Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer and songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s
rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in
Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock ( )
is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northw ...
, during the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, and learned to play guitar and sing alongside his siblings. Holly's style was influenced by
gospel music
Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is com ...
,
country music, and
rhythm and blues acts, which he performed in Lubbock with his friends from high school.
Holly made his first appearance on local television in 1952, and the following year he formed the group "Buddy and Bob" with his friend
Bob Montgomery. In 1955, after opening for
Elvis Presley, Holly decided to pursue a career in music. He opened for Presley three times that year; his band's style shifted from country and western to entirely rock and roll. In October that year, when Holly opened for
Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets were an American rock and roll band founded in 1947 that continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band was also known as Bill Haley and the Comets and Bill Haley's Comets. From late 1954 to late 1956, the group record ...
, he was spotted by
Nashville
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...
scout Eddie Crandall, who helped him get a contract with
Decca Records
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...
.
Holly's recording sessions at Decca were produced by
Owen Bradley
William Owen Bradley (October 21, 1915 – January 7, 1998) was an American musician and record producer who, along with Chet Atkins, Bob Ferguson, Bill Porter, and Don Law, was one of the chief architects of the 1950s and 1960s Nashville sou ...
, who had become famous for producing orchestrated country hits for stars like
Patsy Cline. Unhappy with Bradley's musical style and control in the studio, Holly went to producer
Norman Petty in
Clovis, New Mexico, and recorded a demo of "
That'll Be the Day", among other songs. Petty became the band's manager and sent the demo to
Brunswick Records, which released it as a single credited to
The Crickets, which became the name of Holly's band. In September 1957, as the band toured, "That'll Be the Day" topped the
US and
UK singles charts. Its success was followed in October by another major hit, "
Peggy Sue."
The album ''
The "Chirping" Crickets'', released in November 1957, reached number five on the
UK Albums Chart. Holly made his second appearance on ''
The Ed Sullivan Show'' in January 1958 and soon after toured Australia and then the UK. In early 1959, he assembled a new band, consisting of future country music star
Waylon Jennings (bass), famed session musician
Tommy Allsup
Thomas Douglas Allsup (November 24, 1931 – January 11, 2017) was an American rockabilly and swing musician.
Personal life
Allsup was born near Owasso, Oklahoma in 1931, and was an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. Allsup had a son, ...
(guitar), and
Carl Bunch
Carl H. Bunch (November 24, 1939 – March 26, 2011) was an American musician.
Carl Bunch was born in Big Spring, Texas and began playing drums as a teenager while recovering from extensive surgery on his right leg. By age seventeen, he was rec ...
(drums), and embarked on a tour of the midwestern US. After a show in
Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly chartered an airplane to travel to his next show in
Moorhead, Minnesota. Soon after takeoff, the plane crashed, killing Holly,
Ritchie Valens,
The Big Bopper, and pilot Roger Peterson in a tragedy later referred to by
Don McLean as "
The Day the Music Died" in his song "
American Pie."
During his short career, Holly wrote and recorded many songs. He is often regarded as the artist who defined the traditional rock-and-roll lineup of two guitars, bass, and drums. Holly was a major influence on later popular music artists, including
Bob Dylan,
The Beatles,
The Rolling Stones,
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...
,
The Hollies,
Elvis Costello
Declan Patrick MacManus Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in ...
,
Dave Edmunds
David William Edmunds (born 15 April 1944) is a Welsh singer-songwriter, guitarist and record producer. Although he is mainly associated with pub rock and new wave, having many hits in the 1970s and early 1980s, his natural leaning has alwa ...
,
Marshall Crenshaw, and
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...
. Holly was among the first artists inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...
, in 1986. ''
Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him number 13 in its list of "100 Greatest Artists" in 2010.
Life and career
Early life and career (1936–1955)
Holly was born as Charles Hardin Holley (spelled "-ey") in
Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock ( )
is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northw ...
, on September 7, 1936, the youngest of four children of Lawrence Odell "L.O." Holley (1901–85) and Ella Pauline Drake (1902–90). His elder siblings were Larry (1925–2022), Travis (1927–2016), and Patricia Lou (1929–2008). Holly was of mostly
English and Welsh descent and had small amounts of Native American ancestry as well. From early childhood, Holly was nicknamed "Buddy." During the Great Depression, the Holleys frequently moved residence within Lubbock; L.O. changed jobs several times. Buddy Holly was baptized a
Baptist, and the family were members of the Tabernacle Baptist Church.
The Holleys had an interest in music; all the family members except L.O. were able to play an instrument or sing. The elder Holley brothers performed in local talent shows; on one occasion, Buddy joined them on violin. Since he could not play it, his brother Larry greased the bow so it would not make any sound. The brothers won the contest. During World War II, Larry and Travis were called to military service. Upon his return, Larry brought with him a guitar he had bought from a shipmate while serving in the Pacific. At age 11, Buddy took piano lessons but abandoned them after nine months. He switched to the guitar after he saw a classmate playing and singing on the school bus. Buddy's parents initially bought him a
steel guitar
A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...
, but he insisted that he wanted a guitar like his brother's. His parents bought the guitar from a pawnshop, and Travis taught him to play it.
During his early childhood, Holly was influenced by the music of
Hank Williams
Hank Williams (born Hiram Williams; September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he reco ...
,
Jimmie Rodgers,
Moon Mullican,
Bill Monroe,
Hank Snow,
Bob Wills, and the
Carter Family. At Roscoe Wilson Elementary, Holly became friends with
Bob Montgomery, and the two played together, practicing with songs by
The Louvin Brothers and
Johnnie & Jack. They both listened to the radio programs ''
Grand Ole Opry
The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...
