The Day The Music Died

The Last Tour of Buddy Holly, the 'Big Bopper' and Ritchie Valens. The tragic deaths of these three fifties Rock n Roll stars was immortalised in Don McLean's classic hit American Pie. The poignant story of the build-up to, events of, and the fall-out from the infamous 'Day The Music Died' are told here in painstaking chronological detail. A must for any serious rock n roll fan or student.

In 1950s Iowa, a murder-suicide forces a lawyer to put aside his rock-and-roll grief Sam McCain loves Buddy Holly because he’s the only rock-and-roll star who still seems like a dweeb, and Sam knows how that feels. With the unrequited love of his life at his side, Sam drives more than three hours through the snow to watch his idol play the Surf Ballroom. That night, Buddy Holly dies in the most famous plane crash in music history, but Sam has no time to grieve. Because there are too many lawyers in this small town, Sam makes a living as a PI, doing odd jobs for an eccentric judge—whose nephew, it seems, has a problem only a detective could solve. His trophy wife has been murdered, and as soon as Sam arrives, the nephew kills himself, too. The police see this as a clear-cut murder-suicide, but Sam wants to know more, diving into a mystery that will get dangerous faster than you can say “bye-bye, Miss American Pie.”

Their lives were cut brutally short...yet the legacy has on lived on for four decades. They were three of rock 'n' roll's brightest stars, touring together in a music revue that was as grueling as it was magical. Dilapidated school buses that frequently broke down and rarely had heat carried them hundreds of miles across the Midwest with its unforgiving cold. Hoping to get a decent night's sleep, a hot meal, and a chance to clean the clothes they'd been wearing for weeks, Buddy Holly chartered a plane. On February 3, 1959, Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper, and Buddy Holly boarded a small plane bound for rock 'n' roll heaven. This is their story, told by the family members, bandmates, and witnesses who lived it. Including material not seen in the original VH1 broadcast, Behind the Music: the Day the Music Died is a compelling record of one of rock 'n' roll's defining moments.

The Bard meets the Backstreet Boys in Pop Sonnets, a collection of 100 classic pop songs reimagined as Shakespearean sonnets. All your favorite songs are here, including hits by Jay-Z, Johnny Cash, Katy Perry, Michael Jackson, Talking Heads, and many others. With stirring sentiments on everything from love and despair to wanton women, Pop Sonnets offers inspirational verse for every occasion.

Behind the roaring crowds and the billion-dollar record deals are tales of solitude, anger, and depression. Readers are about to unearth these stories as author Les MacDonald brings nostalgia to every bookshelf with The Day the Music Died, his newly released book published through Xlibris. The Day the Music Died is a well-researched documentation of the different true stories of the persons whose names are forever etched in the history of music. Throughout, readers will get an intimate look into the deaths of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Elvis Presley, Brian Jones, Bob Marley, John Lennon, George Harrison, Tupac Shakur, Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, Selena, Michael Jackson, and many more. As each of these artists permanently faded from the limelight, a new testimonial will be created to prove that their music lives on. "While some of our favorites may have lost their way at some point during their lifetimes, we must remember that there is one thing that the passage of time cannot erase . . . and that, my friends, is the music!" shares the author.

Births, deaths and marriages, No1 singles, drug busts and arrests, famous gigs and awards... all these and much more appear in this fascinating 50 year almanac.Using a page for every day of the calendar year, the author records a variety of rock and pop events that took place on a given day of the month across the years.This Day in Music is fully illustrated with hundreds of pictures, cuttings and album covers, making this the must-have book for any pop music fan.

Buddy Holly was killed at 22 when the plane he was travelling in crashed on 3 February 1959. Although this was less than two years after Holly's first hit record, Don McLean described this as 'the day the music died.' But Sonny Curtis, Holly's friend and musical colleague, told us that the music didn't die, because 'Buddy Holly lives every time you play rock'n'roll.' Fifty years after Holly's death, his lasting influence is clear; a musical based on his life seems set to run for longer than his lifetime and artists as diverse as Blink 182 and Bob Dylan call him an inspiration.The Beatles chose That'll Be the Day by Buddy's group The Crickets as their first attempt at recording, as well as taking the idea for their name. Clearly, the music didn't die!John Gribbin, an ardent fan since he was twelve, presents this labour of love written in the spirit of Sonny Curtis' lyric, as a celebration of Holly's all too brief life, and as an introduction,for all those not around in 1959, to the man and his astonishing musical legacy. "Not Fade Away" also includes - uniquely - a full and detailed account of every Holly recording session, which any Buddy fan will devour.