The Big Bopper(1930-1959)
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
The Big Bopper (real name: Jiles Perry Richardson Jr. ) was an American singer, songwriter, and disc jockey from Texas. His best known song compositions were" Chantilly Lace" (featuring a flirtatious phone conversation) and "White Lightning" (a rockabilly hit). Richardson was killed in an airplane crash in the winter of 1959, alongside fellow musicians Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. He was only 28-years-old. Their death date on February 3, 1959 is remembered as "The Day the Music Died".
In 1930, Richardson was born in the small town of Sabine Pass, Texas. The town is primarily remembered as the location of two different battles in the American Civil War. It was annexed by the neighboring city of Port Arthur, Texas in 1978. Richardson's parents were the oil-field worker Jiles Perry Richardson (1905-1984) and his wife Elise Stalsby (1909-1983). Richardson was the eldest of three sons born to the family.
Richardson was primarily raised in Beaumont, Texas, and attended Beaumont High School. He graduated in 1947, at the age of 17. He was reportedly an athletic young man, and served as a defensive lineman in the American football team "Royal Purple". He received his college education at Lamar College in Beaumont, Texas (later renamed to Lamar University). He was a pre-law student.
During his college years, Richardson was a part-time worker at the radio station KTRM in his hometown of Beaumont Texas. In 1949, he was hired by the station as a full-time employee. He decided to drop out of college at that time. In 1952, Richardson married his girlfriend Adrienne Joy "Teetsie" Wenner (1936-2004). The new couple soon had their first daughter, Debra Richardson (1953-2006).
By 1954, Richardson had been promoted to the rank of supervisor of announcers at KTRM. In March 1955, Richardson was drafted into the United States Army. He completed his basic training at Fort Ord, California. He was then transferred to Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, where he spend his two years of army service as a radar instructor. He was discharged from the Army in March 1957, with the rank of corporal.
Richardson was immediately rehired by KTRM, and granted his own music show. Richardson had seen college students performing a dance called "The Bop". He decided to adopt the stage name "The Big Bopper" for his new show. His show run for 3 hours in the afternoons. He was also promoted, becoming the radio station's program director.
In May 1957, Richardson set a new record for length of on-air broadcasting. He performed a single continuous broadcast for a total of five days, two hours, and eight minutes, during which he played 1,821 different records. While he had become famous as a disc jockey, he soon started working as a songwriter. He composed notable songs for George Jones and Johnny Preston.
Richardson was interested in performing his own songs. He signed a contract with the record producer Pappy Daily (1902-1987), who specialized in promoting country acts. Richardson's first single, "Beggar to a King", was met with indifference by the public. Richardson had his first great hit with "Chantilly Lace" (released in June, 1958). It reached the 6th place on the pop charts, spending 22 weeks in the national Top 40. It established Richardson's new stage persona as a "good-natured caricature of a ladies' man".
Richardson had his second hit song with the novelty song "The Big Bopper's Wedding". The song's main character is about to get married, but gets cold feet at the altar. In January 1959, Richardson was ready to promote his music act with live performances. He signed up to participate in the concert tour "Winter Dance Party", alongside Buddy Holly (and his band-mates), Ritchie Valens, and the vocal group "Dion and the Belmonts". The tour was scheduled to cover twenty-four Midwestern cities in as many days, with no off days for the music performers.
On January 23, 1959, the tour started with a live performance in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. By February 2, the touring performers reached Clear Lake, Iowa, for their 11th performance. However, the tour was poorly planned and the musicians had run into problems. The tour "erratically zigzagged back and forth across" the Midwestern United States, with the musicians spending between ten to twelve hours each day in a tour bus. They faced "freezing mid-winter temperatures" and poorly maintained rural highways. The tour buses broke down frequently, and had to be replaced 5 times in 11 days. No road crew had been hired to assist the musicians with transporting their equipment. Both Richardson and Valens were sick, experiencing flu-like symptoms.
By the time the touring musicians reached Iowa, Holly was fed-up with the traveling conditions. He chartered a plane to fly himself and his band to Fargo, North Dakota, which was closer to their next destination at Moorhead, Minnesota. The plane was a single-engined, V-tailed Beechcraft 35 Bonanza, with enough space for three seated passengers and the pilot. Richardson asked to join the flight, as he was too ill to keep traveling by bus. Valens requested the third seated place in the flight, and won it in a coin toss with another musician.
The chartered plane took off from Mason City Municipal Airport on February 3, 1959, with weather conditions including light snowing and winds estimated as reaching the speed of 20 to 30 mph (32 to 48 km/h). The flight would prove fatal for all three passengers. The Bonanza impacted terrain at high speed in a nose-down attitude. Richardson's body was found at some distance from the the wreckage of the aircraft, thrown into a cornfield. A coroner determined that the cause of Richardson's death was "gross trauma to brain".
