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It has been 50 years since a single-engine plane crashed in a field of snowy Iowa, killing instantly three men whose names would be enshrined in the history of rock 'n' roll.

The past decades have not diminished the fascination with that night, February 2, 1959, when Buddy Holly, 22, JP "The Big Bopper" Richardson, 28, and Ritchie Valens (or Richard Steven Valenzuela), 17 and of Mexican descent, sang in Clear Lake after boarding the plane on a flight of about 480 kilometers (300 miles) which ended lasting a few minutes.


"It really was like the first monument of rock 'n' roll, the first death," said rock historian Jim Dawson, who has written several books about music in that era. "They say these things come in three. Well, all three occurred at the same time."

Since Wednesday, thousands of people will gather in the small town in northern Iowa where the pioneers of rock gave its final presentation. Coming to the Surf Ballroom symposiums with relatives of the three musicians, a concert and ceremony as the Hall of Fame Rock and Roll designates the building as its ninth national monument.


And discuss why, after so many years, many people still interested in what the composer Don McLean famously called "the day the music died."

"It was the site of this latest action of these great artists," said Terry Stewart, president and chief executive of the Hall of Fame Rock and Roll in Cleveland. "It justifies it fixed in time."


Clear Lake is an unusual place for a pilgrimage of rock 'n' roll, especially in the winter. The tourist town of 8,000 inhabitants along its namesake lake, and in the days of winter cold and wind makes this community located about 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of Des Moines anything but a holiday destination.

The crash site is on private property, eight kilometers (five miles) from Clear Lake and 0.8 kilometers (half mile) from the road. The corn grows high in adjacent fields during the summer but in winter the fields are covered with snow and a small monument to the road is often covered by a thick layer of ice. The monument has a small cross and a guitar and thin metal discs, all covered with flowers during the summer.


"It's a much more pleasant trip in the summer," said Jeff Nicholas, of Clear Lake resident who heads the board of the Surf Ballroom. "But in the winter, feel how it was."

Nobody keeps track of the number of visitors, but the fans come throughout the year and the summer days at the site of the accident, they can create the rarity of a bottleneck in a corn field.


Stewart said the deaths occurred because resonate even at a time when rock 'n' roll was going through a kind of transition. The sound of Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Holly was giving way to the so-called British Invasion of the mid-60.

"The music was changing at that time," he said. "The accident put an item on the change."


The three musicians influenced rock and roll your way.

Holly's career was short, but his particular style of singing, the way he played the guitar and put his talent to compose a tremendous influence on many artists. The Beatles, which was formed around the time of the accident, were among the first fans and created its name inspired by the Holly's band, The Crickets (Beetle, with a double and is beetle in English cricket is cricket). Holly's successes include "That'll Be The Day," "Peggy Sue" and "Maybe Baby."


A Richardson is often credited with having created the first music video with the recording of his rendition of "Chantilly Lace" in 1958, decades before MTV.

And Valens was the first musician to implement a Mexican influence to rock 'n' roll. Recorded their highly successful "La Bamba" just a few months before his death.


The plane left the airport in nearby Mason City around 1 am, in the direction of Moorhead, Minnesota. The players tried to avoid a tiring journey by bus and cold.

It was only hours after the plane was found smashed, dented against a metal fence. Investigators believe the pilot, who also died, was confused in the midst of darkness and snow and the plane crashed to the ground.

The accident generated a wave of pain between his passionate followers throughout the country. Twelve years after the crash was immortalized as "the day the music died" in the 1971 McLean song "American Pie".