LAST SONG BUDDY HOLLY SANG TV

reminded the rock fans that his dad wrote hits for other people, including George Jones’ “White Lightning” and Johnny Preston’s “Running Bear.” He sang those and, of course, his father’s biggest hit, “Chantilly Lace.” However, this second-generation rocker wasn’t the main attraction. He then brought his “adopted son,” Bopper Jr., onstage for the Clear Lake gathering.Ī showman in a faux leopard-skin jacket, Bopper Jr. The ex-DJ shared the story of how he and the Bopper sat in a booth near the stage in 1959 and talked about how both of their wives were pregnant.

LAST SONG BUDDY HOLLY SANG TV

Now a retired TV personality in Chicago, Hale, 75, returned to the Surf Monday to introduce J.P. Hale then phoned United Press International in Des Moines, Iowa, and the news spread around the world. He announced the death of the three young stars that morning on KRIB radio after Surf manager Carroll Anderson called him to confirm their identities at the crash site a few miles north of town. Would he ship it home or carry it as baggage?īob Hale was the emcee of the concert in 1959. He didn’t quite figure out what to do with the Valens replica guitar - signed by Los Lobos and others - he bought for $1,600 at auction at the Surf. Born in Scotland, he was making a whirlwind journey with stops in Hawaii, the Sundance Music Festival in Utah, Clear Lake and then Scotland. Steven McGregor, 45, made the trip all the way from Australia - his second ride at the Surf since 2005. She also recalled that the Surf wasn’t particularly crowded that night - not like it was on Monday. On that fateful night in 1959, she and her 18-year-old brother drove home to Walters, Minn., but he fell asleep at the wheel and the car ended up in a ditch - and the siblings had to walk the final three miles home. Those rare pictures - perhaps the only ones existing of that historic night - were on display in the lobby of Surf on Monday as Gerber returned to the ballroom for the first time in five decades. She rediscovered those negatives two years ago while cleaning out her mother’s house. She stood up front and excitedly snapped seven photos. Mary Gerber was at the concert in 1959, surprised that her parents would let a 16-year-old out on a school night. 2), 1,800 people from 32 countries gathered in Clear Lake at the sold-out Surf to commemorate that infamous day by listening to an eclectic parade of stars - Wanda Jackson, Graham Nash, Los Lobos, Los Lonely Boys, Joe Ely, Peter & Gordon, Dave Mason, Delbert McClinton, Bobby Vee, the Big Bopper Jr. 3, 1959, was the day the music died as Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper perished in a snowy plane crash shortly after performing at the Surf as part of the Winter Dance Party that had crawled through the Upper Midwest in a poorly heated school bus.

Poodle skirts, pompadours, the Crickets on the bandstand and the brutally cold weather with below-zero wind chill.įeb. CLEAR LAKE, Iowa - Fifty years later, a lot of things sure seemed the same at the Surf Ballroom.

Last song buddy holly sang