The Big Bopper, the other guy who died

[luisam]

Jiles Perry Richardson was a struggling Texas songwriter and radio disc jockey. He usually went by the initials J. P. and briefly used the nickname Jape. After watching high school students dancing a dance called The Bop he settled on the pseudonym The Big Bopper, used on air and when recording.

 

Richardson began working as a disc jockey at KTRM radio in Beaumont while still a teenager and he soon left college to work full-time. He eventually became program director while still working as a disc jockey. His colorful on-air personality, a stark contrast to the naturally shy Richardson, made him a very popular disc jockey in the Golden Triangle area. He also continued to write songs in his spare time.

 

As a singer, The Big Bopper’s best-known release was Chantilly Lace, which hit number 6 on the pop charts and probably was one of the most played songs of 1958. He also was author of about thirty-eight songs during his life and recorded twenty-one of them.

 

Richardson was influenced early by country singers but soon moved into the realm of rock-and-roll. In 1958 he traveled to Houston's Gold Star Studios to record songs for Pappy Daily's D Records. Richardson recorded his novelty song, "Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor," as the A-side of a single that he hoped would capitalize on the popularity of other novelty songs that had recently been released. On the road between Beaumont and the Houston recording studio, he remembered that records had two sides, and he still didn't have a second song. Therefore, as an afterthought, he wrote a B-side ditty he called Chantilly Lace in the backseat of the car while driving to the session, a two-minute novelty song that is both innocent and suggestive, arguably the world's introduction to phone sex. At the recording session, he also reportedly formally adopted his nickname The Big Bopper as his musical persona.

 

 

Unexpectedly Chantilly Lace quickly gained the attention of radio programmers and listening audiences, and Daily released it on his D label and subsequently leased it to Mercury Records for national distribution. Chantilly Lace became very successful and would eventually go gold and multi-platinum as an early hit in rock and roll history. It was by far the most famous record on Daily's D label. Songs from the Gold Star session comprised Richardson's only album, Chantilly Lace. He followed with "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Big Bopper's Wedding," which were also hits but not of the same caliber as "Chantilly Lace”. While singing it, he used to make quite a show, wearing checkered jackets and zoot suits and using a prop phone to call “Hello, baby / Yeah, this is the Big Bopper speakin' / Ha ha ha ha ha, oh you sweet thing / Do I what? / Will I what? /…”

 

On a more tragic note, few, if any, rock performers have had a larger impact on the history of country music than J.P. Richardson. Although his own big achievement in the genre consists of just one single and most of his recordings were classified as novelty songs that did not have lasting popularity, two of his songs for others became Nº1. In 1959 his song "Running Bear" became a Number 1 hit for fellow Texan Johnny Preston and "White Lightning" became the first Number 1 hit for George Jones. Containing a slight rockabilly feel, the track remains one of Jones' best, helped him to launch to the country charts and enabled him to take 13 other songs to the top in the '80s.

 

 

 

 

Apart of his hit “Chantilly Lace” he is best known for dying in a plane crash with Ritchie Valens and Buddy Holly. Just as The Big Bopper was beginning to break the hearts of thousands of bobbysocks wearing teenage girls across the U.S., tragedy struck. The Big Bopper died right as he was hitting the big time. The happy-go-lucky Texas deejay in a leopard-skin jacket would sell a million records but never see a dime from his greatest hit, "Chantilly Lace."

 

Jape often said that he wanted to stay in the business just long enough to earn money to buy his own radio station. He didn't like being away from his family and didn't care much for the egos that most stars displayed. When he was invited to join for a “Winter Dance Party” tour across twenty-four Midwestern cities it sounded like a good idea at the time for just such money making. This package tour, with other stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Dion & The Belmonts and Frankie Sardo, was to play various remote locations in the mid-west. The singers had never met before they embarked on the Winter Dance Party tour. The Bopper and Valens would earn a princely wage of up to $800 a week for the three-week bus tour across the upper Midwest.

 

However, the tour was plagued by misfortune after misfortune; it was one of the harshest winters on record for the area and the bus continually froze up. Jape caught the flu in these frigid conditions and became aware that Buddy Holly was chartering a plane for his band after the Clear Lake Iowa show. With the flu, another night on a bus without a working heater did not look promising for J.P. He convinced Waylon Jennings, Buddy's then bass player, to give up his seat to so that he could get some much-needed rest before the next show, in exchange for his sllepin-bag.

