This Day in Rock & Roll History for February 3

Dave Davies, guitar player with the Kinks, is born. (1947)

Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash hold a recording session at Sun Studios in Memphis. The sessions are later named the "Million Dollar Quartet" and released. (1956)

In the words of Don McLean, "it was the day the music died." Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper are killed when their plane crashes in the Iowa countryside. (1959)

Joe Meek, early British pop and rock producer, shoots himself in the head. He had produced hits in the U.K. and his biggest hit was "Telstar," which he wrote and was recorded by the Tornadoes. (1967)

The Beatles record Paul McCartney's song "Lady Madonna" at EMI's Abbey Road studios. They accomplished this in just three takes. (1968)

John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr hire Allen Klein as the Beatles' business manager. Paul McCartney dissents and the hiring is contributing factor to the group's breakup. (1969)

David Bowie begins his first U.S. tour in over a year in Seattle, Washington. Guitar player Earl Slick replaces Mick Ronson and Bowie has shelved the white soul persona for a character he calls the Thin White Duke. (1976)

It's the 19th anniversary of Buddy Holly's death. It's also the day on which his birthplace in Lubbock, Texas had been scheduled for demolition by the Lubbock Building Department. The Department had no idea the house had any association with the town's most famous son. However a few days ago, a man bought the place, moved it intact, outside the city limits and fixed it up so his family could move in. He too, did not know the significance of the house and became the man who save Buddy Holly's birthplace by accident. (1978)

"Dead Man's Curve," a made-for-TV-movie about surf-rock singer Jan & Dean, airs on ABC-TV. (1978)

A sold-out crowd packs into the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, for a concert commemorating the 20th anniversary of the place crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper. Wolfman Jack hosts with featured performances by Del Shannon, Jimmy Clanton and the Drifters. (1979)

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