Musicians Who Have Died in Plane Crashes
Waylon Jennings was spared due to Buddy Holly taking his place in the fatale “The Day The Music Died” flight on Feb. 3, 1959. On March 16, 1991, Country superstar Reba Mcintire lost 7 of her band members and her manager to a crash following a private show. They were some of the lucky ones. Let’s look back at some of the musicians who were not so lucky and perished in aviation accidents.
Glenn Miller – December 15, 1944
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The 40-year-old swing-era musician was a passenger on a single-engine UC-64-A Norseman that disappeared somewhere over the English Channel. He was on his way to make arrangements to bring his Army band over to entertain American troops. It remains a mystery what happened to the airplane. Some theories claim that they were bombed down on accident or icy weather caused the plane to crash into the ocean.
‘The Day The Music Died’ – Feb. 3, 1959
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Early on the morning of Feb. 3, 1959, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson perished in a plane crash in Iowa. That event has been memorialized as “The Day the Music Died.” But just imagine what it must have been like to see these blistering, magical players the night before, at their last performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, part of a Winter Dance Party Tour. In his painfully short career, Holly — one of rock’s biggest-ever influences — recorded an astonishing list of singles including “That’ll Be the Day,” “Peggy Sue,” “Oh, Boy!” “Not Fade Away,” “Maybe Baby,” “Rave On” and “It’s So Easy.” Valens was a rising star with “La Bamba” and Richardson’s “Chantilly Lace” had come out months prior. No single event is more associated with rock’s propensity for tragedy, but it was the loss of Holly — a pioneer of the two-guitar rock sound — that’s felt most deeply, as suggested by Don McLean’s hit about the event, “American Pie.”
Patsy Cline – March 5, 1963
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Country music icon Patsy Cline was only 30 years old when she died in a plane crash. She was on her way home to Nashville after performing in Kansas City. They experienced some bad weather, and, despite making a few stops, the plane ultimately succumbed to the elements and crashed about 75 miles west of Nashville. Cline, her manager Ramsey “Randy” Dorris Hughes, and musicians Harold Franklin “Hankshaw” Hawkins and Lloyd Estel “Cowboy” Copas all died.
Jim Reeves – July 31, 1964
Another country star and another crash due to violent weather. Jim Reeves was 40 when he died flying his own airplane in a very similar crash to the one Cline experienced near Nashville.
Otis Redding – December 10, 1967
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The “These Arms of Mine” singer was only 26 when he, along with his band the Bar-Kays, died in a plane crash caused by the weather. They were heading out from Cleveland on their way to Madison, Wisconsin and the airplane plunged into Lake Monona, repeatedly after experiencing engine problems. One person survived, 20-year-old Ben Cauley. Redding was in the prime of his career and had a posthumous hit with “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay.”
Jim Croce – September 20, 1973
Croce was working on his third album and was just starting to achieve some major success when he decided to take a plane ride to avoid another long drive. The 30-year-old died in a crash in Natchitoches, Louisiana, while on tour where the airplane hit a pecan tree, caused by pilot error.
Lynyrd Skynrd – October 20, 1977
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Several members of the country rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd died just three days after their album Street Survivors was released. The investigation showed that the crash was due to running out of fuel because the pilots did not check the fuel status before departing. Lead singer Ronnie Van Zant (29), guitarist Steve Gaines (28), and backup singer Cassie Gaines (29) were killed in Gillsburg, Mississippi. The incident caused a re-release of the album cover because the original showed the band surrounded by flames.
Ricky Nelson – December 31, 1985
Singer and son of Ozzie and Harriet Nelson died at the age of 45. The plane was trying to make an emergency landing in De Kalb, Texas, because of an interior fire, reportedly caused by a defective heater. The pilot and copilot survived but the seven passengers all died.
Stevie Ray Vaughan – August 27, 1990
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35-year-old Stevie Ray Vaughan was working on his solo career after being David Bowie‘s guitarist. He died in a helicopter crash in East Troy, Wisconsin, after performing at Alpine Valley with Eric Clapton and the helicopter crashed into a ski hill due to pilot error. It has been rumored that Clapton was also supposed to be on board but got pulled away for a phone call.
Randy Rhoads – March 19, 1982
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Randy Rhoads was a guitarist and close friend of Ozzy Osbourne when he died in a plane crash in Florida. Piloted by Andrew Aycock, the plane clipped its wing on the tour bus Ozzy was asleep in and it crashed right into a house next to the bus. If it had been a few inches lower it would have also taken out the Blizzard of Ozz singer and his wife Sharon.
John Denver – October 12, 1997
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Singer-songwriter John Denver died in a crash off the coast of California when he was flying an airplane that he recently purchased. He was an experienced pilot but the investigation showed that he made an error while flying that led to the crash.
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