'' on
WSM, ''
Louisiana Hayride'' on
KWKH, and ''
Big D Jamboree''. At the same time, Holly played with other musicians he met in high school, including
Sonny Curtis and
Jerry Allison. In 1952 Holly and Jack Neal participated as a duo billed as "Buddy and Jack" in a talent contest on a local television show. After Neal left, he was replaced by Bob Montgomery, and they were billed as "Buddy and Bob." They soon started performing on the ''Sunday Party'' show on
KDAV
KDAV (1590 AM) is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Lubbock, Texas. The KDAV broadcast license was held by Monte and Gentry Todd Spearman through licensee High Plains Radio Network, LLC.
From August 18, 1998, to March ...
in 1953 and performed live gigs in Lubbock. At that time, Holly was influenced by late-night radio stations that played
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
and
rhythm and blues (R&B). He would sit in his car with Curtis and tune to distant radio stations that could only be received at night, when local transmissions ceased. Holly then modified his music by blending his earlier country and western (C&W) influence with R & B.
By 1955, after graduating from Lubbock High School, Holly decided to pursue a full-time career in music. He was further encouraged after seeing Elvis Presley perform live in Lubbock, whose act was booked by Pappy Dave Stone of KDAV. In February, Holly opened for Presley at the Fair Park Coliseum, in April at the Cotton Club, and again in June at the Coliseum. By that time, Holly had incorporated into his band Larry Welborn on the stand-up bass and Allison on drums, as his style shifted from country and western to
rock and roll due to seeing Presley's performances and hearing his music. In October, Stone booked Bill Haley & His Comets and placed Holley as the opening act to be seen by
Nashville
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...
scout Eddie Crandall. Impressed, Crandall persuaded
Grand Ole Opry
The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...
manager Jim Denny to seek a recording contract for Holley. Stone sent a demo tape, which Denny forwarded to
Paul Cohen, who signed the band to
Decca Records
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...
in February 1956. In the contract, Decca misspelled Holly's surname as "Holly", and from then on he was known as "Buddy Holly", instead of his real name "Holley."
On January 26, 1956, Holly attended his first formal recording session, which was produced by
Owen Bradley
William Owen Bradley (October 21, 1915 – January 7, 1998) was an American musician and record producer who, along with Chet Atkins, Bob Ferguson, Bill Porter, and Don Law, was one of the chief architects of the 1950s and 1960s Nashville sou ...
. He attended two more sessions in Nashville, but with the producer selecting the session musicians and arrangements, Holly became increasingly frustrated by his lack of creative control. In April 1956, Decca released "
Blue Days, Black Nights
''That'll Be The Day'' is the second and final studio album from Buddy Holly. Decca, Holly’s first major record label, after failing to produce a hit single from Holly’s early recordings, packaged these 1956 tunes after he had some success wit ...
" as a single, with "Love Me" on the B-side. Denny included Holly on a tour as the opening act for
Faron Young. During the tour, they were promoted as "Buddy Holly and the Two Tones", while later Decca called them "Buddy Holly and the Three Tunes." The label later released Holly's second single "Modern Don Juan", backed with "You Are My One Desire." Neither single made an impression. On January 22, 1957, Decca informed Holly his contract would not be renewed, but insisted he could not record the same songs for anyone else for five years.
The Crickets (1956–1957)
Holly was unhappy with the results of his time with Decca; Holly was inspired by the success of
Buddy Knox's "
Party Doll" and
Jimmy Bowen's "
I'm Stickin' with You", and visited
Norman Petty, who had produced and promoted both records. Together with Allison, bassist
Larry Welborn, and rhythm guitarist
Niki Sullivan, he went to Petty's studio in
Clovis, New Mexico. The group recorded a demo of "
That'll Be the Day", a song they had previously recorded in Nashville. Now playing lead guitar, Holly achieved the sound he desired. Petty became his manager and sent the record to
Brunswick Records in New York City. Holly, still under contract with Decca, could not release the record under his name, so a band name was used; Allison proposed the name "Crickets." Brunswick gave Holly a basic agreement to release "That'll Be the Day", leaving him with both artistic control and financial responsibility for future recordings.
Impressed with the demo, the label's executives released it without recording a new version. "I'm Looking for Someone to Love" was the B-side; the single was credited to
The Crickets. Petty and Holly later learned that Brunswick was a subsidiary of Decca, which legally cleared future recordings under the name Buddy Holly. Recordings credited to the Crickets would be released on Brunswick, while the recordings under Holly's name were released on another subsidiary label,
Coral Records. Holly concurrently held a recording contract with both labels.
"That'll Be the Day" was released on May 27, 1957. Petty booked Holly and the Crickets for a tour with
Irvin Feld, who had noticed the band after "That'll Be the Day" appeared on the R&B chart. He booked them for appearances in Washington, D.C.,
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was d ...
, and New York City. The band was booked to play at New York's
Apollo Theater
The Apollo Theater is a music hall at 253 West 125th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard (Seventh Avenue) and Frederick Douglass Boulevard (Eighth Avenue) in the Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. It is a not ...
on August 16–22. During the opening performances, the group did not impress the audience, but they were accepted after they included "
Bo Diddley." By the end of their run at the Apollo, "That'll Be the Day" was climbing the charts. Encouraged by the single's success, Petty started to prepare two album releases; a solo album for Holly and another for the Crickets. Holly appeared on ''
American Bandstand
''American Bandstand'', abbreviated ''AB'', is an American music-performance and dance television program that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989, and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as the pro ...
