Buddy Holly - Singer - Biography.com Buddy Holly Buddy Holly was a singer/songwriter whose records, conveying a sense of the wide-open spaces of West Texas and unstoppable joie de vivre, remain vital today. IN THESE GROUPS Buddy Holly - Rock and Roll Legend (; 3:18) Buddy Holly was a pioneer in the world of rock and roll and had changed the face of music at the time until his tragic death in 1959. Synopsis Born on September 7, 1936, in Lubbock, Texas, Buddy Holly was an American singer/songwriter who produced some of the most distinctive and influential work in rock music. Already well versed in several music styles, he was a seasoned performer by age 16. With hits such as 'Peggy Sue' and 'That'll Be the Day,' Buddy Holly was a rising star when a tragic plane crash struck him down in 1959 at age 22. Early Life Singer. Born Charles Hardin Holley on September 7, 1936, in Lubbock, Texas.

As the fourth and youngest child in his family, Holly was nicknamed "Buddy" by his mother, who felt that his given name was too big for her little boy. "Holly," the altered form of his last name, would later result from a misspelling in his first recording contract. Buddy Holly learned to play piano and fiddle at an early age, while his older brothers taught him the basics of guitar. A 1949 home recording of "My Two-Timin' Woman" showcases Holly's skilled, if prepubescent, singing voice. Holly's mother and father, a tailor by trade, both proved to be very supportive of their son's burgeoning musical talents, generating song ideas and even penning a letter to the editor of Lubbock's newspaper in defense of rock 'n' roll-loving teenagers lambasted in a conservative editorial. Despite his parents' support, Holly couldn't have become a founding father of rock 'n' roll without engaging in some degree of rebellion.

Once a preacher at the local Tabernacle Baptist Church asked him, "What would you do if you had $10?" The young rocker reportedly muttered, "If I had $10, I wouldn't be here." Holly had clearly set his sights on something other than growing up to join his brothers in their tiling business. After high school, Holly formed a band and played country and western songs regularly on a Lubbock radio station. He frequently opened for more prominent national acts that toured through town. Bandmate Sonny Curtis viewed Holly's opening for Elvis Presley in 1955 as a crucial turning point for the singer. "When Elvis came along," Curtis recalls, "Buddy fell in love with Elvis and we began to change. The next day we became Elvis clones." Although the bespectacled, bow-tied youth lacked Elvis's incendiary sex appeal, Holly's conversion from country to rock 'n' roll did not go unnoticed. A record company talent scout soon caught his act at a skating rink and signed him to a contract.

In early 1956, Holly and his band began recording demos and singles in Nashville under the name Buddy Holly and the Three Tunes, but the group's lineup was later revised and dubbed The Crickets. Holly wrote and recorded his breakthrough hit, "That'll Be the Day," with The Crickets in 1957. The song's title and refrain are a reference to a line uttered by John Wayne in the 1956 film The Searchers. Between August 1957 and August 1958, Holly and the Crickets charted seven different Top 40 singles. Coincidentally, "That'll Be the Day" topped the U.S. chart exactly 500 days before Holly's untimely death. Solo Career and Untimely Death In October 1958, Holly split from The Crickets and moved to Greenwich Village in New York City. Due to legal and financial problems resulting from the band's breakup, Holly reluctantly agreed to tour through the Midwest in 1959 with The Winter Dance Party.

Tired of enduring broken-down buses in subfreezing conditions, Holly chartered a private plane to take him from a show in Clear Lake, Iowa, to the tour's next stop in Moorhead, Minnesota. Holly was joined on the doomed flight by fellow performers Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper. The plane crashed within minutes of leaving the ground, killing all aboard. Buddy Holly was just 22 years old. His funeral was held at the Tabernacle Baptist Church back in Lubbock. Buddy Holly proposed on his first date with Maria Elena Santiago, a receptionist four years his senior, and married her less than two months later in 1958. Maria Elena did not attend Holly's funeral, as she had also just suffered a miscarriage. She still owns the rights to Buddy Holly's name, image, trademarks and other intellectual property. Holly's death was memorialized in Don McLean's iconic song "American Pie" as "the day the music died." Holly's music never really died, though, despite the singer's tragic and untimely death. Unissued recordings and compilations of Holly's work were released in a steady stream throughout the 1960s.

Due to the continued popularity of his music and film adaptations of his life's story, Holly's hiccup and horn-rimmed glasses are easily recognizable today. Though his professional career spanned just two short years, Holly's recorded material has influenced the likes of Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan, who, at age 17, saw Holly perform on his final tour. The Rolling Stones had their first Top 10 single in 1964 with a cover of Holly's "Not Fade Away." The Beatles chose their name as a kind of homage to The Crickets, and Paul McCartney has since purchased Holly's publishing rights. Buddy Holly's lasting impact on pop music was even larger. The Crickets pioneered the now-standard rock lineup of two guitars, bass, and drums. Holly was also among the first artists to use studio techniques such as double-tracking on his albums. Despite Holly's numerous contributions to rock 'n' roll, a 1957 interview with Canadian disc jockey Red Robinson suggests that the singer questioned the longevity of the genre. When asked whether rock 'n' roll music would still be around after six or seven months, Holly replied, "I rather doubt it." Related Videos Fact Check We strive for accuracy and fairness.

