PHOTOS: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper

A poster showing Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson hangs on a wall in the Surf Ballrom, Friday, Jan. 9, 2009, in Clear Lake, Iowa. It's been nearly 50 years since the single-engine plane crashed into a snow-covered Iowa field killing everyone on board and later this month thousands of people are expected to gather in the small northern Iowa town where the rock pioneers gave their last performance. [AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall]

A Don McLean autographed copy of the lyrics for the song "American Pie" are seen on a wall in the green room at the Surf Ballrom, Friday, Jan. 9, 2009, in Clear Lake, Iowa. It's been nearly 50 years since the single-engine plane crashed into a snow-covered Iowa field killing Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. Later this month thousands of people are expected to gather in the small northern Iowa town where the rock pioneers gave their last performance. [AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall]

A poster of Buddy Holly hangs in the entrance of the Surf Ballrom, Friday, Jan. 9, 2009, in Clear Lake, Iowa. It's been nearly 50 years since the single-engine plane crashed into a snow-covered Iowa field killing Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. Later this month thousands of people are expected to gather in the small northern Iowa town where the rock pioneers gave their last performance. [AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall]

Flowers adorn a memorial Jan. 9, 2009, at the spot where the plane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson crashed killing all aboard on Feb. 3, 1959, near Clear Lake, Iowa. The three young singers were in a single-engine aircraft flying in a light snowstorm in 1959 when the pilot apparently lost control. Holly decided to fly because his tour bus was having heating problems. [AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File]

Buddy Holly's home in Lubbock, Texas, where he and his family lived in 1957. He lived here when "That'll Be the Day" became the number one record in the country. [ PHOTOGRAPH BY MILTON ADAMS/FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM]

Jeff Nicholas looks at a monument he set up near the spot where the plane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson crashed killing all aboard, Friday, Jan. 9, 2009, near Clear Lake, Iowa. It's been nearly 50 years since the single-engine plane crashed into a snow-covered Iowa field and later this month thousands of people are expected to gather in the small northern Iowa town where the rock pioneers gave their last performance. [AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall]

Buddy Holly's glasses are seen on display at the first stop on the Hard Rockís 40th Anniversary Memorabilia Tour, in New York, Wednesday, May 18, 2011. [AP Photo/Charles Sykes]

Shown is the dance floor in the Surf Ballrom, Friday, Jan. 9, 2009, in Clear Lake, Iowa. It's been nearly 50 years since the single-engine plane crashed into a snow-covered Iowa field killing Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. Later this month thousands of people are expected to gather in the small northern Iowa town where the rock pioneers gave their last performance. [AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall]

A gold record of rock 'n' roll star Ritchie Valens songs owned by his older brother Bob Morales, is displayed in Moss Landing, California, January 26, 2009. Morales will be traveling to Clear Lake, Iowa for a 50th anniversary event of his brother's death. (Vern Fisher/Monterey County Herald/MCT)

**FILE**J.P. Richardson, singer known as Rock-'n -Roll circles as the "Big Bopper," is shown in this undated file photo. It's been 50 years since a single-engine plane crashed into a snow-covered Iowa field, instantly killing three men whose names would become enshrined in the history of rock 'n' roll, Buddy Holly, 28-year-old J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson and 17-year-old Ritchie Valens. (AP Photo, File)

Maria Elena Holly, holding her late husband's Gibson J-200 guitar, poses in front of a portrait of Buddy Holly at her Dallas home, May 21, 1989. Sothebys will be auctioning off some of the last of Buddy's belongings, including two guitars and a pair of glasses on June 23. [AP Photo]

A collection of Buddy Holly memorabilia, including his passport, his diamond wristwatch, acetate recordings and personal photographs from his childhood are seen at Heritage Galleries in Dallas, Texas, March 16, 2006. Holly's widow, Maria Elena Holly, is auctioning off some of her husband's possessions through the Dallas auctioneers in mid-May. [Smiley N. Pool/Dallas Morning News/KRT]

Buddy Holly's widow, Maria Elena Holly, photographed with a suit and shirt that once belonged to the musician, March 16, 2006, at Heritage Galleries in Dallas, Texas. She will auction off some of her husband's possessions through the Dallas auctioneers in mid-May. [Smiley N. Pool/Dallas Morning News/KRT]

Peggy Sue Gerron gestures while discussing her newly released book "Whatever Happened to Peggy Sue?" with fans in a Hasting's bookstore in Tyler, Texas on Saturday, Jan. 12, 2008. Buddy Holly's widow is trying to keep the woman whose name was made famous by the 1950s hit song "Peggy Sue" from selling a book about her friendship with the rocker. [AP Photo/Dr. Scott M. Lieberman]

Rock singer Ritchie Valens is shown in this 1959 photo. It's been 50 years since a single-engine plane crashed into a snow-covered Iowa field, instantly killing three men whose names would become enshrined in the history of rock 'n' roll, Buddy Holly, 28-year-old J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson and 17-year-old Ritchie Valens. [AP Photo, File]

American rock and roll singer, songwriter and guitarist Buddy Holly is shown in 1959 at an unknown location. Holly, born Charles Hardin Holley in 1936 in Lubbock, Texas, died in a plane crash on Feb. 3, 1959. [AP Photo]

Bob Morales, 71, older brother of rock 'n' roll star Ritchie Valens, stands outside his home in Moss Landing, California, January 26, 2009. Morales will be traveling to Clear Lake, Iowa for a 50th anniversary event of his brother's death. [Vern Fisher/Monterey County Herald/MCT]

Buddy Holly shown in 1956, 22, was killed in a plane crash northwest of Mason City, Iowa. Holly was a Rock N Roll singing star. [AP Photo]

Marianne Butler and husband Thomas Kreason, directors of the Texas Musicians Museum, look at the original casket of J.P. Richardson, aka The Big Bopper, on Tuesday, October 30, 2007. The casket will be on display at their museum in Hillsboro, Texas. [Rodger Mallison/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/MCT]

American rock and roll singer Buddy Holly performs in the 1950s. The Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock, Texas, celebrated on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013, what would have been Holly's 77th birthday. [AP Photo/File]

Flowers adourn a memorial Feb. 6, 1999, at the spot where the plane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson and their pilot Roger Peterson crashed, killing all aboard Feb. 3, 1959, near Clear Lake, Iowa. The son of "The Big Bopper," Jay Richardson, has hired a forensic anthropologist to answer questions about how his father died in the 1959 plane crash along with rock 'n' rollers Holly and Valens. [AP Photo/Rodney White, File]