'', hosted by
Dick Clark on
ABC, on August 26. Before leaving New York, the band befriended
The Everly Brothers.
"That'll Be the Day" topped the
US "Best Sellers in Stores" chart on September 23 and was number one on the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in November. Three days prior, Coral released "
Peggy Sue", backed with "
Everyday", with Holly credited as the performer. By October, "Peggy Sue" had reached number three on ''Billboard''s pop chart and number two on the R&B chart; it peaked at number six on the UK Singles chart. As the success of the song grew, it brought more attention to Holly, with the band at the time being billed as "Buddy Holly and the Crickets" (although never on records during Holly's lifetime; the record labels identified the band as "Buddy Holly and the Crickets" beginning in 1962).
In the last week of September, the band members flew to Lubbock to visit their families. Holly's high school girlfriend, Echo McGuire, had left him for a fellow student. Aside from McGuire, Holly had a relationship with Lubbock fan June Clark. After Clark ended their relationship, Holly realized the importance of his relationship with McGuire and considered his relationship with Clark a temporary one. Meanwhile, for their return to recording, Petty arranged a session in
Oklahoma City, where he was performing with his own band. While the band drove to the location, the producer set up a makeshift studio. The rest of the songs needed for an album and singles were recorded; Petty later dubbed the material in Clovis. The resulting album, ''
The "Chirping" Crickets'', was released on November 27, 1957. It reached number five on the UK Albums Chart. In October, Brunswick released the second single by the Crickets, "
Oh, Boy!", with "
Not Fade Away" on the B-side. The single reached number 10 on the pop chart and 13 on the R&B chart. Holly and the Crickets performed "That'll Be the Day" and "Peggy Sue" on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' on December 1, 1957. Following the appearance, Niki Sullivan left the group because he was tired of the intensive touring, and he wanted to resume his education. On December 29, Holly and the Crickets performed "Peggy Sue" on ''
The Arthur Murray Party''.
International tours and split (1958)
On January 8, 1958, Holly and the Crickets joined ''America's Greatest Teenage Recording Stars'' tour. On January 25, Holly recorded "
Rave On"; the next day, he made his second appearance on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'', singing "Oh, Boy!" Holly departed to perform in
Honolulu, Hawaii, on January 27, and then started a week-long tour of Australia billed as the ''Big Show'' with
Paul Anka,
Jerry Lee Lewis and
Jodie Sands. In March, the band toured the United Kingdom, playing 50 shows in 25 days.
The same month, his debut solo album, ''
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer and songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texas ...
'', was released. Upon their return to the United States, Holly and the Crickets joined Alan Freed's ''Big Beat Show'' tour for 41 dates. In April, Decca released ''
That'll Be the Day'', featuring the songs recorded with Bradley during his early Nashville sessions.
A new recording session in Clovis was arranged in May; Holly hired
Tommy Allsup
Thomas Douglas Allsup (November 24, 1931 – January 11, 2017) was an American rockabilly and swing musician.
Personal life
Allsup was born near Owasso, Oklahoma in 1931, and was an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. Allsup had a son, ...
to play lead guitar. The session produced the recordings of "
It's So Easy" and "
Heartbeat
A heartbeat is one cardiac cycle of the heart.
Heartbeat, heart beat, heartbeats, and heart beats may refer to:
Computing
*Heartbeat (computing), a periodic signal to indicate normal operation or to synchronize parts of a system
*Heartbeat, clus ...
." Holly was impressed by Allsup and invited him to join the Crickets. In June, Holly traveled alone to New York for a solo recording session. Without the Crickets, he chose to be backed by a jazz and R&B band, recording "Now We're One" and
Bobby Darin's "
Early in the Morning."
During a visit to the offices of
Peer-Southern
Peermusic is a United States-based independent music publisher.
History
Ralph Peer, a field recording engineer and A&R representative for Victor Records, went on a scouting trip to Bristol, Tennessee. For two weeks, he recorded artists such ...
, Holly met
María Elena Santiago
Maria may refer to:
People
* Mary, mother of Jesus
* Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages
Place names Extraterrestrial
*170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877
* Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...
. He asked her out on their first meeting and proposed marriage to her on their first date. The wedding took place on August 15. Holly's manager Norman Petty disapproved of the marriage and advised Holly to keep it secret to avoid upsetting Holly's female fans. Petty's suggestion created friction with Holly, who had also started to question Petty's bookkeeping. The Crickets were also frustrated with Petty, who controlled all of the proceeds earned by the band.
Holly and Santiago frequented many of New York's music venues, including the
Village Gate, Blue Note,
Village Vanguard, and Johnny Johnson's. Santiago later said that Holly was keen to learn fingerstyle flamenco guitar and that he would often visit her aunt's home to play the piano there. Holly planned collaborations between soul singers and rock and roll. He wanted to make an album with
Ray Charles and
Mahalia Jackson. Holly also had ambitions to work in film and registered for acting classes with Lee Strasberg's
Actors Studio
The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded ...
.
Santiago accompanied Holly on tours. To hide her marriage to Holly, she was presented as the Crickets' secretary. She took care of the laundry and equipment set-up and collected the concert revenues. Santiago kept the money for the band instead of their habitual transfer to Petty in New Mexico. She and her aunt Provi Garcia, an executive in the Latin American music department at
Peer-Southern
Peermusic is a United States-based independent music publisher.
