Before this there was Ricky Nelson (December 31, 1985), and before that Buddy Holly, Richie Vallens and the Big Bopper (Feb. 3, 1959, The Day The Music Died.)
And of course before either of those, Major Glenn Miller (Dec. 15, 1944)
Patsy Cline ...
And don’t forget (who COULD forget?) the late, greate Stevie Ray Vaughn, killed in a helicopter crash (I forget the date).
BTW, anyone old enough to remember Walter Cronkite mentioning this on the CBS news the next night, trying to wrap his dentures around pronouncing "Lynyrd Skynyrd?"
Otis Redding, Jim Croce, Randy Rhodes
Went out to feed the cattle
And to my surprise
My lawn was full of bodies
Just a gatherin’ up the flies
A big ol’ jet liner
Had dropped from out of the sky
Well I was so darn happy that
I couldn’t believe my eyes
We’re gonna stuff ‘em
Put ‘em on display
‘tween Patsy Cline and Buddy Holly
Loadin’ up my tractor
Gonna take the bodies inside
Betty Lou will bring the sawdust
And I’ve got the formaldehyde
I’m callin’ up my neighbours
Tell ‘em all to drop by
A body stuffin’ party
And we’ll bake some kidney pie
We’re gonna stuff ‘em
Put ‘em on display
‘tween Patsy Cline and Buddy Holly
We’ll have our own air crash museum
People lined for miles just to see ‘em
Jim Croce’s in the corner
The Big Bopper’s by the stairs
Ricky Nelson’s in the kitchen
But nobody cares
Don’t forget Patsy Cline = March 5, 1963
One bizarre trivia about this tragedy is that the Big Bopper was on that plane only because Waylon Jennings gave him his seat.
Lynyrd Skynyrd was just hitting their stride when the plane crashed. I think they could have been one of the biggest bands ever.