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On February 3, 1959, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson died in an Iowa plane crash after their Winter Dance Party show in Clear Lake. The tour had to continue, so 15-year-old local singer Bobby Vee and his band The Shadows — still in 10th grade at the time — were urgently recruited as emergency replacements for the Surf Ballroom that same night.  He had literally been in class earlier that day when news of the plane crash broke, and by that evening he and his band were on stage at the Surf Ballroom filling in for Buddy Holly.  Vee’s poised performance saved the show and launched his career; within months he had national hits.

Standards North Dakota