History
Ralph Peer, a field recording engineer and A&R representative for Victor Records, went on a scouting trip to Bristol, Tennessee. For two weeks, he recorded artists such ...
, convinced Holly that Petty was paying the band's royalties from Coral-Brunswick into his own company's account. Holly planned to retrieve his royalties from Petty and to later fire him as manager and producer. At the recommendation of the Everly Brothers, Holly hired lawyer Harold Orenstein to negotiate his royalties. The problems with Petty were triggered after he was unable to pay Holly. At the time, New York promoter Manny Greenfield reclaimed a large part of Holly's earnings; Greenfield had booked Holly for shows during previous tours. The two had a verbal agreement; Greenfield would obtain 5% of the booking earnings. Greenfield later felt he was also acting as Holly's manager and deserved a higher payment, which Holly refused. Greenfield then sued Holly. Under New York law, because Holly's royalties originated in New York and were directed out of the state, the payments were frozen until the dispute was settled. Petty then could not complete the transfers to Holly, who considered him responsible for the missing profit.
In September, Holly returned to Clovis for a new recording session, which yielded "Reminiscing" and "Come Back Baby." During the session, he ventured into producing by recording Lubbock DJ
Waylon Jennings. Holly produced the single "Jole Blon" and "When Sin Stops (Love Begins)" for Jennings. Holly became increasingly interested in the New York music, recording, and publishing scene. Holly and Santiago settled in Apartment 4H of the Brevoort Apartments, at 11 Fifth Avenue in
Greenwich Village, where he recorded a series of acoustic songs, including "
Crying, Waiting, Hoping" and "What to Do." The inspiration to record the songs is sometimes attributed to the ending of his relationship with McGuire.
On October 21, 1958, Holly's final studio session was recorded at the
Pythian Temple on West 70th Street (now a luxury condominium). Known by Holly fans as "the string sessions", Holly recorded four songs for Coral in an innovative collaboration with the Dick Jacobs Orchestra, an 18-piece ensemble composed of former members of the
NBC Symphony Orchestra
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra conceived by David Sarnoff, the president of the Radio Corporation of America, especially for the conductor Arturo Toscanini. The NBC Symphony performed weekly radio concert broadcasts with Tosca ...
including saxophonist
Boomie Richman.
The four songs recorded during the -hour session were:
*"True Love Ways" (written by Buddy Holly),
*"
Moondreams" (written by
Norman Petty),
*"
Raining in My Heart
"Raining in My Heart" is a song recorded by Buddy Holly on October 21, 1958 at the Pythian Temple on West 70th Street in New York City, with the orchestral backing by Dick Jacobs. The music and lyrics are written by the songwriting team of Fe ...
" (written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant) and
*"
It Doesn't Matter Anymore" (written by Paul Anka).
These four songs were the only ones Coral ever mixed in stereo, but only "Raining in My Heart" was released that way (in 1959, on an obscure promotional LP titled ''Hitsville''). All four records otherwise received releases in mono. The original stereo mixes were consulted many years later for compilation albums.
Holly ended his association with Petty in December 1958. His band members kept Petty as their manager and split from Holly. The split was amicable and based on logistics: Holly had decided to settle permanently in New York, where the business and publishing offices were, and the Crickets preferred not to leave their home state. Petty was still holding the money from the royalties, forcing Holly to form a new band and return to touring.
Winter Dance Party tour and death (1959)
Holly vacationed with his wife in Lubbock and visited Jennings's radio station in December 1958. For the start of the
Winter Dance Party tour, he assembled a band consisting of
Waylon Jennings (electric bass),
Tommy Allsup
Thomas Douglas Allsup (November 24, 1931 – January 11, 2017) was an American rockabilly and swing musician.
Personal life
Allsup was born near Owasso, Oklahoma in 1931, and was an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. Allsup had a son, ...
(guitar), and
Carl Bunch
Carl H. Bunch (November 24, 1939 – March 26, 2011) was an American musician.
Carl Bunch was born in Big Spring, Texas and began playing drums as a teenager while recovering from extensive surgery on his right leg. By age seventeen, he was rec ...
(drums). Holly and Jennings left for New York City, arriving on January 15, 1959. Jennings stayed at Holly's apartment by
Washington Square Park on the days prior to a meeting scheduled at the headquarters of the
General Artists Corporation, which organized the tour. They then traveled by train to Chicago to join the rest of the band.
The Winter Dance Party tour began in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on January 23, 1959. The amount of travel involved created logistical problems, as the distance between venues had not been considered when scheduling performances. Adding to the problem, the unheated tour buses twice broke down in freezing weather, with dire consequences. Holly's drummer, Carl Bunch, was hospitalized for
frostbite to his toes (sustained while aboard the bus), so Holly decided to seek other transportation. On February 2, before their appearance in
Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly chartered a four-seat
Beechcraft Bonanza
The Beechcraft Bonanza is an American general aviation aircraft introduced in 1947 by Beech Aircraft Corporation of Wichita, Kansas. The six-seater, single-engined aircraft is still being produced by Beechcraft and has been in continuous prod ...
airplane for Jennings, Allsup, and himself, from Dwyer Flying Service in
Mason City, Iowa. Holly's idea was to depart following the show at the
Surf Ballroom
The Surf Ballroom (also called the Surf) is a Historic Rock and Roll Landmark at 460 North Shore Drive, Clear Lake, Iowa, United States. The Surf is closely associated with the event known colloquially as "The Day the Music Died" – early rock ...
in Clear Lake and fly to their next venue, in
Moorhead, Minnesota, via
Fargo, North Dakota
Fargo ( /ˈfɑɹɡoʊ/) is a city in and the county seat of Cass County, North Dakota, United States. According to the 2020 census, its population was 125,990, making it the most populous city in the state and the 219th-most populous city in ...
