February 3, 1959
 

If they were alive today, Buddy Holly would be 88, Ritchie Valens would be 83, and the Big Bopper would be 94.

I remember that plane going down as I was in high school. We teens were devastated. I happen to be the same age Ritchie Valens would be today. Brrr...

Quite a loss. We seem to lose a lot of talent to crashes of various kinds

For bragging rights, without looking it up ...

Who played the gig the boys were going to, when the Beechcraft Bonanza they were riding in, went down over Mason City Iowa?

I did not know that.

Pretty good article about the tour and the crash.

Winter Dance Party

There's a field in Iowa, close to the Minnesota border, where you can walk out to a small shrine at the point of impact.

here

You can see a video on You Tube where Dion talks about being on that tour and he was suppose to be on that plane but it cost too much and gave his seat away. The price was the same price his parents were paying for their apartment in the Bronx. I saw him give the lecture live. It's very interesting.

Winter Dance Party. I was in grammar school and was so upset..I loved their music.

Yep
 

John Denver, Keith Green etc.

As a native North Dakotan, I know it was Bobby Vee.

I think he was only 15 at the time. Had a few guys that had been jammin' in his garage, including his brother I think.

The day the music died!

I was a rock-n-roll DJ for many years. My 2nd job was at KRIB radio in Mason City, Iowa. I did numerous ‘sock-hops’ at ‘The Surf Ballroom’ in nearby Clear Lake, Iowa … the venue that those played before their fatal crash.

Still a toddler, so music would have been nonexistent for any of the names

And George Washington would be 293

Yes, it's in a remote part of Iowa.

The day the music died.... :(

Age
 

And George Burns would have been 63.

Before my time, but the song "American Pie" came out when I was starting to listen to music, so I spent time learning more about the connection the song had to Buddy Holly.

Assuming most reading this thread would know this, but Waylon Jennings, who was touring with Buddy at the time, gave up his seat on the plane to the Big Bopper, who didn't want to ride the bus because he had the flu and the bus was going to be a cold, long, uncomfortable ride. Per Wikipedia, this was the friendly banter between Waylon and Buddy:

"When Holly learned that his bandmates had given up their seats on the plane and had chosen to take the bus rather than fly, a friendly banter between Holly and Jennings ensued, and it would come back to haunt Jennings for decades to follow: Holly jokingly told Jennings, "Well, I hope your ol' bus freezes up!" Jennings jokingly replied, "Well, I hope your ol' plane crashes!"[35] Under 90 minutes later, shortly after 1:00 am on February 3, 1959, Holly's charter plane crashed into a cornfield outside Mason City, instantly killing all on board.[36]"

Certainly not Waylon's fault, but as he would say, he could never shake the feeling of some guilt for the crash.