2015 Update: The Winter Dance Party video interview with Dion has been completed and is posted below.
Dion asserts that he only came forward to correct history when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame contacted him about the conflicting stories.įilmmakers created a documentary about the tour that includes Dion’s memories. In his book The Wanderer Talks Truth, Dion explains that through the years he watched others (presumably Allsup who he never names) exaggerate their role. Of those four, I was the only one who survived beyond February 3, 1959.'” Only the four of us knew who was getting on that plane when we left the dressing room that night. So I said, ‘Ritchie, you go.’ He accepted and took my seat.
#Richie valens coin flip full#
He said, ‘I couldn’t bring myself to pay a full month’s rent on a short flight. Then he discovered that the flight would cost $36 - the exact amount of rent his parents paid monthly. The headliners flipped a coin to see who was going to fly. “Dion was, in fact, scheduled to fly in the fateful plane that went down. ĭion has yet another version of the events leading to the plane ride. Hale remembers that Valens won by calling “heads.”Īllsup, however, argues that Hale was not present at the coin flip. But Hale recalls that he was the one who flipped the coin for Allsup and Valens. Hale remembers that Allsup suggested the coin flip. In other venues, Tommy Allsup repeated his version of the story of the coin toss that he lost to Ritchie Valens.īob Hale, the emcee at the Surf Ballroom in Iowa for the last Winter Dance Party show before the plane crash, has a similar recollection. Allsup then claims he flipped a coin, and Valens won the seat on the ill-fated plane. Then, Valens asked Allsup if he could take Allsup’s seat on the plane.
In the same episode, guitarist Tommy Allsup recounts how when he went inside to make sure they did not leave anything behind, he ran into Ritchie Valens. Jennings responded, jokingly, “I hope your ole plane crashes,” a retort that haunted him for years. Jennings recounts that Holly had ribbed him about taking the bus.
In the video, Waylon Jennings explains how he gave up his seat on the plane to the ailing Big Bopper (around 9:50). On a Behind the Music episode, “The Day the Music Died,” the producers presented the story that Buddy Holly planned for the airplane to the next stop on the tour for him and his two musicians, Waylon Jennings and Tommy Allsup. Who is telling the truth? Let’s consider the different versions of the story. But Dion wrote in his book The Wanderer Talks Truth (2011) that the events “have been completely eclipsed by urban legends, cinematic retellings, gossip, and outright grandstanding.” (p. Holly’s former band members tell one story. But survivors still debate who was the person who barely missed getting on a plane ride to their death, all due to the luck of a coin flip. Stories conflict about the events that night before the flight. Besides Holly, how did Richardson and Valens end up on the plane instead of the other headliner, Dion, or instead of other band members? The Competing Claims About a Coin TossĪlthough the story is familiar, there is still an ongoing question. The young rock and roll music industry lost three of its brightest stars. The plane took off in the early morning hours of February 3 for Fargo, North Dakota but soon crashed in a snow storm.Īll three passengers were killed along with the pilot Roger Peterson. So Buddy Holly chartered a small plane for one of the upcoming trips on the tour.Īfter their Februperformance in Clear Lake, Iowa, three of the stars - Holly, Richardson, and Valens - boarded a three-passenger plane. The poor conditions led to drummer Bunch going to the hospital with frostbite. Some of the performers were tired of traveling through the cold in an old bus that kept breaking down. “ The Big Bopper” Richardson, Ritchie Valens, and Dion and the Belmonts toured through the Midwest in what was called “The Winter Dance Party.” Also on the tour was Holly’s new back-up band replacing the Crickets: Tommy Allsup on guitar, Waylon Jennings on bass, and Carl Bunch on drums. You probably know the general outline of “the day the music died.” But you may not know the controversy surrounding the legendary coin flip connected to the tragedy. Richardson, and Ritchie Valens perished in a plane crash. February 3 marks the anniversary of the day Buddy Holly, J.P.
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