artifact will go on the block when the family of the late 1950s pop star J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson auctions his casket on eBay sometime in the next few weeks - almost 50 years after "the day the music died." The Big Bopper's 16-gauge steel casket was exhumed last year from his original grave at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Beaumont so it could be moved to a more visible location with a life-sized statue and historic marker. The disinterment...