Buddy Holly died on February 3rd, 1959 in a car crash.
Buddy Holly ( born Charles Hardin Holley ; September 7 , 1936 -- February 3 , 1959 ) was an American musician and singer-songwriter who was a central figure of mid-1950s rock and roll . Soon after takeoff , the plane crashed , killing Holly , Ritchie Valens , The Big Bopper , and pilot Roger Peterson in a tragedy later referred to by Don McLean as `` The Day the Music Died '' .