Seven Famous Singers that Were Killed in Plane Crashes

Some of the biggest names in the music industry have tragically lost their lives in plane crashes. Legends of rock and roll, country, soul, and pop have all met their maker when the plane that they were occupants in or piloting crashed. Ironically, one had recorded what would become his greatest hit just three days prior to his death in a plane crash, and one had been taught to fly by the same instructor who also tutored the pilot of a plane that crashed and killed another huge music star less than a year earlier. Here are seven singers from the music world that were killed in plane crashes.

Buddy Holly was a rock and roll pioneer, with hits like "That'll Be the Day" and "Oh Boy" topping the charts. Holly was killed on February 3rd, 1959, along with Richie Valens and J.P. Richardson, also called "The Big Bopper", when his chartered Beechwood Bonanza crashed minutes after take-off from Clear Lake, Iowa while en route to Fargo, North Dakota. Pilot error was the ultimate decision by the authorities on the cause of the tragedy. Holly was only 22 years old at the time of his death; Waylon Jennings, who would also go on to become a country music icon, gave up his seat on the plane to Richardson. Holly joked to Jennings that he hoped the bus he would have to ride on to the next gig would freeze up, and Jennings shot back that he wished the plane would crash, an exchange that haunted him for the rest of his life.

Patsy Cline was the biggest female star of her time, a country singer that could also cross over to put pop songs on the charts. Two of her biggest hits were "I Fall to Pieces" and "Crazy", and she was revered in the music industry as few others have been since. Cline, who had been feeling a sense of foreboding for weeks before her death, died when the Piper Comanche she was a passenger on crashed into a forest after a refueling stop on a flight from Kansas City to Nashville in 1963. Cline was only thirty years old. On her grave is a plaque that reads "Death Cannot Kill What Never Dies: Love", and country great George Jones once said of her "All Patsy Cline had to do was sing somebody else's song and her version would outsell theirs because it would be so good!"