April 30, 1943 October 24, 2016

The date was February 3, 1959. A light plane carrying Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, The Big Bopper and 20 year old pilot Roger Peterson crashed in a snow covered Iowa field, killing everyone on board. Only minutes earlier they had finished their performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clearlake, Iowa and had rushed to the airport in nearby Mason City to catch the charter plane that was to bring them to their next engagement in Moorhead, Minnesota.

News of the tragedy traveled fast. People at the local radio station in Moorhead, like everyone, were in a state of shock. The rest of the tour had arrived by bus from Clearlake after a cold and snowy all night drive. A decision was made to continue on with the show. The promoters asked for local talent to help fill in that sad night and as the curtain came up that evening, a new voice was introduced to the world.

A fifteen year old voice that knew all the words to all the songs, Bobby Vee. In the following thirty plus years Bobby would go on to place thirty-eight songs in the Billboard top 100 charts, six gold singles, fourteen top forty hits and two gold albums. But that night, instead of a seat in the audience, Bobby and his brother Bill along with the "Shadows" took the stage in memory of three of rock 'n' roll's brightest stars.
~Source classicbands.com

UPDATE: Bobby Vee, who had 38 Top 40 hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, died Monday morning October 24 2016 from complications of Alzheimer s disease. He was 73. Rest in Peace Bobby.

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