If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us ! Citation Information Buddy Holly · 2017 Tour Dates and Concert Tickets | Thrillcall Track Artist for New Show Alerts HIDDEN ERROR: Usage of "spouse" is not recognized Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 - February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American musician and singer/songwriter who was a central figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. Holly was born in ... HIDDEN ERROR: Usage of "spouse" is not recognized Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 - February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American musician and singer/songwriter who was a central figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. Holly was born in Lubbock, Texas, to a musical family during the Great Depression; he learned to play guitar and to sing alongside his siblings. His style was influenced by gospel music, country music and rhythm and blues acts, and he performed in Lubbock with his friends from high school.

He 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 he opened for Bill Haley & His Comets, Holly was spotted by Nashville scout Eddie Crandall, who helped him get a contract with Decca Records. Holly's recording sessions at Decca were produced by Owen Bradley. Holly was unhappy with Bradley's restrictions and the results of their work, and went to producer Norman Petty in Clovis, New Mexico, where, among other songs, they recorded a demo of "That'll Be the Day". Petty became the band's manager and he 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 "Best Sellers in Stores" chart and the UK Singles Chart.

Its success was followed in October by another major hit, "Peggy Sue". In November 1957, the album Chirping Crickets was released; it reached number five on the UK Albums Chart. By January 1958, Holly had appeared twice on The Ed Sullivan Show. Following his second performance on the show, he toured Australia and then the UK. In early 1959, Holly assembled a new band consisting of future country music icon Waylon Jennings (bass) and Tommy Allsup (guitar), and embarked on a tour of the Midwestern U.S. 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 the pilot, in a tragedy later elegized by Don McLean as The Day the Music Died. During his short career, Holly wrote, recorded, and produced his own material. He is often regarded as the act that defined the traditional rock-and-roll lineup of two guitars, bass, and drums.

Holly was a major influence on later popular music artists and bands, including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, and Elton John. He was among the first acts to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, and later ranked by Rolling Stone at number 13 on its list of "100 Greatest Artists". Life and career: Early life and career (1936-1955): Charles Hardin Holley was born on September 7, 1936, in Lubbock, Texas, at 3:30 pm; he was the fourth child of Lawrence Odell "L.O" Holley and Ella Pauline Drake. His older siblings were Larry (born in 1925), Travis (born in 1927), and Patricia Lou (born in 1929). From early childhood, he was nicknamed "Buddy". During the Great Depression, the Holleys frequently moved residence within Lubbock; L.O changed jobs several times. 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 older 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 strings 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 guitar after he saw a classmate playing and singing on the school bus. Buddy's parents initially bought him a steel guitar, but he insisted that he wanted a guitar like his brother's. His parents bought the guitar from a pawn shop and Travis taught him to play it. During his early childhood, Buddy was influenced by the music of Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Snow, Bob Wills, and the Carter Family. At Roscoe Wilson Elementary, he met and became friends with Bob Montgomery; Buddy and he played together, practicing with songs by the Louvin Brothers and Johnny and Jack.

They both listened to the radio programs Grand Ole Opry on WSM , Louisiana Hayride on KWKH, and Big D Jamboree. At the same time, Holley played with other musicians he met in high school, including Sonny Curtis and Jerry Allison. In 1952, Holley and Jack Neal participated as a duo billed "Buddy and Jack" in a talent contest on a local television show. After Neal left, he was replaced by Montgomery and they were billed as "Buddy and Bob". The two soon started performing on the Sunday Party show on KDAV in 1953, and performed live gigs in Lubbock. At that time, Holley was influenced by late-night radio stations that played Blues and rhythm and blues (R&B). Holley 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 high school, Holley decided to pursue a full-time career in music.

He was further encouraged after seeing Elvis Presley performing live in Lubbock, whose act was booked by Pappy Dave Stone of KDAV. In February, Holley opened for Presley at the Fair Park Coliseum, in April at the Cotton Club, and again in June at the Coliseum. By that time, he had incorporated into his band Larry Welborne on the stand-up bass and Allison on drums, as his style shifted from C&W to rock and roll. In October, Stone booked Bill Haley & His Comets and placed Holley as the opening act to be seen by Nashville scout Eddie Crandall. Impressed, Crandall persuaded Grand Ole Opry 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 in February 1956. In the contract, Decca misspelled Holley's last name as "Holly"; from then on, he was known as "Buddy Holly". On January 26, 1956, Holly attended his first formal recording session, which was produced by Owen Bradley.

