This isn’t our usual fare. But with the death of singer Jenni Rivera in a small private plane in Mexico, it reminds me again how common these of musical acts in small planes seem to be. It’s almost like a recording industry cliche, though certainly I don’t mean that to diminish the personal tragedy involved.
I also get that it’s very difficult to get a real sense of ‘commonness’ with high profile events spanning periods of many decades.
But just off the top of my head:
Buddy Holly
Richie Valens
‘The Big Bopper’
Otis Redding
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Ricky Nelson
John Denver
Patsy Cline
Jim Croce
Aaliyah
Half of Lynyrd Skynyrd
There are others. This list is probably biased toward my personal musical tastes. And yes, again, I get that it’s over a half century and only about a dozen people. But it still seems to happen with a decent frequency. Most, I assume, has to do with touring with small and unreliable planes and pilots, rushing for schedules and ignoring bad weather. Lot of good music lost.
