Buddy Holly

In just over two years, Buddy Holly wrote one of the most important chapters in the history of rock music, and created a legend which survives to this day. Born Charles Harden Holley (he dropped the "E" for professional use) in Lubbock, Texas September 7, 1936, his early interests, like so many other early rockers, were in C&W music. With his partner Bob Montgomery, played high school hops, started a regular "Buddy & Bob" show over KDAV local radio station and in 1954-55 cut 11 demo songs which were not issued until after his death.

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As a solo performer he cut further 16 tracks, this time in rockabilly vein, for Decca in Nashville in 1956, having been given a contract after appearing as support act when an Elvis Presley/Marty Robbins package tour visited Lubbock. His first release was "Love Me/Blue Days Black Nights", issued July 2, 1956. He soon returned to Nashville to record with his own group "Three Tunes", comprising Don Guess (bs), Jerry Allison (drms), Sonny Curtis (gtr); under the influence of Presley, they cut more fully-fledged rock & roll songs.

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It was when Holly's Decca contract terminated and he travelled to Clovis, New Mexico, and the studio of Norman Petty that things began to happen. With his new group "The Crickets"--only Allison was retained--and Petty as producer, Holly re-recorded "That'll Be The Day" from the earlier Nashville session. With this lineup of Holly (gtr, vcls), Allison (drms), Niki Sullivan (gtr), Joe Mauldin (bs), the song, a Holly-Allison composition, was very successful, reaching No. 3 in the U.S. and No. 1 in the U.K., in 1957. Like all the early hits, it was credited simply to The Crickets. Later Petty would use ambitious multi-tracking techniques and allow Holly to stretch out with his guitar playing--which was highly advanced for the time. The result was a string of million-sellers, including "Maybe Baby", "Peggy Sue", "Oh Boy", and "Think It Over".

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With Allison and Mauldin supporting, Holly toured Britain in 1958 very successfully; on returning to the States married Maria Elena Santiago and moved to Greenwich Village. At this point Holly split from The Crickets, as Petty wanted to record him with strings. By now Holly was second in popularity only to Presley. He joined the Biggest Show Of Stars For 1959 package and after a concert at Clear Lake the chartered light plane took off from nearby Mason City airport and crashed minutes after at 1:50am on February 2, 1959 killing all the passengers, which included, as well as Holly, Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens. Holly was 22.

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Virtually every major rock singer has admitted his debt to Holly. The Hollies took their name from him, and The Beatles just thought of an alternative insect name to The Crickets. In 1974 Bob Dylan said that Holly's music was still as valid then as it had been at the time. Don McLean's "American Pie" album was dedicated to Holly, and the title track, an American cultural Odyssey, traced the beginning of the decline of rock & roll--and by extension everything else the American teenager held dear--from the death of Holly.