The Day the Music Died refers to a small-plane crash which took place near Clear Lake, Iowa, United States on February 3, 1959, killing three popular American rock and roll musicians: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, as well as the pilot, Roger Peterson. The phrase itself, "The Day The Music Died", was coined by Don McLean in his 1971 tribute song about the crash, "American Pie".

Events leading to the crash
At approximately 1:00 AM Central Time on February 3, the plane took off from Mason City Municipal Airport. Around 1:05, Jerry Dwyer, owner of Dwyer Flying Service, could see the lights of the plane start to descend from the sky to the ground. At the time, he thought it was an optical illusion because of the curvature of the earth and the horizon.
The pilot, Roger Peterson, was expected to file his flight plan once the plane was airborne, but Peterson never called the tower. Repeated attempts by Dwyer to contact his pilot failed. By 3:30 AM, when the airport at Fargo had not heard from Peterson, Dwyer contacted authorities and reported the aircraft missing.
Around 9:15 in the morning, Dwyer took off in another small plane to fly Peterson's intended route. A short time later he spotted the wreckage in a cornfield (43°13′12″N, 93°23′0″WCoordinates: 43°13′12″N, 93°23′0″W) belonging to Albert Juhl, about five miles northwest of the airport. The manager of the Surf Ballroom (who drove the performers to the airport, and also witnessed the plane taking off) made the positive identification of the performers.
The Bonanza was at a slight downward angle and banked to the right when it struck the ground at around 170 mph. The plane tumbled and skidded another 570 feet across the frozen landscape before the crumpled ball of wreckage piled against a wire fence at the edge of the property. The bodies of Holly and Valens lay near the plane, Richardson was thrown into a neighboring cornfield, and Peterson remained trapped inside. All four had died instantly from "gross trauma" to the brain, the county coroner Ralph Smiley declared.
Investigators came to the conclusion that the crash was due to a combination of poor weather conditions and pilot error. Peterson had done poorly on previous flight instrumentation tests and had not been rated for nighttime flight, when he would have to rely on his instruments rather than his own vision. It was also found that Peterson was not given an accurate advisory of the weather conditions of his route, which, given his known limitations, could have possibly deterred him from taking off that morning.

Memorial

It is often erroneously stated that the name of the aircraft was "American Pie" and that it inspired the lyrics of the Don McLean song. The plane had no name, only a registration number: N3794N.
In the 1987 film La Bamba, Ritchie Valens, rather than the Big Bopper, is represented as the one who came down with the flu.
When John Lennon was killed in December 1980, Time magazine put a portrait of him on the cover with the headline "When the Music Died."
The crash of American Airlines Flight 320 occurred on the same day as the crash that killed Holly, the Big Bopper, and Valens.
Often associated with the number 23 enigma.
Eddie Cochran recorded the single Three Stars as a tribute to Holly, Valens and the Big Bopper. Cochran's voice broke during the lyrics about his close friend Holly. (Ironically, Cochran himself died in a tragic touring-related accident the very next year—a car crash in Chippenham, England.)
A seventh-season episode of The Simpsons was titled "The Day the Violence Died," a title based on this and a reference to the violence in Itchy and Scratchy.