In Texas, thousands of people go to the skies on regular, safe, uncomplicated trips. However, they do occasionally crash. Numerous gifted musicians lost their lives in plane crashes far too soon in the music industry. Tragically, a number of musicians, including Aaliyah, Randy Rhodes, John Denver, and other Lynyrd Skynyrd members, passed away far too soon. That regrettably holds true for Texas, where musicians have not only perished IN Texas but have also been Texas-born musicians killed in plane crashes. Let’s examine the musicians who perished in a Texas plane disaster.
Keith Green, a contemporary Christian artist from Sheepshead Bay, New York, and eleven other passengers perished in the July 28, 1982, plane crash in Lindale, Texas. Just one mile from the airport, their Cessna 414 would be overweight and crash into trees. The songs “O Lord You’re Beautiful” and “There is a Redeemer” are the ones for which Keith is most known.
Tragically, Ricky Nelson and his keyboardist Andy Chapin would die while traveling to a concert on New Year’s Eve. Seven passengers tragically died when their DC-3 crashed and landed in a field outside of De Kalb, Texas. Only the two pilots survived.
In 1987, the posthumous induction of the teenage idol from Teaneck, New Jersey into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame took place.
In the realm of country music, Gentleman Jim, also known as Jim Reeves, is a well-known vocalist from Galloway, Texas. Jim and his manager/pianist were operating a Beechcraft 35-B33 Debonair in the vicinity of Brentwood, Tennessee, on July 31, 1964. While traveling to Nashville, their aircraft was caught in a brief but violent thunderstorm; they lost sight of the ground and crashed into it.
David Box, who was born in Sulpher Springs, Texas, tragically passed away at the age of just 21. On October 23, 1964, the rockabilly musician (and former vocalist of The Crickets) was involved in a plane catastrophe; all four occupants of the Cessna 172 perished when the aircraft crashed into the water as it approached Houston.
David never got to see his career really take off, but his music is still shared online.
Sadly, following a gig in East Troy, Wisconsin, Dallas blues legend Stevie Ray Vaughan would perish in a helicopter crash. All four of them were killed instantaneously on August 27, 1990, when his chopper crashed onto a 300-foot ski slope while flying through dense fog.
The Big Bopper from Sabine Pass, pilot Roger Peterson, Buddy Holly from Lubbock, Ritchie Valens from Los Angeles, and Buddy Holly from Clear Lake, Iowa, all passed away on February 3, 1959, a day that will go down in music history as one of the worst and saddest days ever. Even though there have been several airline crashes before and after, this one will always be remembered by history.