, allowing them time to rest and launder their clothes and avoid a rigorous bus journey. Immediately after the Clear Lake show (which ended just before midnight), Allsup agreed to flip a coin for the seat with
Ritchie Valens. Valens called heads; when he won, he reportedly said, "That's the first time I've ever won anything in my life." Allsup later opened a restaurant/bar in
Fort Worth, Texas, called Heads Up Saloon. Waylon Jennings voluntarily gave up his seat to
J. P. Richardson (the Big Bopper), who had influenza and complained that the tour bus was too cold and uncomfortable for a man of his size.
The pilot, Roger Peterson, took off in inclement weather, even though he was not certified to fly by instrument flight rules, instruments only. Buddy's brother Larry Holley said, "I got the full report from the Civil Aeronautics – it took me a year to get it, but I got it – and they had installed a new Sperry gyroscope in the airplane. The Sperry works different than any other gyro. One of them, the background moves and the plane stays like this
tationary and in the other one the background stays steady and the plane moves, it works just backwards. He
he pilot
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
could have been reading this backwards... they were going down, they thought they were still climbing."
Shortly after 1:00 a.m. on February 3, 1959, Holly, Valens, Richardson, and Peterson were killed when the aircraft crashed into a cornfield five miles northwest of Mason City shortly after takeoff. The three musicians, who were ejected from the fuselage upon impact, sustained severe head and chest injuries. Holly was 22 years old.
The report did not mention a gun belonging to Holly that was found by a farmer two months after the crash. Newspaper accounts of the gun discovery fueled rumors among fans that the pilot was somehow shot, causing the crash. Another curious finding at the crash was that Richardson's body was discovered nearly away from the crash while the others were found in or near the wreckage. However, an autopsy done at the request of Richardson's son in 2007 found no evidence to support the rumors. Dr. Bill Bass, a forensic anthropologist at the University of Tennessee, stated that "There was no indication of foul play," and that Richardson "died immediately."
Holly's funeral was held on February 7, 1959, at the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Lubbock. The service was officiated by Ben D. Johnson, who had presided at the Hollys' wedding just months earlier. The pallbearers were Jerry Allison, Joe B. Mauldin, Niki Sullivan, Bob Montgomery, and
Sonny Curtis. Some sources say that Phil Everly, one half of
The Everly Brothers, was also pallbearer, but Everly said that he attended the funeral but was not a pallbearer. Waylon Jennings was unable to attend because of his commitment to the still-touring Winter Dance Party. Holly's body was interred in the City of Lubbock Cemetery, in the eastern part of the city. Holly's headstone carries the correct spelling of his surname (Holley) and a carving of his
Fender Stratocaster guitar.
Santiago watched the first reports of Holly's death on television. The following day, she suffered a miscarriage. Holly's mother, who heard the news on the radio in Lubbock, Texas, screamed and collapsed. Because of Elena's miscarriage, in the months following the accident, news agencies implemented a policy against announcing victims' names until after families are informed. Santiago did not attend the funeral and has never visited the gravesite. She later told the ''Avalanche-Journal'', "In a way, I blame myself. I was not feeling well when he left. I was two weeks pregnant, and I wanted Buddy to stay with me, but he had scheduled that tour. It was the only time I wasn't with him. And I blame myself because I know that, if only I had gone along, Buddy never would have gotten into that airplane."
Image and style
Holly's singing style was characterized by his
vocal hiccups and his alternation between his
regular voice and
falsetto
''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave.
It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...
. Holly's "stuttering vocals" were complemented by his
percussive guitar playing, solos,
stops
Stop may refer to:
Places
*Stop, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the United States
* Stop (Rogatica), a village in Rogatica, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Facilities
* Bus stop
* Truck stop, a type of rest stop for truck dri ...
,
bent notes, and rhythm and blues
chord progressions. He often strummed
downstrokes that were accompanied by Allison's "driving" percussion.
Holly bought his first Fender Stratocaster, which became his signature guitar, at Harrod Music in Lubbock for $249.50. Fender Stratocasters were popular with country musicians; Holly chose it for its loud sound. His "innovative" playing style was characterized by its blending of "chunky rhythm" and "high string lead work." Holly played his first Stratocaster, a 1954 model, until it was stolen during a tour stop in
Michigan in 1957. To replace it, he purchased a 1957 model before a show in Detroit. Holly owned four or five Stratocasters during his career.
At the beginning of their music careers, Holly and his group wore business suits. When they met the Everly Brothers, Don Everly took the band to Phil's men's shop in New York City and introduced them to
Ivy League clothes. The brothers advised Holly to replace his old-fashioned glasses with
horn-rimmed glasses, which had been popularized by
Steve Allen. Holly bought a pair of glasses made in Mexico from Lubbock optometrist Dr. J. Davis Armistead. Teenagers in the United States started to request this style of glasses, which were later popularly known as "Buddy Holly glasses."
