I can still remember my shock & disbelief when I read about this on the front page of the newspaper. Buddy Holly was one of my heroes. He was more famous in Britain than at home in those days.

Many no doubt know the story, but it's kind of eerie... Waylons and Jessup, miserable in the cold bus that night, would later discover they'd had it much better than the three who took that fateful flight. Legend has it that there was a coin-toss involved in deciding who would get to fly; probably not true, but it was just a matter of chance, for sure.
This is lifted from here:

http://www.history-of-rock.com/ritchie_valens.htm

'On February 2, 1959, the "Winter Dance Party" arrived in Clear Lake Iowa, to play a dance at the Surf Ball Room. the heater on the converted bus that he had been traveling on hadn't been working properly for days while the outside temperatures were near zero. On the way to Clear Lake the bus broke down completely. Buddy Holly who was unhappy with the traveling accommodations arranged to fly to the next stop in a leased airplane. He leased a four-seat Beechcraft Bonanza for himself and the band members, Waylon Jennings and Tommy Allsup. The Big Bopper and Valens talked Jennings and Allsup out of their seats. After the show Holly, Richardson and Valens went to the airport and took off shortly after midnight for Fargo, North Dakota. The plane took off and shortly there after crashed into a pasture a mile from the airport. All aboard were killed. '

Here's a link to the official CAB report on the crash:

http://www.fiftiesweb.com/cab.htm

There are some puzzling facts about the instruments, but the bottom line was: bad wx and a pilot not qualified for flight into IMC. Factor in a thoroughbred like a Bonanza, with a full load... 

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Good point, and comforting. I never did like Don McLean, or that damn song...