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" 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", which was 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; he 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 Joe B. Mauldin, 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 was still under contract with Decca and could not use his name; it was decided a band name was to be 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 on 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, with "I'm Looking For Someone To Love" on the B-side. 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 DC, Baltimore, and New York City. The band was booked to play at New York's Apollo Theater on August 16-22. During the opening performances, the group did not impress the audience, but they were accepted after they included "Bo Diddley" in their shows. 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 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. On September 20, 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, while 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". 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 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, New Mexico. 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 of the intensive touring. On December 29, Holly and the Crickets performed "Peggy Sue" on The Arthur Murray Party. International tours (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!" He departed to perform in Honolulu, Hawaii, on January 27, and later started a week-long tour of Australia. By February, the band toured England, playing 50 shows in 25 days. The same month, his debut solo album, Buddy Holly, 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 to play lead guitar. The session produced the recordings of "It's So Easy" and "Heartbeat". 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, Holly chose to be backed by a jazz and R&B band. He chose to record "Now We're One" and Bobby Darin's "Early in the Morning".

During his visit to the offices of Peer-South, he met Maria Elena Santiago. Holly asked Santiago out on their first meeting, and proposed marriage to her on their first date. The wedding took place on August 15. Petty disapproved of the marriage and advised Holly to keep it secret to avoid upsetting Holly's female fans. Petty's reaction created friction between Holly and him; Holly also started to question Petty's bookkeeping. The Crickets, frustrated because he controlled all of the proceeds from the band, also were in conflict with Petty. 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 Holly was keen to learn fingerstyle flamenco guitar, and would often visit her aunt's home to play the piano there. Holly planned collaborations between soul singers and rock and roll, and wanted to make an album with Ray Charles and Mahalia Jackson. He also had ambitions to work in film, and registered for acting classes with Lee Strasburg's Actors Studio. 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, executive of the Latin American music department at Peer-Southern, 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. According to New York law, because the royalty proceedings of Holly were originated in New York and directed out-of-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 that 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. Santiago and he settled in Apartment 4H of the Brevoort Apartments located 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 to McGuire. In October, Holly recorded tracks for Coral; these were backed by saxophonist Benny Goodman and an 18-piece orchestra composed of former members of the NBC Symphony Orchestra. The three-and-a-half hour session produced "It Doesn't Matter Anymore", "Raining in My Heart", "Moondreams", and "True Love Ways".

Holly ended his association with Petty in December 1958. His band members kept Petty and their manager, and Holly also split from the Crickets. Petty was still holding the money from the royalties, forcing Holly to form a new band and to return to touring. Winter Dance Party Tour and death (1959): Before the tour, Holly vacationed with his wife in Lubbock, and visited Jennings' 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 (guitar), and Carl Bunch (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 (suffered while aboard the bus), so Holly made a decision to seek other transportation. Before their appearance in Clear Lake, Iowa on Feb. 2, Holly chartered a 4-seat Beechcraft Bonanza airplane from Dwyer Flying Service in Mason City, Iowa, for Jennings, Allsup and himself. Holly's idea was to depart following the show at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake and fly ahead to their next venue in Moorhead, Minnesota via Fargo, North Dakota, thus allowing them time to rest, to launder clothes, and to entirely avoid a rigorous bus journey. Immediately after the Clear Lake show (which ended just before midnight), Tommy Allsup lost a coin-toss and gave up his seat on the plane to Ritchie Valens, while 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, although he was not certified to fly by instruments only. Shortly after 1:00 AM on February 3, 1959, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, J.P. Richardson, and pilot Roger Peterson were killed instantly when their plane crashed at full-throttle into a cornfield outside Mason City, Iowa, soon after take-off. The bodies of the entertainers were all ejected from the plane on impact, while Peterson's body remained entangled in the wreckage. Holly sustained unsurvivable trauma to his head and chest, as well as numerous lacerations and fractures in both arms and legs. 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, Sonny Curtis, and Phil Everly. Waylon Jennings was unable to attend due to 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. His headstone carries the correct spelling of his surname (Holley) and a carving of his Fender Stratocaster guitar. Maria Elena, who was pregnant, watched the first reports of Holly's death on television. The following day, she miscarried; the miscarriage was attributed to "psychological trauma". Holly's mother, who heard the news on the radio in Lubbock, Texas, collapsed. Because of Maria Elena's miscarriage, in the months following the accident, the authorities implemented a policy against announcing victims' names until after families are informed. Santiago did not attend the funeral and has never visited the grave site. 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. His "stuttering vocals" were complemented by his percussive guitar playing, solos, stops, 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 US$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". He 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 band wore business suits. Upon meeting 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 that were 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. It turns out someone had found them in the spring of 1959 -- once the snow melted -- and had given them 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 his widow Maria Elena 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: 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 at number 13 on its "100 Greatest Artists" list.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". 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; 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 and reverberation, 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 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 the erstwhile Fort Worth and Denver South Plains Railway Depot. In 1997, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences gave Holly the Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2010, Grant Speed's statue was taken down for refurbishment and construction of a new Walk of Fame began. 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. The same year, a star bearing Holly's name was placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, commemorating his 75th birthday. Influence: Teenagers 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 "Beatles". Lennon and McCartney later cited Holly as their main influence.

