ROCK & ROLL SINGERS DIE IN CRASH

Three members of a rock 'n' roll troupe which was slated to appear Sunday, Feb. 15,
at the State Armory were killed early Tuesday in a plane crash near Mason City, Iowa.


The Illinois State Journal, Feb. 4, 1959


Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "Big Bopper" Richardson had a date in Springfield in 1959, but they never made it.

A Feb. 15 performance here billed as the "Shower of Stars," sponsored by radio station WMAY, was the final stop on the Winter Dance Party Tour that included Holly, Valens and Richardson, Dion and the Belmonts, and Frankie Sardo.

After a performance on the tour in Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly, Valens and Richardson - three of the top singing idols of the day - decided to fly ahead to Fargo, N.D., for their next date in nearby Moorhead, Minn., while the other 13 troupe members followed in the tour bus.

"Buddy wanted to get a suit cleaned, Valens wanted a haircut, and Richardson just wanted to get some sleep," the troupe's traveling manager explained at the time.

Bad weather brought their chartered plane down shortly after takeoff, also killing pilot Roger Peterson of Clear Lake.

When the other troupe members heard the devastating news, their initial impulse was to cancel their next performance in Moorhead, but they changed their minds, deciding the show must go on.

Singers Frankie Avalon and Jimmy Clanton joined the tour as last-minute replacements for the Moorhead performance, and within a few days a new roster of entertainers was added to complete the tour, which would go on as scheduled.

For the two shows here, the new lineup included Fabian, Bill Parsons and Jimmy Clanton. Dion and the Belmonts remained, as did Sardo, and Holly's former group, The Crickets, also was added.

Two performances, drawing a total of 8,000 fans, were held at the Armory, with a dance following each and with Harry King of WMAY emceeing. The proceeds went to United Cerebral Palsy of Sangamon County.

The Illinois State Register's Wayne Allen reviewed the concert in the Feb. 16 issue of the paper, and it was clear that Allen's musical tastes were from an earlier generation.

"There's no need to be square and evaluate the artistic merit of rock 'n' roll talent," Allen wrote. "Why pick on something that isn't even supposed to be there? Suffice it to say that if Ronnie Smith, Bill Parsons, Frankie Sardo and Jimmy Clanton lack quality they do offer quantity."

Allen complained about the singers overloading their microphones and the headache-causing volume levels.

"It was loud, Daddy, but that's the way the teen-agers prefer it," he wrote.

Allen also noted the "torso-twisting imitations" of Elvis Presley performed by most of the male soloists.

"Each male was able to incite near hysteria with burlesque runway gyrations," he wrote.

Allen did mention the three deceased troupe members, noting that when Dion and the Belmonts performed Valens' signature hit "Donna," they "sent feverish excitement into the emotional stratosphere."

Allen reserved perhaps his kindest comments for the fill-in performer Fabian, who closed the show.

"Appearing last - but certainly not least anticipated - was a 16-year-old boy billed merely as 'the fabulous Fabian,' " Allen wrote. "He has been voted “the most promising young singer “ by Dick Clark devotees along with other rock 'n' roll citations.

"The boy has a pleasant voice, a keen sense of showmanship and cleancut good looks. Performance-wise Fabian came on like gangbusters - up through the audience with a police escort. After a medley of his idol Presley's waxworks, Fabian tore into his own smash hit, "I'm a Man".

"There's no doubt about it. This boy swings. Not like Tarzan and the Apes. Like wow!"