Its September 1, a new month and different things to look at in music history. The first installment is what did a person do before becoming famous. Thanks to Michael Gunn for this idea. Before Fame The Big Bopper, Jiles Perry J. P. Richardson, Jr., was one of the Fifties rock and roll stars. He was born in Sabine Pass, Texas in 1930. He was known for his song Chantilly Lace which was released in 1958. On February 3, 1959 — a day that has become known as The Day the Music Died (because so called in Don McLeans 1971 song American Pie)— Richardson died in a plane crash in Iowa, along with Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and pilot Roger Peterson. In his early days after high school, Richardson studied pre-law at Lamar College and worked part-time at Beaumont, Texas, radio station KTRM (now KZZB). He was hired by the station full-time in 1949 and quit college. Richardson married Adrianne Joy Fryou on April 18, 1952 and their daughter Debra Joy was born in December 1953, soon after Richardson was promoted to Supervisor of Announcers at KTRM. In March 1955, he was drafted into the United States Army and did his basic training at Fort Ord, California. He spent the rest of his two-years service as a radar instructor at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. Following his discharge as a corporal in March 1957, Richardson returned to KTRM radio, where he held down the Dishwashers Serenade shift from 11 AM to 12:30 PM, Monday through Friday. One of the stations sponsors wanted Richardson for a new time slot and suggested an idea for a show. Richardson had seen the college students doing a dance called The Bop, and he decided to call himself The Big Bopper. His new radio show ran from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm Richardson soon became the stations program director. In May 1957, he broke the record for continuous on-air broadcasting by 8 minutes. From a remote setup in the lobby of the Jefferson Theatre in downtown Beaumont, Richardson performed for a total of five days, two hours, and eight minutes, playing 1,821 records and taking showers during 5-minute newscasts. youtu.be/4b-by5e4saI
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 12:12:28 +0000
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