Lennon's band the Quarrymen covered "That'll Be the Day" during their first recording session in 1958. Years later, during breaks in the Beatles' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964, CBS coordinator Vic Calandra talked with McCartney and Lennon. Lennon asked him about Holly's performances; Calandra said the musicians 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 U.S., in June 1965 on Beatles VI). During the January 1969 recording sessions for their album Let It Be, 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.

Two nights before Holly's death, 17-year-old Bob Dylan attended the January 31, 1959, show. Dylan referred to this in his 1998 Grammy acceptance speech for his Time Out of Mind being named Album of the Year; Dylan said, " ... when I was sixteen or seventeen years old, I went to see Buddy Holly play at Duluth National Guard Armory 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 for Keith Richards, who modeled his early guitar playing on the track. The Rolling Stones had a hit version of the track in 1964. Richards later said, "Holly passed it on via the Beatles and via the Rolling Stones ... 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 was musically influenced by Holly. At age thirteen, although he did not require them, John started wearing horn-rimmed glasses to imitate Holly. After eight months, the glasses diminished his vision and John had to start to wear prescription lenses on a regular basis.The Clash were also influenced by Holly, and referenced him in their song "Corner Soul" from the Sandinista! album.The Chirping Crickets was the first album Eric Clapton 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 told Dave Marsh, "I play Buddy Holly every night before I go on; that keeps me honest". The Grateful Dead performed the song "Not Fade Away" in concerts.

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 for his portrayal of Holly. The film was widely criticized by the rock community, and 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, 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, is credited for being the first of its kind.

It spawned the genre that later included Mamma Mia! and We Will Rock You. The musical opened in the late 1980s and its most recent UK tour occurred in February 2011. Steve Buscemi 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). Holly was depicted in an 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.

Buddy Holly | Sackful O' Rock, Country, Folk, Soul & Blues Sackful O' Rock, Country, Folk, Soul & Blues BUDDY HOLLY SONG LYRICS BIOGRAPHY Charles Hardin Holley (7th September 1936 – 3rd February 1959), known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll. He was born in Lubbock, Texas and called “Buddy” by his family because he was so nice to everyone. Aged five, his young voice and exuberance won him a talent contest singing a then-popular song, ‘Have You Ever Gone Sailing (Down the River of Memories)’. In 1949, he recorded a bluesy solo rendering of Hank Snow’s ‘My Two Timin’ Woman’ on a wire recorder borrowed by a friend who worked in a music shop. In 1952, he met Bob Montgomery at Hutchinson Junior High School; they teamed up as Buddy and Bob. They sang bluegrass harmony duets at local clubs and high school talent shows and performed on a local radio station KDAV Sunday broadcast that made them a top local act.

Buddy Holly saw Elvis Presley sing in Lubbock in 1955, and began to incorporate a rockabilly style that had a strong rhythm acoustic and slap bass. On 15th October 1955, he opened the bill for Presley in Lubbock. Buddy Holly’s transition to rock continued when he opened for Bill Haley & His Comets. Decca Records signed Holly to a contract in February 1956, misspelling his name as “Holly”. He thereafter adopted the misspelled name for his professional career. Among the tracks he recorded was an early version of ‘That’ll Be The Day’. Aside from Buddy Holly on vocal and guitar, the other musicians were, Sonny Curtis: guitar; Don Guess: bass; Jerry Allison: drums. Decca released two singles, ‘Blue Days, Black Nights’ and ‘Modern Don Juan’, that unfortunately failed to make an impression. Decca informed Holly his contract would not be renewed, insisting, however, that he could not record the same songs for anyone else for five years. The Crickets – then comprising Buddy Holly (lead guitar and vocals), Niki Sullivan (guitar), Joe B.

