Tommy Allsup, Former Buddy Holly Guitarist, Dies At Age 85 | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-05.05.25

Airborne-NextGen-05.06.25

AirborneUnlimited-05.07.25

Airborne-Unlimited-05.01.25

AirborneUnlimited-05.02.25

Tue, Jan 17, 2017

Tommy Allsup, Former Buddy Holly Guitarist, Dies At Age 85

Coin Toss Kept Him Off The Airplane That Went Down On 'The Day The Music Died'

By losing a coin toss, Tommy Allsup had a long life.

The former guitarist for Buddy Holly passed away last week at a hospital in Springfield, MO due to complications from a hernia operation. He was 85.

Allsup famously lost a coin toss on Feb. 3, 1959, and was not aboard an airplane that went down near Clear Lake, IA with Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens on board. All three were fatally injured in the accident, which was memorialized by singer Don Mclean in his song "American Pie" as "the day the music died."

The Akron Beacon-Journal reports that Allsup's son Austin, also a singer and musician, said that his father had always looked at losing that coin toss backstage after a concert as a blessing. He said his dad had talked about it often, saying he was very lucky to be here.

Country music star Waylon Jennings was also in Holly's band at the time, but was not on the plane.

(Image from file)

FMI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Music_Died

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (05.06.25)

Aero Linx: International Federation of Airworthiness (IFA) We aim to be the most internationally respected independent authority on the subject of Airworthiness. IFA uniquely combi>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (05.06.25): Ultrahigh Frequency (UHF)

Ultrahigh Frequency (UHF) The frequency band between 300 and 3,000 MHz. The bank of radio frequencies used for military air/ground voice communications. In some instances this may >[...]

ANN FAQ: Q&A 101

A Few Questions AND Answers To Help You Get MORE Out of ANN! 1) I forgot my password. How do I find it? 1) Easy... click here and give us your e-mail address--we'll send it to you >[...]

Classic Aero-TV: Virtual Reality Painting--PPG Leverages Technology for Training

From 2019 (YouTube Edition): Learning To Paint Without Getting Any On Your Hands PPG's Aerospace Coatings Academy is a tool designed to teach everything one needs to know about all>[...]

Airborne 05.02.25: Joby Crewed Milestone, Diamond Club, Canadian Pilot Insurance

Also: Sustainable Aircraft Test Put Aside, More Falcon 9 Ops, Wyoming ANG Rescue, Oreo Cookie Into Orbit Joby Aviation has reason to celebrate, recently completing its first full t>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC