The album '' Chirping Crickets '' , released in November 1957 , reached number five on the UK Albums Chart . Holly made his second appearance on '' The Ed Sullivan Show '' in January 1958 and soon after , toured Australia and then the UK . In early 1959 , he assembled a new band , consisting of future country music star Waylon Jennings ( bass ) , famed session musician Tommy Allsup ( guitar ) , and Carl Bunch ( drums ) , and embarked on a tour of the midwestern U.S . After a show in Clear Lake , Iowa , he chartered an airplane to travel to his next show , in Moorhead , Minnesota . 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 "
The Day the Music Died
The Day the Music Died
Buddy Holly