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Buddy Holly guitarist who lost coin toss to travel on doomed plane dies aged 85

Buddy Holly was killed in a plane crash in 1959
Buddy Holly was killed in a plane crash in 1959 Buddy Holly was killed in a plane crash in 1959

TOMMY  Allsup, the guitarist best known for losing a coin toss that kept him off the plane that crashed and killed rock 'n' roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and JP "Big Bopper" Richardson, has died at 85.

Singer and musician Austin Allsup said his father died on Wednesday at a hospital in Springfield, Missouri, due to complications from a hernia operation.

Tommy Allsup was part of Holly's band when the Lubbock, Texas, singer died in the 1959 plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.

Allsup flipped a coin to see if he or Valens would get a seat on the plane, and lost.

Austin Allsup said his father took losing the coin toss as a blessing and "knew that he was very lucky to be here".

Funeral services are expected to be held next week and Allsup will be buried in Oklahoma, near his home town of Owasso.