When the plane crashed, the wreckage was strewn across many yards of snow-covered ground. While his other belongings were recovered immediately, there was no record of his signature glasses being found. They were presumed lost until, in March 1980, they were discovered in a Cerro Gordo County courthouse storage area by Sheriff Gerald Allen. They had been found in the spring of 1959, after the snow had melted, and had been given to the sheriff's office. They were placed in an envelope dated April 7, 1959, along with the Big Bopper's watch, a lighter, two pairs of dice and part of another watch, and misplaced when the county moved courthouses. The glasses, missing their lenses, were returned to Santiago a year later, after a legal contest over them with his parents. They are now on display at the Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock, Texas.
Legacy
Buddy Holly left behind dozens of unfinished recordings — solo transcriptions of his new compositions, informal jam sessions with bandmates, or tapes demonstrating songs intended for other artists. The last known recordings, made in Holly's apartment in late 1958, were his last six original songs. In June 1959, Coral Records overdubbed two of them with backing vocals by the
Ray Charles Singers and studio musicians in an attempt to simulate the established Crickets sound. The finished tracks became the first posthumous Holly single, "
Peggy Sue Got Married"/"
Crying, Waiting, Hoping." The new release was successful enough to warrant an album drawing upon the other Holly demos, using the same studio personnel, in January 1960. All six songs were included in ''
The Buddy Holly Story, Vol. 2
''The Buddy Holly Story, Vol. II'' is the fifth album released by Buddy Holly, a sequel compilation to ''The Buddy Holly Story'' (1959). The second album to be released posthumously, it is also the first of a series of Buddy Holly albums to fea ...
'' (1960).
The demand for Holly records was so great, and Holly had recorded so prolifically, that his record label was able to release new Holly albums and singles for the next 10 years. Norman Petty produced most of these new editions, drawing upon unreleased studio masters, alternate takes, audition tapes, and even amateur recordings (some dating back to 1954 with low-fidelity vocals). The final "new" Buddy Holly album, ''
Giant'', was released in 1969; the single chosen from the album was "
Love Is Strange."
''
Encyclopædia Britannica'' stated that Holly "produced some of the most distinctive and influential work in rock music."
AllMusic defined him as "the single most influential creative force in early rock and roll." ''
Rolling Stone'' ranked him number 13 on its list of "100 Greatest Artists." The ''
Telegraph'' called him a "pioneer and a revolutionary
..a multidimensional talent
..(who) co-wrote and performed (songs that) remain as fresh and potent today." In 2023, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked Holly at number 174 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included Holly among its first class in 1986. On its entry, the Hall of Fame remarked upon the large quantity of material he produced during his short musical career, and said it "made a major and lasting impact on popular music." It called him an "innovator" for writing his own material, his experimentation with
double tracking and the use of
orchestration
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orc ...
; he is also said to have "pioneered and popularized the now-standard" use of two guitars, bass, and drums by rock bands.
The Songwriters Hall of Fame also inducted Holly in 1986, and said his contributions "changed the face of Rock 'n' Roll." Holly developed in collaboration with Petty techniques of
overdubbing
Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more av ...
and
reverb, while he used innovative instrumentation later implemented by other artists. Holly became "one of the most influential pioneers of rock and roll" who had a "lasting influence" on genre performers of the 1960s.
In 1980,
Grant Speed
Grant or Grants may refer to:
Places
*Grant County (disambiguation)
Australia
* Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia
United Kingdom
*Castle Grant
United States
* Grant, Alabama
*Grant, Inyo County, C ...
sculpted a statue of Holly playing his Fender guitar. This statue is the centerpiece of Lubbock's Walk of Fame, which honors notable people who contributed to Lubbock's musical history. Other memorials to Buddy Holly include a street named in his honor and the
Buddy Holly Center, which contains a museum of Holly memorabilia and fine arts gallery. The center is located on Crickets Avenue, one street east of Buddy Holly Avenue, in a building that previously housed the Fort Worth and Denver South Plains Railway Depot. In 2010, the statue was taken down for refurbishment, and construction of a new Walk of Fame began.
In 1997, the
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences gave Holly the
Lifetime Achievement Award. He was inducted into the
Iowa Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame
The Iowa Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame is a museum located in Arnolds Park, Iowa, and maintained by the non-profit Iowa Rock 'n' Roll Music Association (IRRMA). The mission of IRRMA is to "retain and honor the legacy of rock 'n' roll music and preserv ...
in 2000. On May 9, 2011, the City of Lubbock held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Buddy and Maria Elena Holly Plaza, the new home of the statue and the Walk of Fame. On what would have been his 75th birthday, a star bearing Holly's name was placed on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Californ ...
.
Groundbreaking was held on April 20, 2017, for the construction of a new performing arts center in Lubbock, the
Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences
The Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences is a new performing arts venue in Lubbock, Texas. Groundbreaking took place on April 20, 2017 with more than 500 people in attendance, including Lubbock Mayor, Dan Pope, board chairman of the ...
, a downtown $153 million project expected to be completed in 2020. Thus far, the private group, the Lubbock Entertainment and Performing Arts Association, has raised or received pledges in the amount of $93 million to underwrite the project.
According to a June 2019 article in ''
The New York Times Magazine'', "virtually all" of Holly's masters were lost in the
2008 Universal fire
On June 1, 2008, a fire broke out on the backlot of Universal Studios Hollywood, an American film studio and theme park in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County, California. The fire began when a worker used a blowtorch to warm asph ...
.
This is disputed by Chad Kassem of
Analogue Productions, who claims to have used the master tapes of Holly's first two albums in Analogue Productions reissues of these albums on LP and SACD in 2017.
