'Hello Baby!': 'Chantilly Lace' by The Big Bopper
- edgarstreetbooks
- Jul 30
- 2 min read
‘100 Greatest 50s Rock, Pop & Doo Wop Songs’ Book Excerpt
Frank Mastropolo
J.P. Richardson began working at Beaumont, TX radio station KTRM in 1949. The disc jockey hosted a sock hop, where he saw college kids doing a dance called the Bop. It inspired Richardson to adopt the name The Big Bopper.
Richardson, a musician and songwriter, aspired to become a performer to earn enough money to buy his own radio station. Mercury Records gave him an opportunity, and after an initial failure, Richardson wrote and recorded “Chantilly Lace,” a №6 hit in 1958 noted for its stretched-out introduction: “Hello Baby!”
Richardson followed “Chantilly Lace” with several other hits that included “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Big Bopper’s Wedding.” Richardson wrote №1 hits for George Jones and Johnny Preston and was a member of the tragic Winter Dance Party Tour with Buddy Holly and Richie Valens in 1959.
Richardson was a pioneer and visionary in the music industry. Richardson foresaw the importance of music videos. He reportedly was the first person to use the term “music video” in a 1959 interview.
In 1958, Richardson made videos for “Chantilly Lace,” “Big Bopper’s Wedding,” and “Little Red Riding Hood.” He planned to produce music videos for television and manufacture jukeboxes that played videos instead of records.
On the night of February 3, 1959, Buddy Holly charted a plane to fly a few of the tour members to Fargo, ND. Waylon Jennings offered his seat to Richardson, who was suffering from the flu.
The plane took off in a blizzard and crashed, killing Holly, Richardson, and Valens. Don McLean immortalized the event as The Day the Music Died in his song “American Pie.”
Frank Mastropolo is the author of 100 Greatest 50s Rock, Pop & Doo Wop Songs, part of the Greatest Performances series. For more on our latest projects, visit Edgar Street Books.
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