Richardson was buried in his home state of Texas. Two months following his death, Richardson gained a posthumous son by his wife. The son, Jay Perry Richardson (1959-2013), became a musician as well. He used the stage name "The Big Bopper, Jr." The elder Richardson's remains were transferred alongside his wife's grave in 2007, at the request of their son. The couple are buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery, located in Beaumont, Texas. A stainless steel monument to Richardson, Holly, and Valens was erected at the crash site in 1988.
In 1930, Richardson was born in the small town of Sabine Pass, Texas. The town is primarily remembered as the location of two different battles in the American Civil War. It was annexed by the neighboring city of Port Arthur, Texas in 1978. Richardson's parents were the oil-field worker Jiles Perry Richardson (1905-1984) and his wife Elise Stalsby (1909-1983). Richardson was the eldest of three sons born to the family.
Richardson was primarily raised in Beaumont, Texas, and attended Beaumont High School. He graduated in 1947, at the age of 17. He was reportedly an athletic young man, and served as a defensive lineman in the American football team "Royal Purple". He received his college education at Lamar College in Beaumont, Texas (later renamed to Lamar University). He was a pre-law student.
During his college years, Richardson was a part-time worker at the radio station KTRM in his hometown of Beaumont Texas. In 1949, he was hired by the station as a full-time employee. He decided to drop out of college at that time. In 1952, Richardson married his girlfriend Adrienne Joy "Teetsie" Wenner (1936-2004). The new couple soon had their first daughter, Debra Richardson (1953-2006).
By 1954, Richardson had been promoted to the rank of supervisor of announcers at KTRM. In March 1955, Richardson was drafted into the United States Army. He completed his basic training at Fort Ord, California. He was then transferred to Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, where he spend his two years of army service as a radar instructor. He was discharged from the Army in March 1957, with the rank of corporal.
Richardson was immediately rehired by KTRM, and granted his own music show. Richardson had seen college students performing a dance called "The Bop". He decided to adopt the stage name "The Big Bopper" for his new show. His show run for 3 hours in the afternoons. He was also promoted, becoming the radio station's program director.
In May 1957, Richardson set a new record for length of on-air broadcasting. He performed a single continuous broadcast for a total of five days, two hours, and eight minutes, during which he played 1,821 different records. While he had become famous as a disc jockey, he soon started working as a songwriter. He composed notable songs for George Jones and Johnny Preston.
Richardson was interested in performing his own songs. He signed a contract with the record producer Pappy Daily (1902-1987), who specialized in promoting country acts. Richardson's first single, "Beggar to a King", was met with indifference by the public. Richardson had his first great hit with "Chantilly Lace" (released in June, 1958). It reached the 6th place on the pop charts, spending 22 weeks in the national Top 40. It established Richardson's new stage persona as a "good-natured caricature of a ladies' man".
Richardson had his second hit song with the novelty song "The Big Bopper's Wedding". The song's main character is about to get married, but gets cold feet at the altar. In January 1959, Richardson was ready to promote his music act with live performances. He signed up to participate in the concert tour "Winter Dance Party", alongside Buddy Holly (and his band-mates), Ritchie Valens, and the vocal group "Dion and the Belmonts". The tour was scheduled to cover twenty-four Midwestern cities in as many days, with no off days for the music performers.
On January 23, 1959, the tour started with a live performance in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. By February 2, the touring performers reached Clear Lake, Iowa, for their 11th performance. However, the tour was poorly planned and the musicians had run into problems. The tour "erratically zigzagged back and forth across" the Midwestern United States, with the musicians spending between ten to twelve hours each day in a tour bus. They faced "freezing mid-winter temperatures" and poorly maintained rural highways. The tour buses broke down frequently, and had to be replaced 5 times in 11 days. No road crew had been hired to assist the musicians with transporting their equipment. Both Richardson and Valens were sick, experiencing flu-like symptoms.
By the time the touring musicians reached Iowa, Holly was fed-up with the traveling conditions. He chartered a plane to fly himself and his band to Fargo, North Dakota, which was closer to their next destination at Moorhead, Minnesota. The plane was a single-engined, V-tailed Beechcraft 35 Bonanza, with enough space for three seated passengers and the pilot. Richardson asked to join the flight, as he was too ill to keep traveling by bus. Valens requested the third seated place in the flight, and won it in a coin toss with another musician.
The chartered plane took off from Mason City Municipal Airport on February 3, 1959, with weather conditions including light snowing and winds estimated as reaching the speed of 20 to 30 mph (32 to 48 km/h). The flight would prove fatal for all three passengers. The Bonanza impacted terrain at high speed in a nose-down attitude. Richardson's body was found at some distance from the the wreckage of the aircraft, thrown into a cornfield. A coroner determined that the cause of Richardson's death was "gross trauma to brain".
Richardson was buried in his home state of Texas. Two months following his death, Richardson gained a posthumous son by his wife. The son, Jay Perry Richardson (1959-2013), became a musician as well. He used the stage name "The Big Bopper, Jr." The elder Richardson's remains were transferred alongside his wife's grave in 2007, at the request of their son. The couple are buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery, located in Beaumont, Texas. A stainless steel monument to Richardson, Holly, and Valens was erected at the crash site in 1988.