Mauldin (bass), and Jerry Allison (drums) – hired Norman Petty as manager. Petty got Brunswick Records, a subsidiary of Decca, to sign The Crickets on 19th March 1957. Buddy Holly signed as a solo artist with another Decca subsidiary, Coral Records. This put him in the unusual position of having two recording contracts at the same time. On 27th May 1957, ‘That’ll Be The Day’ was released as a single, credited to The Crickets to try to bypass Decca’s claimed legal rights. When the song became a hit, topping the charts, Decca decided not to press its claim. Reputably Buddy Holly composed ‘Not Fade Away’ with The Everly Brothers in mind, using that famed Bo Diddley rhythm. However they decided not to record it then as they had ‘All I Have To Do Is Dream’ – although the timing does not fit as ‘Not Fade Away’ was composed and recorded by The Crickets in 1957 and ‘All I Have To Is Dream’ did not appear until March 1958.

‘Not Fade Away’ originally appeared on the first (1957) Crickets album The Chirping Crickets and was not recorded by The Everly Brothers until their 1972 RCA album Pass The Chicken And Listen. It has been covered by many artists, most famously of course in 1964 by The Rolling Stones who had a huge hit with it. Phil and Don Everly became good friends with The Crickets and showed them around New York encouraging them to buy sharp Ivy League suits. It was they who encouraged Buddy Holly to adopt the more prominent horn-rimmed glasses reasoning that if you have to wear them – make a statement! The more ‘wild’ Holly showed the boys from Kentucky how to have a good time! Famously, in 1958 The Crickets and The Everly Brothers started a twelve-date six-day Florida tour called “The Big Gold Records Stars” at the Kellogg Auditorium in Orlando, Florida. Also on the show were Bill Haley and the Comets, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Royal Teens, and Jimmie Rodgers. On 20th February The Crickets stepped in to back up the Everlys because their local back-up band was not up to the job.

In a 2011 interview for a Buddy Holly documentary, Phil Everly explained, “The one time – really was a fun time – we were doing a Florida tour. Jerry Lee Lewis was on it, we were on it, Buddy was on it and The Crickets. It was Bill Haley promotion and Don and I didn’t travel with a band – it was that early, you know, and we didn’t have our own band. We usually would pick up three pieces and work at it. Well, when we got there, the three pieces they had were three high school kids that played and they were like 16, 15 and you know, and the older one was like 17, maybe a senior, I don’t know. And they – could not play. I mean, they really could not play at all on this set. And we were saying, ‘Well, this won’t work.’ And Bill Hailey had run a…..it was his production thing, and he had just spent as little money as possible. I don’t know; he probably gave them the opportunity and not any money at all. But anyway, Buddy stepped up and The Crickets stepped up and they played – for us, you know.

We were closing the show and we followed Jerry Lee; it was Buddy Holly, then Jerry Lee, then us. Jerry Lee was the best of all but when normally it would’ve been a difficult thing [it was] impossible with that band, with those three kids. Buddy then played with us and it was un-believable, you know, how good it was. After Buddy died, Jerry Allison and Joe B. and Sonny Curtis came to play for us for about a year and a half, two years.” In mid-1958 period Buddy Holly also composed and demoed two songs intended for The Everly Brothers – ‘Wishing’ (composed with Bob Montgomery) and ‘Love’s Made A Fool Of You’ (again using Buddy’s and Don Everly’s favoured Bo Diddley style); sadly they have not recorded either song. Holly even double-tracked on the demos to help give an Everly ‘sound’. There are numerous theories as to why these songs did not get recorded by Don & Phil when first composed. One is that Wesley Rose blocked them as they were not published by Acuff-Rose and he never even let Don & Phil know about them.

There may be some truth in this as Roy Orbison switched publishers in order to enable Don & Phil to record ‘Claudette’. It is also said that ‘Wishing’ was passed up because the Buddy Holly version was so good that it was likely to be released in competition with any Everly version. Both Buddy Holly versions of these excellent tracks were released posthumously. Buddy Holly became increasingly interested in the New York music/recording/publishing scene, while the other Crickets (Sullivan had already left) wanted to return to Lubbock. As a result, the group split up in late 1958. Buddy and his wife Maria Elena settled in Greenwich Village, New York, in the new Brevoort apartment block at Ninth Street and Fifth Avenue. Here he recorded the series of acoustic songs, including ‘Crying, Waiting, Hoping’ and ‘What to Do,’ known as the “Apartment Tapes”, which were released after his death.

In addition to ‘True Love Ways’, during the October 1958 sessions at Decca’s Pythian Temple, Buddy Holly also recorded two other songs, ‘It Doesn’t Matter Anymore’ and ‘Raining In My Heart’ (original composed by The Bryants for The Everly Brothers). The songs were to be his last formal recording studio sessions. Buddy Holly was having continual trouble getting his royalties from Norman Petty (who also insisted on claiming co-composition credits on many Holly songs for which he made little or no contribution), so he hired the noted lawyer Harold Orenstein at the recommendation of his friends The Everly Brothers, who had engaged Orenstein following disputes with their own manager, Wesley Rose. Yet, with the money still being withheld by Petty and with rent due, Buddy was forced to go back on the road. Buddy Holly was offered a spot in the Winter Dance Party, a three-week tour across the Midwest opening on 23rd January 1959, with other notable performers such as Dion and the Belmonts, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson.

