Born Jiles Perry Richardson Jr. on October 24, 1930, in Sabine Pass, Texas, The Big Bopper built a following as a Beaumont radio DJ before turning performer, once setting a record by spinning 1,821 songs over five straight days from a storefront window. His 1958 single "Chantilly Lace," a comic, flirtatious phone call set to music, sold over a million copies and made him a star, while his songwriting quietly produced "White Lightning," a number one country hit for George Jones, and "Running Bear" for his friend Johnny Preston. On February 2, 1959, sick with the flu and tired of the tour bus, he traded seats with Waylon Jennings for a spot on Buddy Holly's chartered plane. The Beechcraft Bonanza crashed outside Clear Lake, Iowa, early the next morning, killing Richardson, Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the pilot in what became known as the Day the Music Died.

Born William Perks on October 24, 1936, in Lewisham, south London, Bill Wyman auditioned on bass at a Chelsea pub in December 1962 and became the steady, unshakeable foundation of The Rolling Stones for three decades. As the band's oldest member, he built his sound on a homemade fretless bass fashioned from a modified Dallas Tuxedo, locking in a walking bass style that anchored the band's first nineteen studio albums, and he later claimed a hand in writing the riff for "Jumpin' Jack Flash." Wyman left the Stones in January 1993 after the Steel Wheels tour, becoming the only original member to voluntarily quit, and went on to form the blues rock outfit Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings. Away from music he became a serious photographer and metal detecting enthusiast, publishing a book on treasure hunting across the British Isles.

On October 24, 2017, Fats Domino died of natural causes at his home in Harvey, Louisiana, at age 89. Born in New Orleans, Domino co-wrote and recorded "The Fat Man" with producer Dave Bartholomew in 1949, a rolling piano, backbeat driven single that many historians point to as the first rock and roll record and the first to sell a million copies. He went on to rack up eleven Top 10 pop hits between 1955 and 1960, including "Ain't That a Shame" and his signature "Blueberry Hill," which alone moved over five million copies. Elvis Presley called him a huge influence, and John Lennon and Paul McCartney both covered his songs with the Beatles. During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Domino stayed in his flooded Ninth Ward home and was feared dead until a Coast Guard helicopter pulled him out. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's first class in 1986.