February 3 Birthday
February 3 is the day music lost Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson in a cornfield near Clear Lake, Iowa. Holly was 22, Valens was 17. The crash was caused by pilot inexperience and bad weather, and it ended the first wave of rock and roll. Don McLean later called it "the day the music died" in his song American Pie. The plane was a Beechcraft Bonanza, a single-engine aircraft chartered for $36 per person. Waylon Jennings gave up his seat to Richardson, and for the rest of his life carried the guilt of a joke he made before takeoff: "I hope your plane crashes.". People born on February 3 fall under the zodiac sign of Aquarius. The birthstone is Amethyst and the birth flower is Violet. Historical events on February 3 include 1690: First paper money in Americas issued in Massachusetts, 1959: The Day the Music Died (Buddy Holly plane crash was Feb 3, 1959), 2008: Rowling launches Harry Potter website. Famous people born on February 3 include Felix Mendelssohn (1809), Gertrude Stein (1874), Joanna Cassidy (1945).