He assembled a backing band consisting of Tommy Allsup (guitar), Waylon Jennings (bass) and Carl Bunch (drums), and billed as The Crickets. The tour turned out to be a miserable ordeal for the performers. Following a performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, on 2nd February 1959, Holly chartered a small airplane to take him to the next stop on the tour. When their plane crashed soon after taking off from nearby Mason City in the early morning hours of 3rd February, Holly, Valens, Richardson and the pilot were killed. Band-mate Waylon Jennings had given up his seat on the plane, causing Buddy Holly to jokingly tell Jennings, “I hope your ol’ bus freezes up!” Jennings shot back facetiously, “Well, I hope your ol’ plane crashes!” It was a statement that would haunt Jennings for decades. Buddy Holly’s funeral was held on 7th February 1959, at the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Lubbock. The service was officiated by Ben D. Johnson, who had presided at Holly’s wedding just months earlier. The pallbearers were Jerry Allison, Joe B.

Mauldin, Niki Sullivan, Bob Montgomery, Sonny Curtis, and it is often said Phil Everly – however, Phil has said that he was not a pallbearer. Buddy Holly’s body was interred in the City of Lubbock Cemetery in the eastern part of the city. His headstone carries the correct spelling of his surname (Holley) and a carving of his Fender Stratocaster guitar. 2011 represented the 75th anniversary of Buddy Holly’s birth. This was marked by a Hollywood Walk of Fame star and a couple of all-star tribute albums with artists like Stevie Nicks, Brian Wilson, Ringo Starr, Kid Rock, Lou Reed, My Morning Jacket and Chris Isaak paying homage. Speaking at the event Phil Everly said: “When we were interviewed in the ‘50s, the first, second or third question would be “What are you going to do when it’s over?” The people writing the articles hated the music. Whether it was Buddy or Eddie Cochran or Don and myself, none of us thought it would last because that was what we kept getting told.

Inside the perimeter, what we were thinking was – and this is what we loved – the cool thing was to do something original. That was important to all of us. I’m only here because Buddy was my friend. My great respect for his music has never diminished.” At the concert Phil joined in the finale singing ‘That’ll Be The Day’, commenting afterwards that it was his last live performance. Enjoy viewing the complete Buddy Holly Song Lyrics. Check out this site dedicated to Buddy Holly: Buddy Holly Lyrics – Buddy Holly Lyrics – Buddy Holly Lyrics Share this: City of Lubbock - Buddy Holly Center - Biography Buddy Holly Biography Lubbock and The Holleys Charles Hardin "Buddy" Holley was born in Lubbock on September 7, 1936, the fourth child and third son of Lawrence Odell "L.O." Holley and his wife, the former Ella Pauline Drake.

He was nicknamed "Buddy" because, as his mother once confided, "Charles Hardin was just too long a name for such a little boy." The Holley's were originally from Vernon, Texas, migrating to Lubbock in 1925 in search of better jobs which the cotton economy and the newly opened Texas Technological College could provide. Mr. Holley worked as a tailor, short-order cook and a carpenter to support his young family, which included Larry (born in 1925), Travis (1927) and Patricia (1929). Growing Up Musical Buddy Holly was raised in a musical household. His mother Ella was an excellent vocalist, having sung duets with her sister from an early age. Oldest brother Larry studied classical violin, Travis played accordion, and Pat played piano and sang. Buddy's father, "L.O.," was the designated listener. "He couldn't carry a tune in a bag," Travis recalls. Buddy, however, was quite another story. As a child, he showed a quick aptitude for music, taking violin and piano lessons, and later steel guitar lessons, before losing interest.

It wasn't until brother Travis returned from the Marine Corps with a $15 pawnshop Harmony that Buddy took up guitar. "I taught him a few basic chords - - G,C,D,A,E," recalls Travis, "and before long he was telling me, 'No, Travis, you're playing it wrong, it should go like this.'" "Buddy was very quick to learn. Mother used to say it was a shame that he wasn't so quick in applying himself to arithmetic and spelling." Early School Days & Musical Friendships When Buddy entered J.T. Hutchinson Junior High School in 1949, he was already an accomplished guitarist, banjo player and mandolinist. He and fellow 7th grader Bob Montgomery listened to the radio religiously, learning the repertoires of Hank Williams, Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, Jim & Jesse and the entire casts of the Louisiana Hayride and Grand Ol' Opry. A local group, The Mayfield Brothers, were also an early influence.