 

The show at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa earlier that evening turned out to be the farewell performances of Richardson, better known as The Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens, and Buddy Holly. The plane mysteriously crashed only minutes after take-off, killing everyone on board. Bass player Waylon Jennings went on to achieve immortality as an outlaw, an innovator, and quite possibly the best country artist of his generation.

By the way, the death of Buddy Holly also helped to launch an until then unknown kid from Fargo, North Dakota, called Robert Thomas Velline best known as Bobby Vee, a Buddy Holly fan who just the week before formed a group.  When they were selected to replace the deceased star in the local dance, they decided to call themselves “The Shadows” because they hadn’t even a name. Take note that it’s not the same British instrumental group currently known as “The Shadows” which originally was created to by Cliff Richards.

 

In 1971, Don McLean commemorated the event with his song American Pie and it has been known as The Day the Music Died ever since. We will never know what might have become of The Big Bopper or what musical memories he may have created, but we will always have “Chantilly Lace” and that will have to be enough.

 

February 3, 1959 is known as The Day the Music Died for good reason. At that time, Elvis was in the Army, Little Richard was temporarily retired, Chuck Berry was behind bars, Jerry Lee Lewis was, for all intents and purposes, blacklisted. As for Bill Haley, well, he was 33 years old that year when rock music was still strictly for the youth market. Eddie Cochran died a year later in a car crash. Ricky Nelson, Del Shannon, Roy Orbison, and Dion DiMucci provided bright spots throughout the early '60s. Yet, for many, the crash that killed the three entertainers, who singer-songwriter Don McLean would later refer to as "The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost" in his stunning classic "American Pie", also killed the initial period of rock and roll. Buddy Holly is remembered as one of the best and most influential of all the early rock performers, third only to Elvis and Chuck Berry (and possibly Jerry Lee). And rightfully so. 17 years old Ritchie Valens’ recording is still influencing bands to this day. The Big Bopper is remembered, if at all, as the creator and performer of this novelty tune called Chantilly Lace, a master of the novelty song, personifying more than anybody does, the fun spirit of early rock, some good reasons to be taken seriously as an artist.

 

In addition to his songwriting talents, “The Big Bopper” was a visionary in another area of rock 'n roll, the music video. There have been many claims on who made the first music video, with groups such as The Beatles, Who and The Kinks often cited as examples. Some have claimed that Ricky Nelson made the first music video in 1961. However, three years earlier in 1958, the Big Bopper actually recorded three music videos for his songs: "Chantilly Lace", "Big Bopper's Wedding" and "Little Red Riding Hood" (all 3 videos were recorded the same day). Plus, he also coined the term "rock video" in a printed interview in 1959. According to Bill Griggs, editor of the "Rockin' 50s" music magazine, the Big Bopper was convinced that video was the wave of the future and, at the time of his death, he was preparing to start production on music videos for TV and a specially designed jukebox which would play videos.

 

Strangely in 2007, after almost 48 years, The Big Bopper became news again. There have been rumors a gun might have been fired on board the plane and that the Big Bopper might have survived the crash and died trying to get help. Meanwhile The State Of Texas Historical Sign recently awarded to the Bopper and a bronze statue would soon be erected at his grave. But the cemetery, Forest Lawn, does not allow anything above ground (grave markers, signs, statues, etc.) at that specific site so they asked the performer’s son, Jay Richardson, if they could move the bodies of J.P. and Teetsie Richardson, his wife, to another part of the cemetery that would be better suited and make better availability for anyone that visited. It would be at the cemetery’s expense. Jay agreed.

The performer’s son, Jay Richardson, thought it was timely to verify those rumors of foul play on the airplane and hired Dr. Bill Bass, a well-known forensic anthropologist at the University of Tennessee, to look at the remains in Beaumont, Texas. Bass took X-rays of the body and found nothing to support theories about a gun.

 

“There was no indication of foul play,” Bass said in a telephone interview from Beaumont. “There are fractures from head to toe. Massive fractures. ... He died immediately. He didn’t crawl away. He didn’t walk away from the plane.”

