Son's Morbid Memory For Big Bopper's 80th Birthday
10/25/2010
.
In honor of what would have been the Big Bopper's 80th birthday on Sunday, October 24, his son Jay Richardson granted a fascinating interview with Spinner.com about his father, whom he never met. On February 3, 1959, the Big Bopper died in a plane crash with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens – an event now known as the Day The Music Died. This was before Richardson was born, but he pays tribute to his father by singing in John Mueller's Winter Dance Party, which re-creates the final show of Holly, Valens and the Big Bopper.Among other revelations, Richardson speaks of getting to see his father's body in 2007, when it was exhumed to be moved to a bigger gravesite. "That was one of the most tremendous days of my life," Richardson said. "[Anthropologist] Bill Bass was very wrong. And he will tell you that because I asked what should I expect, and he said probably very little. He was being very honest – maybe some tatters of clothing and maybe some bone fragments. "I opened the casket, and it was my dad. The crease in his pants, his hair – flat top standing up. It was amazing. My father was so well preserved. It wasn't gross. It was no different than going to a funeral – and someone saying their last goodbyes. I was able to have closure. Even though I wasn't born at the time of his death, I was able to rebury my father. His grandkids were pallbearers." -
Gibson.com is an official news provider for the Day in Rock.
Share this article on Twitter
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
Click here to read today's full report
Preview and Purchase Big Bopper CDs
Big Bopper Tour Dates/Tickets
Big Bopper MP3 Downloads
| Was it Good for you? Please Fark it!, Stumble It, Digg it or more! |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Fark | Stumble Upon | Digg | Facebook |
|
tell a friend about this article know of a news item we should cover?  antiMUSIC News featured on RockNews.info and Yahoo News
.
...end |