Buddy and Bob would form several country groups during their junior high and high school years that included Larry Welborn, Don Guess, Jack Neal, Sonny Curtis, Jerry Allison and other young Lubbock area "pickers." The boys would play at school functions, talent shows, car dealerships, grand opening promotions, parties -any venue that would give them experience in front of an audience and exposure for their music. "We'd play for the opening of a pack of cigarettes," says one former bandmate. Elvis --And Rock 'N Roll! If there was a single influence that indelibly shaped Buddy Holly's life and music, it was Elvis Presley. By the time Elvis first barnstormed through Lubbock in early 1955, Buddy and Bob (along with Larry Welborn) were starring on their own Buddy & Bob Show on Lubbock's KDAV radio Sunday Party. They were also opening shows for the big country acts at the Fair Park Coliseum and local clubs. The boys were familiar with Presley's early Sun Records That's Alright Mama and Good Rockin' Tonight, as well as black rhythm and blues picked up from powerful late night radio stations in Memphis and Shreveport.

But seeing "The Hillbilly Cat" in person at Fair Park Coliseum and the Cotton Club was something else. "Presley just blew Buddy away," recalls Sonny Curtis. "None of us had ever seen anything like Elvis, the way he could get the girls jumping up and down, and that definitely impressed Holly. But it was the music that really turned Buddy around. He loved Presley's rhythm --it wasn't country and it wasn't blues --it was somewhere in the middle and it suited just fine. After seeing Elvis, Buddy had only one way to go." Buddy himself would later tell Billboard columnist Ren Grevatt that "without Elvis Presley none of us would have made it." Rock 'n roll had taken hold of Buddy Holly -- and vice versa. Nashville -- Blue Days Black Nights Buddy Holly was no overnight sensation. His first recording contract, with Decca Records in Nashville, was the result of being in the right place at the right time. In October of 1955, Buddy & Bob performed as the opening act for a country package show at the Fair Park Coliseum that included Bill Haley & The Comets.

Also in attendance was Eddie Crandall, a Nashville talent agent and Marty Robbins' manager, who liked what he saw and heard in Holly's spirited performance. Crandall quickly helped broker a Decca recording contract for Buddy (Bob was not included) through music publisher Jim Denny. Buddy would record only a dozen tracks for the label, primarily using veteran session players under the direction of producer Owen Bradley. While Sonny Curtis, Don Guess and Jerry Allison would also be used on various tracks, Bradley pushed for a formula country sound with predictable arrangements -- and, sadly, received predictably disappointing results. Holly's two single releases, Blue Days Black Nights/Love Me and Modern Don Juan/You Are My One Desire went nowhere and his Decca contract was not renewed. Years later, Owen Bradley would reflect, "We had been very successful with a country format; we were all into country, and it's hard to change patterns. Buddy couldn't fit into our formula any more than we could fit into his -- he was unique, and he wasn't in a pattern.

We didn't understand, and he didn't know how to tell us." That'll Be The Day John Wayne's famous line from The Searchers was more than just the inspiration for Buddy Holly & The Crickets' first big hit. That'll Be The Day really sums up the spirit of determination -- the refusal to quit -- that sustained Buddy Holly after the Decca debacle. Returning from Nashville, Buddy began an intensive period of practicing, performing and songwriting with drummer and best friend, Jerry Allison. The two were well known at various independent studios around the West Texas area where they would cut demos. One such studio was owned by Norman Petty in Clovis, New Mexico, a hundred miles northwest of Lubbock. Built in 1955 to record his own group, the Norman Petty Trio, the studio was considered state-of-the-art by 1956 standards. Petty was a gifted engineer as well as musician, and would record numerous hopeful singers and local bands, including Buddy Holly and his friends. And it was there in the early morning hours of February 25, 1957 that Buddy Holly, Jerry Allison, Larry Welborn, Niki Sullivan and Gary and Ramona Tollett met to record That'll Be The Day.

The rest really is rock 'n roll history. The Crickets No mention of Buddy Holly or his music is complete without The Crickets. The original lineup included Buddy Holly, vocal & lead guitar; Jerry "J.I." Allison, drums; Joe B. Mauldin, bass; and Niki Sullivan, rhythm guitar. Sullivan would leave the group after their first national tour in the fall of 1957, and the band continued as a threesome. The Crickets were not simply back-up musicians. The Buddy Holly "sound" is built around the close interplay of Holly's voice, open-chord guitar strumming and Jerry Allison's syncopated drumming. There is a tightness, a oneness to Buddy and J.I.'s playing that has rarely been equaled. "We listened to the same music, played the same licks, and had the same job of filling up the holes in our sound that we just knew what the other was going to play," says J.I. Although some records would be issued under Buddy Holly's name alone, it was The Crickets who played on most of them.