By the way, Jay Richardson, who called himself “The Big Bopper Jr.,” making presentation on tribute shows, didn’t know his father. His mother was pregnant with him when his father died.

 

The Civil Aeronautics Board determined pilot error was the cause of the crash. A gun that belonged to Holly was found at the crash site, fueling rumors that the pilot was shot, but no one has ever proved a gun was fired during the flight.

 

The exhumation began about 7:00 a.m. (The remains of Teetsie Richardson had already been moved to the new site.) Two feet of water had been found at the bottom of the disinterment site and Dr. Bass stated that they might find nothing but ashes and/or mud if that water had found its way into the casket.

 

When the vault enclosing the casket had finally been raised, it was taken to a special area at the cemetery to be washed off. There was a waterline on the vault as the water table in that area was fairly high.

The vault was unlocked at both ends and it cracked open fairly easily, again worrying those present that water had penetrated the remains.

 

The casket was then lifted out using a crane-lift on a piece of machinery. It was then brought into the place where the examination was to take place. The casket color was a dark yellow. In the 1959 photo of it at the funeral home, it seemed to be a bit darker. Because of the shape and ornamentation, it was indeed the correct casket, made by the Batesville Casket Company.

 

Jay Richardson had hired a film crew for a medical documentary.  Another in the room was John Neil who had known J.P. Richardson since childhood. He watched everything until the time came to open the casket and he left. Aside from cemetery personnel, about ten other people were present. They were warned by the cemetery representative about what they might see, that there would be an odor, and that the place would be sealed with no one allowed in except who were there. Further, if anyone decided to leave for whatever reason, he would not be allowed back in. With that warning, the casket was unlocked and the lid raised.

 

There were gasps as they saw what was inside. It was J.P. Richardson. The body had been preserved extremely well and was very recognizable. The head seemed a bit smaller than expected because of loss of fluids, and the skin was a blueish green color. But the hair was very dark brown, almost black with the familiar crewcut. It was indeed, J.P. Richardson.

 

The skull showed a small crushed spot on the right side of the head, assuming that some "work" had been done at the Iowa funeral home to keep the body looking as best as possible. The upper lip still showed a bit of the "makeup" used when preparing a body.

 

J.P. had been buried in a dark suit that was still completely intact and there was no evidence of a leopard-skin coat in the casket. This was one of the questions: was he buried in the coat, or with the coat. The answer is no. He wore no shoes, just socks, and the feet were swollen.

 

It was obvious that two things took place to keep the body in that state of preservation. The funeral home did an excellent job of embalming, and the casket did an excellent job of keeping the body free from outside contamination such as air or water etc.

 

Two medical technicians were present (part of the nine people there) and they began taking a series of X-rays of the body. Which showed that the damage to the body was extensive. Dr. Bass, in his AP report stated there were "massive fractures". It seemed that every bone had been fractured at least once. The skull contained three large fractures. The right thigh bone was completely separated at the biggest break.

 

After a brief synopsis of the crash facts, Dr. Bass also concluded that the three bodies were ejected from the plane at the moment of impact and tumbled along at that high speed to the place where they rested and were found.

After his examination, Dr. Bass looked at Jay and said, "There was no foul play. He did not crawl from the plane. He died of massive fractures." He went on to say that no one could have survived the crash if they had the same damage as that of J.P. They all died instantly.

 

The body was then placed in the new casket, provided by the Batesville Casket Company, and put in the hearse. A small funeral procession went to the new resting place in the cemetery where it was laid to rest for the second time.

And Jay, the son of the Big Bopper, was able to finally see his famous father for the first time in his life, and then be able to say goodbye. He said he was pleased with the findings because it proved the investigators “knew what they were talking about 48 years ago.”

 

“I was hoping to put the rumors to rest,” he said “Dad still amazes me 48 years after his death, that he was in remarkable shape. “I surprised myself. I handled it better than I thought I would.”

 

By the way, Dr Bass, then 78, was a pioneer in his field and has worked on famous cases. He confirmed the identity of the Lindbergh baby, who was kidnapped in 1932 and murdered.

