Jiles Perry "J.P." Richardson Jr. (October 24, 1930 – February 3, 1959), known as The Big Bopper, was an American singer, songwriter and disc jockey. His best-known compositions include "Chantilly Lace" and "White Lightning", the latter of which became George Jones' first number one hit in 1959. Richardson was killed in an airplane crash in Clear Lake, Iowa, in 1959, along with fellow musicians Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, and the pilot, Roger Peterson.[1] Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 Radio 2.2 Singer and songwriter 3 Personal life 4 Death 5 Compositions 5.1 Songwriting 6 Tributes 7 Book, film, and stage 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External links Early life J.P. Richardson was born in Sabine Pass, Texas, the oldest son of oil-field worker Jiles Perry Richardson (1905–1984) and his wife Elise (Stalsby) Richardson (1909–1983). They had two other sons, Cecil (1934–1989) and James (1932–2010). The family soon moved to Beaumont, Texas. Richardson graduated from Beaumont High School in 1947 and played on the "Royal Purple" American football team as a defensive lineman, wearing number 85.[2] Richardson later was a radio disc jockey while at Lamar College,[3] where he studied prelaw and was a member of the band and chorus. Career Radio 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. Richardson returned to KTRM radio following his discharge as a corporal in March 1957, where he held down the "Dishwashers' Serenade" shift from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Monday to Friday. One of the station's sponsors wanted Richardson for a new time slot, and suggested an idea for a show. Richardson had seen 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 p.m., and he soon became the station's program director. In May 1957 he broke the record for continuous on-air broadcasting by 8 minutes. He performed for a total of five days, two hours, and eight minutes from a remote setup in the lobby of the Jefferson Theatre in downtown Beaumont, playing 1,821 records[4] and taking showers during 5-minute newscasts.[3] Richardson is credited for creating the first music video in 1958, and recorded an early example himself.[4] Singer and songwriter Richardson, who played guitar, began his musical career as a songwriter. George Jones later recorded Richardson's "White Lightning", which became Jones's first No. 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. Preston's recording was not released until August 1959, six months after Richardson's death. The song became a No. 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.