The sound of the Crickets inspired legions of young rockers worldwide, including two lads from Liverpool who named their group, The Beatles, after the boys from Lubbock. The British Tour On March 1, 1958, Buddy Holly and The Crickets began a 25-day tour of England. Many rock historians point to this tour as a major turning point in popular music. The British loved American rock ‘n roll, and the personal appearance of one of their favorite groups gave young English rockers a first hand look at how the music was actually made. Paul McCartney would later recall watching Buddy Holly perform on Sunday Night at The London Palladium television program just to see which chords Holly used and where he placed his guitar capo. Drummer Bob Henrit, who played with Adam Faith, would also add: "Jerry Allison was a schooled drummer and we weren’t. Every drummer played Peggy Sue hand to hand, but he played as a paradiddle. We didn’t even know what a paradiddle was! And the way he played Oh Boy was subtle. He was putting something into rock we weren’t seeing.

We were emulating him without realizing what he was doing." Even Holly’s physical appearance –– black horn-rimmed glasses and 3-button Ivy League jackets –– would influence early English rock fashions. When the "British Invasion" began in the early ‘60s, it was led by musicians such as Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Keith Richards and others who were forever moved by Buddy Holly and The Crickets’ visit to England a few years earlier. It is entirely fitting that the Rolling Stones’ first big hit was Buddy Holly & The Crickets’ Not Fade Away. Learning the Game During the last year of his life, Buddy toured constantly and continued the same relentless pursuit of hit records. His private life, however, changed drastically. In June of 1958, he met and fell in love with Maria Elena Santiago, a receptionist at Peer Southern Music in New York. The two were married on August 15, 1958. As Holly became more sophisticated in the business of music, he was no longer content to have his affairs managed by Norman Petty, and the two ended their business relationship in October. The Crickets and Buddy would also part ways.

Pressures of the road, business dealings, and Holly’s recent marriage had caused dissension between Buddy, Jerry and Joe B., and the three severed their relationship after a final tour in the fall of 1958. Discouraged, but still very determined, Buddy and Maria moved to an apartment in New York City’s Greenwich Village where Buddy concentrated on songwriting, developing his solo career, and producing young, upcoming artists. The Winter Dance Party While Buddy’s financial affairs were being resolved, General Artists Corporation, his booking agency, offered a temporary source of cash –– a 3-week tour through the frozen Midwest beginning January 27, 1959. Because of his split from The Crickets, Holly recruited guitarist Tommy Allsup (who had played on several of Buddy’s recordings and tours), drummer Carl Bunch, and KLLL disc jockey turned bass player, Waylon Jennings. Dubbed the "Winter Dance Party," the tour also included Ritchie Valens (a 17-year old Californian whose record Donna was at the top of the charts), J.P.

Richardson, a 28-year old disc jockey from Beaumont, Texas better known as "The Big Bopper," and Dion and The Belmonts, a popular teenage vocal group from New York City. A young unknown singer named Frankie Sardo and several horn players rounded out the entourage. Almost immediately, the tour was plagued with problems. The busses were poorly heated and prone to frequent breakdowns. Below-zero weather dogged the group as it criss-crossed Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. Holly’s drummer would eventually suffer frostbite, and colds and flu quickly spread among the performers. By the time the tour limped into Clear Lake, Iowa on the evening of Monday, February 2, Holly had decided to charter a small plane for himself, Allsup and Jennings to fly to the next venue in Fargo, North Dakota following two shows at Clear Lake’s Surf Ballroom. At the last minute, Jennings gave up his seat to The Big Bopper (who had the flu); Tommy Allsup lost his seat to Ritchie Valens with a flip of a coin. At approximately 1:00 a.m., the Beechcraft Bonanza plane took off from the nearby Mason City airport.

It crashed less than five minutes later, literally flown into the ground by a pilot blinded by bad weather. One of the greatest rock ‘n roll artists of all time lay undiscovered in a frozen Iowa wheat stubble field until well after dawn. The Influence Buddy Holly’s influence on popular music is enormous. The recordings he made in Clovis are extraordinary for their ingenuity and high level of engineering. Long before overdubbing became a common practice, Holly was "layering" his records with multiple vocal and instrumental lines (as he did on Words Of Love and Listen To Me). He was an experimenter as well. Anything was fair game –– J.I.’s drumming on a cardboard box, playing electric guitar through an organ speaker, adding a delicate celeste –– if it fit the musical textures Holly was painting. That Buddy Holly and The Crickets could make it all sound so easy that any high-school garage band could play right along is a testament to their genius. Holly’s trademark "chord lead" style of rhythmic guitar playing can be heard in every rock ‘n roll band since, from the Beatles to the kids next door. For musicians, his spirit and creativity remain basic lessons on how rock ‘n roll music should be played.

The enormous joy that his music still brings is an inspiration for why it is worthwhile to do so. His friend Sonny Curtis expressed it best when he said that Buddy Holly lives whenever rock ‘n roll is played.

Question: Late American singer/songwriter Buddy Holly was born in which state in 1936?
Answer: Texas