Influence
John Lennon and
Paul McCartney saw Holly for the first time when he appeared on ''
Sunday Night at the London Palladium''. The two had recently met and begun their musical association. They studied Holly's records, learned his performance style and lyricism, and based their act around his persona. Inspired by Holly's insect-themed Crickets, they chose to name their band "
The Beatles." Lennon and McCartney later cited Holly as one of their main influences.
Lennon's band
the Quarrymen covered "That'll Be the Day" in their first recording session, in 1958. During breaks in the Beatles' first appearance on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'', on February 9, 1964, Lennon asked
CBS coordinator Vince Calandra about Holly's performances; Calandra said Lennon and McCartney repeatedly expressed their appreciation of Holly. The Beatles recorded a close cover of Holly's version of "
Words of Love", which was released on their 1964 album ''
Beatles for Sale'' (in the US, in June 1965 on ''
Beatles VI''). During the January 1969 recording sessions for their album ''
Let It Be
Let It Be most commonly refers to:
* ''Let It Be'' (Beatles album), the Beatles' final studio album, released in 1970
* "Let It Be" (Beatles song), the title song from the album
It may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''Let It Be'' (1970 ...
'', the Beatles played a slow, impromptu version of "Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues" – which Holly popularized but did not write – with Lennon mimicking Holly's vocal style. Lennon recorded a cover version of "Peggy Sue" on his 1975 album ''
Rock 'n' Roll''. McCartney owns the
publishing rights to Holly's song catalog.
On January 31, 1959, two nights before Holly's death, 17-year-old
Bob Dylan attended Holly's performance in
Duluth. Dylan referred to this in his acceptance speech when he received the
Grammy Award for Album of the Year
The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regar ...
for ''
Time Out of Mind'' in 1998: "... when I was sixteen or seventeen years old, I went to see Buddy Holly play at
Duluth National Guard Armory
The Duluth Armory is a former armory (military), armory and event venue in the East Hillside (Duluth), East Hillside neighborhood of Duluth, Minnesota, United States. It was built in 1915 for the National Guard of the United States, National Gua ...
and I was three feet away from him ... and he looked at me. And I just have some sort of feeling that he was ... with us all the time we were making this record in some kind of way."
Mick Jagger saw Holly performing live in
Woolwich, London, during a tour of England; Jagger particularly remembered Holly's performance of "
Not Fade Away" – a song that also inspired
Keith Richards, who modeled his early guitar playing on the track. The Rolling Stones had a hit version of the song in 1964. Richards later said, "
ollypassed it on via the Beatles and via
he Rolling Stones
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
nbsp;... He's in everybody."
Don McLean's popular 1971
ballad "
American Pie" was inspired by Holly's death and the day of the plane crash. The song's lyric, which calls the incident "The Day the Music Died", became popularly associated with the crash. McLean's album ''
American Pie'' is dedicated to Holly. In 2015, McLean wrote, "Buddy Holly would have the same stature musically whether he would have lived or died, because of his accomplishments ... By the time he was 22 years old, he had recorded some 50 tracks, most of which he had written himself ... in my view and the view of many others, a hit ... Buddy Holly and the Crickets were the template for all the rock bands that followed."
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...
was musically influenced by Holly. At age 13, although he did not require them, John started wearing horn-rimmed glasses to imitate Holly.
The Clash were also influenced by Holly, and referenced him in their song "If Music Could Talk" from the ''
Sandinista!'' album. ''The Chirping Crickets'' was the first album
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...
ever bought; he later saw Holly on ''Sunday Night at the London Palladium''. In his autobiography, Clapton recounted the first time he saw Holly and his Fender, saying, "I thought I'd died and gone to heaven ... it was like seeing an instrument from outer space and I said to myself: 'That's the future – that's what I want.
The launch of
Bobby Vee's successful musical career resulted from Holly's death; Vee was selected to replace Holly on the tour that continued after the plane crash. Holly's profound influence on Vee's singing style can be heard in the songs "
Rubber Ball" – the B-side of which was a cover of Holly's "Everyday" – and "Run to Him." The name of the British rock band
the Hollies is often claimed as a tribute to Holly; according to the band, they admired Holly, but their name was mainly inspired by sprigs of holly in evidence around Christmas 1962. In an August 24, 1978, interview with ''Rolling Stone'',
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...
told
Dave Marsh
Dave Marsh (born March 1, 1950) is an American music critic, and radio talk show host. He was an early editor of ''Creem'' magazine, has written for various publications such as ''Newsday'', ''The Village Voice'', and ''Rolling Stone (magazine), ...
, "I play Buddy Holly every night before I go on; that keeps me honest." The
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...
performed the song "Not Fade Away" in concerts.
In 2016,
Richard Barone released his album ''Sorrows & Promises: Greenwich Village in the 1960s'', paying tribute to the new wave of singer-songwriters in the Village during that pivotal, post-Holly era. The album opens with Barone's version of "Learning the Game", one of the final songs written and recorded by Holly at his home in Greenwich Village, a week before his death.
Film and musical depictions
Holly's life story inspired a Hollywood biographical film, ''
The Buddy Holly Story'' (1978); its lead actor
Gary Busey received a nomination for the
Academy Award for Best Actor
The Academy Award for Best Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. The ...
for his portrayal of Holly. The film was widely criticized by the rock press, and by Holly's friends and family, for its inaccuracies. This led Paul McCartney (whose MPL Communications by then controlled the publishing rights to Buddy Holly's song catalog) to produce and host his own documentary about Holly in 1985, titled ''The Real Buddy Holly Story''. This video includes interviews with Keith Richards, Phil and Don Everly, Sonny Curtis, Jerry Allison, Holly's family, and McCartney, among others.
