24 October: Big Bopper

Born on this date in 1930 was Big Bopper, famous for the song Chantilly Lace and for being one of the artists who died in the plane crash with Buddy Holly. 10 things you might not know about him:

1. His real name was Jiles Perry Richardson Jr.
2. His father was an oil-field worker, and he had two brothers, Cecil and James.
3. Big Bopper started his career as a DJ, beginning while he was at college studying pre-law. He became the regular presenter of the 3pm – 6pm show and it was then that he gave himself the name of Big Bopper. The name came from a dance, The Bop, which was popular with students at the time, and his own burly frame.
4. He was a record breaker. As a DJ he performed for a total of five days, two hours, and eight minutes in a theatre lobby in Beaumont, breaking the previous record by 8 minutes. He played 1,821 records in that time, and would sneak off for showers during the news.
5. He was a pioneer of the music video, creating the first one in 1958. It was the Big Bopper who coined the term "rock video" and believed that videos were the future. At the time of his death, he was preparing to start production on music videos for TV and a jukebox that would play videos.
6. Due to his untimely death, he was a one hit wonder, with Chantilly Lace. The song was originally called That's What I Like, and was the B-side. It proved to be more popular than the A side, becoming one of the most played songs of 1958. In the song, Big Bopper pretends to have a phone conversation with his girlfriend and introduces himself after the line, "Hello Baaaaby!" which was hailed as a great marketing ploy as people wouldn't forget who the artist was. Chantilly Lace was the last song performed at the Clear Lake, Iowa concert on the night Holly, Valens and Big Bopper died.
7. Jayne Mansfield recorded a song which was the other side of the phone conversation, called That Makes It. There was also a sequel by Big Bopper called The Big Bopper's Wedding, in which he gets cold feet just before his wedding.
8. Big Bopper also wrote songs for other people, the best known being White Lightning, which was the first number one single for George Jones, and Running Bear by Johnny Preston, a tale of two Native Americans and their forbidden love. If you've heard the song, you may recall there is Indian chanting in the background, which was provided by Big Bopper himself.
9. Richardson married Adrianne Joy Fryou on April 18, 1952. They had two children, Debra, and Jay Perry Richardson, who was born two months after his father's death. Jay followed in his father's musical footsteps as "The Big Bopper Jr."
10. He wasn't meant to be on board the plane the night of the crash, but Waylon Jennings, Buddy Holly's guitarist, gave up his seat because the Big Bopper was suffering from the flu.

My Books:

If you like stories about:

• Superheroes
• Psychic detectives
• Romance
• Alternative dimensions
• Time travel 
• Secrets
• Friendship
• Family relationships
• Ghosts
• Adventure
• Crime

If you want to read about superheroes who aren't the usual Marvel/DC staples, who don't all live in the USA.

If you like quirky tales.

If you like to support independent self published authors.

Check out my books page