One-hit wonder Jiles Perry Richardson

To the intense delight of those of us who were teenagers in the 1950s, out of nowhere came the deep intonations of someone called The Big Bopper, half saying, half singing, "Helllll-ooooooooh, baby......you know what I like!!" The song, which moved near the top of the charts in 1957, was Chantilly Lace, and it came complete with a pretty face, and a pony tail hangin' down, etc. The 240-pound Bopper was a DJ in Beaumont, Texas, who had decided to grab a piece of the rock and roll pie for himself.

Richardson's first success as a song writer had been with Running Bear, recorded by Johnny Preston, accompanied by the faux-Indian chanting of Richardson himself. Thus emboldened, he himself performed his next novelty song, which became his one big hit. More than likely he would have succeeded again with a new novelty number, but his life was cut short on February 2, 1959, in the plane crash that also killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and their pilot. Singer Waylon Jennings was scheduled to be on the plane, but The Bopper, who was not feeling well, took his place at the last minute. The crash was commemorated in the 1970s by Don McLean, who wrote and performed the song American Pie. Today, his son, billed as The Big Bopper Jr., carries on the family tradition via CD.