Music's Broken Wings: Fifty Years of Aviation Accidents in the Music Industry [Paperback]

William P. Heitman (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 540 pages
• Publisher: Dreamflyer Pubns (March 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966015622
• ISBN-13: 978-0966015621
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,444,477 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wow! what a find!, February 4, 2004

By 

Ryan Sheeler - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Music's Broken Wings: Fifty Years of Aviation Accidents in the Music Industry (Paperback)

I happened on this book by happenstance when I was searching for other books. I've been into rock history and in particular the Buddy Holly crash. Having been to the Surf and also to the crash site memorial, I've seen, heard and read some of the first-hand information about this stuff.

Heitman's book fills a really unique niche in the canon of rock and pop music history. The book is large both in content and in actual size, and it is packed with all kinds of facts, reports, anecdotes and information not only about the Buddy Holly plane accident, but those of Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, Ricky Nelson, Lynryd Skynyrd, and others. This is the book you've been looking for. A book like this has been needed for a long time now.

As a postscript, this book dovetails very nicely with Larry Lehmer's research on the Winter Dance Party in his book "The Day The Music Died".

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unique history in an expert's eye, April 13, 2007

By 

Ron Franscell, Author of 'Sourtoe Cocktail Club' - See all my reviews

This review is from: Music's Broken Wings: Fifty Years of Aviation Accidents in the Music Industry (Paperback)

William Heitman's examination of airplane accidents between 1935 and 1985 isn't as much an elegy to the artistic loss America suffered in that 50-year period as much as it is a dispassionate exploration of causes. But rather than being prosaic and dry, it's fascinating to see these events through the eyes of an expert in crash forensics.

As Heitman says in his introduction, "While an air crash is always terribly tragic, there is also something strangely mesmerizing and captivating about this type of event." Yes, there is.

If you're both a fan of music history -- especially rock 'n' roll -- AND an aviation buff, this is an extraordinary reference book to put on your shelf. It contains a foreword by Jay rochardson, son of J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, who died in the 1959 crash that also killed Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens.

One note: Because the book covers only the 50 years since 1935, you won't find any music-oriented aviation tragedies after 1985, and there are some significant ones -- arguably more significant that Carlos Gardel (1935) or Jane Froman (1943). So don't expect to read about Stevie Ray Vaughan (1990), Bill Graham (1991), Aaliyeh (2001), Dean Paul Martin (1987) or John Denver (1997). Perhaps a future edition can include them.