Born Jiles Perry Richardson Jr., JP Richardson was known as The Big Bopper to his listeners on KTRM in Beaumont, Texas, where he worked as a disc jockey. Jape, as he preferred to be called, also wrote songs and his most famous was Chantilly Lace, which was the third most played song on radio stations in 1958. While on tour in the midwest the winter of 1959, The Big Bopper died in the same small plane crash that also killed Buddy Holly and Richie Valens.

The Big Bopper United States 1930.10.24 1959.02.03 Jiles Perry Richardson JP Richardson Jiles Jape