 

 

 

The Big Bopper was reburied in a sleek new casket donated by the Batesville Casket Co., which made the original and the old casket has been on public display at the Texas Musicians Museum in Hillsboro, Texas. Tom Kreason, the museum's founder and a rock historian who has developed collections for the legendary Sun Records Museum in Memphis and the Hard Rock Cafe, admits the casket is macabre but says it is a "priceless" artifact of a historic moment in music. “This casket is very symbolic of how we lost three incredible artists, but it's also a statement about what we've lost with many other artists, too."

 

In the past years, hundreds of visitors have seen the Big Bopper's casket at Kreason's museum, where it's displayed much as it appeared in a 1959 funeral home photo, along with a reproduction of a guitar-shaped wreath sent by Elvis Presley. Nobody has complained about the grim exhibit.

 

As a really macabre detail, in 2009 there were some rumors that Kreason and the son of J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson was considering selling his father's casket. They approached some auction houses about selling the casket, but "they all seemed confused," so they decided to reach for a wider audience on eBay, an Internet site without borders. According to Kreason, The Texas Musicians Museum would receive an undisclosed share of the sale, he said.

 

How much could a used celebrity casket bring on the open market? A handful of memorabilia dealers shied away from guessing, largely because a used celebrity casket has never been offered for sale and morbid curiosity could quickly decompose into open protest.

 

According to The Des Moines Register Jay Richardson was quoted as stating that he wanted to knock down the eBay story, "I was talking to a reporter and said I wanted to sell the casket and why, and kicked around some ideas, and he said something about putting it on eBay and I said, hey, maybe. Next thing, the world is reporting I'm selling my dad's casket on eBay. I didn't know eBay was the magic word. Everybody's in an uproar. The bloggers went nuts."

 

Ron Franscell, former managing editor of The Beaumont Enterprise said he sticks by his report: "The story was accurate," Franscell wrote. "In several conversations with Jay Richardson and Tom Kreason, there was no doubt whatsoever about their intentions to sell the Big Bopper's casket on eBay. Kreason had even expected it to be posted this week. The published story sparked a lot of uncomfortable, sometimes ugly reaction and it appears to me Jay didn't want to take the heat. It's easier to blame bad reporting than to take responsibility for personal choices.

 

Both Kreason and Richardson expected some protests when it hits eBay. "Certainly there'll be some distaste, but I think this is a piece of history that is very special," Kreason said. "Even if it doesn't sell, we've made a point about the historical value of J.P. Richardson. No matter what happens, he wins, historically."

 

Finally, the casket was not sold and currently is on exhibit currently in The Texas Musicians Museum in Irving, TX together with some other surprising and moving display from J.P. Richardson. There are photos of Richardson in Beaumont participating in a ridiculous radio promotional stunt involving a boat racing a car. It sure looked like fun, like something straight out of Grease. There is handwritten music for his first big hit, “Chantilly Lace,” along with music for other songs that were actually with Richardson in a suitcase at the time of his death.

 

This exhibit also showcases how far ahead Richardson was thinking by displaying two of the earliest examples of music videos on a television set from the '50s. “His idea was that there would be a disc you could put not only the music on, but also the videos,” Kreason said. “He was a visionary.” The video for “Chantilly Lace” may seem a little corny, but it was more or less without precedent. Richardson’s video for “Big Bopper’s Wedding” starts out with a delightfully creepy sense of humor, beginning with the star exchanging vows with what is revealed to be a mannequin when the camera pans out.

 

By 2007 the Bopper's songs earned up to an estimated $100,000 for his heirs, who at that time still haven't settled how the money should be divided. I could not find more documentation about the issue. The Bopper never made much money for himself on his music. When he died, his estate was valued at $11,111.50 (about $90,000 in 2017 dollars) but $10,000 was unpaid royalties on Chantilly Lace.

 

"Big Bopper Jr" Jay Richardson died in 2013, aged 54.

 

[EnglishLionheart]

https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1705

[luisam]

21 hours ago, EnglishLionheart said:

https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1705

 

Interesting link; so family tree is quite dead: parents, siblings and children. I presume there are some grandchilden and/or nephews around.  Still couldn't find  any info about what happened with his royalties after 2007.