The Jan. 20 death of 72-year-old rhythm-and-blues legend Etta James, just three days after the death of her mentor, bandleader Johnny Otis, is a sad reminder that the early pioneers of rock-n-roll are a dying breed.

Of those who helped define rock’s earliest years, only a handful of stars remain, such as Chuck Berry, Pat Boone, Fats Domino, Don and Phil Everly, Jerry Lee Lewis and “Little Richard” Penniman.

The first to go — on Feb. 3, 1959, 53 years ago today — were Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the “Big Bopper,” J.P. Richardson, who died in a plane crash after their performance at the Winter Dance Party show at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa.

Back then, the “cool rockin’ daddies” and “teen queens” who entertained teenage America did so with their passion and voices, not by flashing their private parts. Sure they were rebels in their time. But music in the 1950s was a tough, uncompromising and somewhat shady business. Pretenders might get lucky once in a while, but they didn’t last. Today’s highly scripted sound-alike performers couldn’t have cut it.

While the list of departed pioneers is long and growing — the great, near-great, one-hit wonders, and those, like Esquerita and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, who helped push the envelope for those who followed — the death of Holly, Richardson and Valens, immortalized as “the day the music died” by Don McLean in his 1971 hit single, “American Pie,” was a defining moment for many older baby boomers.

I was 13 at the time and can remember sitting in stunned silence when the news broke. Even Arnie “Woo Woo” Ginsburg, the freewheeling Boston deejay whose show on WMEX was sponsored by Adventure Car Hop, was subdued.

In 1959, most teenagers had never been in an airplane. Dying in a plane crash seemed unbelievable.

This was the postwar generation’s first real tragedy. Younger boomers wouldn’t feel such loss until November 1963, when Lee Harvey Oswald gunned down JFK. We older boomers, who took our rock-n-roll straight up, without the drugs that followed, got our kick in the butt early.

The Surf Ballroom, which still operates today (www.surf- ballroom.com), is one of America’s iconic dance halls, with a dark lofted ceiling, hand-painted murals and a 6,300-square-foot dance floor surrounded on two sides by tiers of booths.

I last visited the Surf more than a decade ago for the 40th anniversary Winter Dance Party tribute show. The lineup that weekend included Holly’s original band, the Crickets; the Roses, who often sang backup for Holly; the Fireballs, whose music is dubbed over Holly’s voice on several songs released after his death; Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon, who first appeared at the Surf in April ’59; Chris Montez, whose career was inspired by Valens; J. P. Richardson Jr., just 3 months old when his father died; and Bobby Vee, a then 15-year-old who was asked to substitute for Holly on the Winter Dance Party’s next tour stop in Fargo, N.D.

The tradition continued with this year’s Dance Party on Thursday. It featured Tommy Allsup, the Bobettes, Pat Boone, Danny & the Juniors, the Flamingos, Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys, and Jason D. Williams, among others.

Holly was born Charles Hardin Holley in Lubbock, Texas, in 1936. In the pre-Beatles era of rock-n-roll, he was one of just three white boys who really, really mattered, and the only one who didn’t live long enough to cash in on it.

Elvis, of course, went on to superstardom, and had the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s pop chart for 50 weeks in 1958 and ’59. Roy Orbison, the Caruso of rock-n-roll, had two No. 1 hits. Holly had just one song reach the top, “That’ll Be the Day,” which peaked at No. 1 for a single week in September 1957. Yet, even to this day, Holly is considered one of the most influential figures in rock history.

Some 53 years after his death, Buddy Holly still is with us. The many twists and turns rock-n-roll has taken since his death haven’t dimmed his star even a little.

Don McLean was only half right: Buddy Holly died in February 1959, but his music lives on.

Herb B. Berkowitz, a veteran public relations executive and lifelong Buddy Holly fan, lives in Wilmington, N.C.