In 1987, musician
Marshall Crenshaw portrayed Buddy Holly in the movie ''
La Bamba'', which depicts him performing at the Surf Ballroom and boarding the fatal airplane with Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper. Crenshaw's version of "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" is featured on the ''La Bamba'' original motion picture soundtrack.
''
Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story'', a
jukebox musical depicting Holly's life, opened in 1989.
Holly was depicted in a 1989 episode of the science-fiction television program ''
Quantum Leap'' titled "How the Tess Was Won"; Holly's identity is only revealed at the end of the episode. Dr.
Sam Beckett (
Scott Bakula) influences Buddy Holly to change his lyrics from "piggy, suey" to "Peggy Sue", setting up Holly's future hit song. Holly's follow up to that hit song is featured in the 1986
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five A ...
film ''
Peggy Sue Got Married'', in which a 43-year-old mother and housewife facing divorce played by
Kathleen Turner
Mary Kathleen Turner (born June 19, 1954) is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, and two Tony Awards.
Turner became widely k ...
is thrust back in time and given the chance to change the course of her life.
Steve Buscemi
Steven Vincent Buscemi ( ,As stated in interviews by Buscemi himself, some may insist that his pronunciation of his own name is "wrong" because it does not match the original Italian pronunciation as well. It is not uncommon for people to pronou ...
appeared as Holly in a brief cameo as a 1950s-themed restaurant employee in
Quentin Tarantino's 1994 film ''
Pulp Fiction'', in which he takes Mia Wallace and Vincent Vega's orders (portrayed respectively by
Uma Thurman and
John Travolta
John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He came to public attention during the 1970s, appearing on the television sitcom ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' (1975–1979) and starring in the box office successes ''Carrie'' (19 ...
).
In 1961,
Mike Berry recorded "
Tribute to Buddy Holly."
In 1985, the German punk band
Die Ärzte composed a song centering on Buddy Holly's glasses, titled "Buddy Holly's Brille."
In 1998, the post-apocalyptic film ''
Six-String Samurai
''Six-String Samurai'' is a 1998 American post-apocalyptic action comedy film directed by Lance Mungia and starring Jeffrey Falcon and Justin McGuire. Brian Tyler composed the score for this film along with Red Elvises, the latter providing the m ...
'' depicted Holly as a guitar-playing samurai traveling to Las Vegas to become the new king of Nevada after the death of Elvis Presley.
Weezer's first top 40 single in the US was titled "
Buddy Holly."
In 2006, country band the
Dixie Chicks mention Buddy Holly in their song "
Lubbock or Leave It
Lubbock ( )
is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northwe ...
." Lead singer
Natalie Maines and Holly share a hometown of
Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock ( )
is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northw ...
.
In the animated series ''
The Venture Bros.'', it is implied that the elderly villains Dragoon and Red Mantle are actually Richardson and Buddy Holly, who were recruited into the supervillain organization the Guild of Calamitous Intent on the night of their supposed deaths.
The TV documentary ''Buddy Holly – Rave On: The Story of Buddy Holly'' aired on BBC Four in 2017. An upcoming documentary ''The Day the Music Died/American Pie'' explores the story behind the
Don Mclean song.
Discography
The Crickets
* ''
The "Chirping" Crickets'' (1957)
Solo
* ''
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer and songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texas ...
'' (1958)
* ''
That'll Be the Day'' (1958)
References
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Further reading
* Bustard, Anne (2005). ''Buddy: The Story of Buddy Holly''. Simon & Schuster. .
* Comentale, Edward P. (2013). Chapter Five. ''Sweet Air: Modernism, Regionalism, and American Popular Song''. University of Illinois Press. .
* Dawson, Jim; Leigh, Spencer (1996). ''Memories of Buddy Holly''. Big Nickel Publications. .
* Gerron, Peggy Sue (2008). ''Whatever Happened to Peggy Sue?''. Togi Entertainment. .
* Goldrosen, John; Beecher, John (1996). ''Remembering Buddy: The Definitive Biography''. New York: Da Capo Press. .
* Goldrosen, John (1975). ''Buddy Holly: His Life and Music''. Popular Press.
* Laing, Dave (1971–2010). ''Buddy Holly (Icons of Pop Music)''. Indiana University Press. .
* Mann, Alan (1996). ''The A-Z of Buddy Holly''. Aurum Press (2nd edition). or 978–1854104335.
* McFadden, Hugh (2005). ''Elegy for Charles Hardin Holley'', in ''Elegies & Epiphanies''. Belfast: Lagan Press.
* Peer, Elizabeth and Ralph II (1972). ''Buddy Holly: A Biography in Words, Photographs and Music'' Australia: Peer International. ASIN B000W24DZO.
* Peters, Richard (1990). ''The Legend That Is Buddy Holly''. Barnes & Noble Books. or 978–0285630055.
* Rabin, Stanton (2009). ''OH BOY! The Life and Music of Rock 'n' Roll Pioneer Buddy Holly''. Van Winkle Publishing (Kindle). ASIN B0010QBLLG.
* Tobler, John (1979). ''The Buddy Holly Story''. Beaufort Books.
* VH1's Behind the Music "The Day the Music Died" interview with Waylon Jennings
External links
Buddy Holly news archives at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal*
*
Buddy Holly recordingsat the
Discography of American Historical Recordings
The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The DAHR provides some of these original recordings, free of charge, via audio streaming, along with ...
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