n Feb 2, 1959, rock stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and Big Booper performed at Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. Shortly after midnight, the three rock stars took off in a charted plane that promptly crashed on take off, killing the pilot and the three rock stars. Buddy and Ritchie were in their early twenty's and they were rising stars. In 1971, Don Mclean wrote his famous song, the American Pie, in it he referred Feburary 3, 1959 as the "day the music died". Don must not like the rock stars after that, because he believed the rock music die that day.