THE BIG BOPPER

THE BIG BOPPER, es uno de los artistas que figuran  en el libro recientemente aparecido en el mercado en donde el escritor  MANUEL LÓPEZ POY  con el título de :  ROCKABILLY , Historia, Cultura , artistas y álbumes  hace un amplio repaso a los intérpretes más destacados del  género. 

El próximo 16 de Octubre a las 21.00 horas en el Centre Cultural COLLBLANC TORRASSA de L´HOSPITALET DE LLOBREGAT el escritor efectuará la presentación del mismo , que además contará con la actuación de MARIO COBO TRIO : 

Jiles  P. Richardson nació en Sabine Pass, Texas, primogénito de un trabajador de una estación de petróleo en el campo,  Jiles Perry Richardson, Sr. y su esposa Elise (Stalsby) Richardson. Richardson tenía dos hermanos menores, Cecil y James. La familia pronto se trasladó a Beaumont, Texas. Richardson se graduó de Beaumont High School en 1947 y jugó en el equipo de fútbol  estudió más tarde en Lamar College, y empezó su carrera musical formando parte de la banda y el coro. Su apodo se lo puso él mismo al tomarlo de un baile por aquellos entonces de moda entre la clase estudiantil que se denominaba THE BOP . Se decantó por el Rock' n 'Roll y el Rockabilly más que por el Boogie-Woogie, aunque dejó algunas piezas grabadas de este género tan intimamente ligado a los dos anteriores

El 3 de febrero de 1959, Richardson murió en un accidente aéreo en Clear Lake, Iowa, junto con estrellas de la música  Buddy Holly y Ritchie Valens, y el piloto Roger Peterson. Ese evento se ha conocido como "El día que la música murió" así fué como bautizó en 1971 la estrofa alegórica al fatal accidente   Don McLean  con "American Pie".

Jiles Perry "J. P." Richardson, Jr. (October 24, 1930 – February 3, 1959), commonly known as The Big Bopper, was an American musician, songwriter, and disc jockey, whose big rockabilly look, style, voice, and exuberant personality made him an early rock and roll star. He is best known for his 1958 recording of "Chantilly Lace".

On February 3, 1959, Richardson died in a plane crash in Clear Lake, Iowa, along with music stars Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, and pilot Roger Peterson. That event has become known as "The Day the Music Died" because it is so called in Don McLean's 1971 song "American Pie".

J. P. Richardson was born in Sabine Pass, Texas, the oldest son of oil-field worker Jiles Perry Richardson, Sr. and his wife Elise (Stalsby) Richardson. Richardson had two younger brothers, Cecil and James. The family soon moved to Beaumont, Texas. Richardson graduated from Beaumont High School in 1947 and played on the "Royal Purple" football team as a defensive lineman, wearing number 85. Richardson later studied prelaw at Lamar College, and was a member of the band and chorus.

Richardson 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-year 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 station's 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 to 6:00 pm. Richardson soon became the station's 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.

Richardson is credited for creating the first music video in 1958, and recorded an early example himself.

Richardson, who played guitar, began his musical career as a songwriter. George Jones later recorded Richardson's "White Lightning", which became Jones' first #1 country hit in 1959 (#73 on the pop charts). Richardson also wrote "Running Bear" for Johnny Preston, his friend from Port Arthur, Texas. The inspiration for the song came from Richardson's childhood memory of the Sabine River, where he heard stories about Indian tribes. Richardson sang background on "Running Bear", but the recording was not released until August 1959, seven months after his death. The song become a #1 hit for three weeks in January, 1960.

The man who launched Richardson as a recording artist was Harold "Pappy" Daily from Houston. Daily was promotion director for Mercury and Starday Records and signed Richardson to Mercury. Richardson's first single, "Beggar To A King", had a country flavor, but failed to gain any chart action. He soon cut "Chantilly Lace" as "The Big Bopper" for Pappy Daily's D label. Mercury bought the recording and released it in the summer of 1958. It reached #6 on the pop charts and spent 22 weeks in the national Top 40. It also inspired an answer record by Jayne Mansfield titled "That Makes It". In "Chantilly Lace", Richardson pretends to have a flirting phone conversation with his girlfriend; the Mansfield record suggests what his girlfriend might have been saying at the other end of the line. Later that year, he scored a second hit, a raucous novelty tune entitled "The Big Bopper's Wedding", in which Richardson pretends to be getting cold feet at the altar.