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Holly was born in Lubbock, Texas to parents Lawrence Odell Holley and Ella Pauline Drake. The Holleys were a musical family and as a young boy Holley learned to play the violin (his brothers oiled the strings so much that no one could hear him play), piano and guitar. In the fall of 1949 he met Bob Montgomery at Hutchison Jr. High School. They shared a common interest in music, and soon teamed up to perform as the duo "Buddy and Bob". Initially influenced by bluegrass music, they sang harmony duets at local clubs and high school talent shows. Holley's turn to rock music came after seeing Elvis Presley sing live, in his hometown of Lubbock in early 1955. A few months later, he appeared in the same bill with Presley, also in Lubbock. Holley's transition to rock was finalized when they opened for Bill Haley and his Comets at a local rock show organized by Eddie Crandall, who was also the manager for Marty Robbins. As a result of this performance, Holley was offered a contract with Decca Records to work alone. However, early success as a solo artist eluded him. Back in Lubbock, Holley formed his own band, "The Crickets", and began making records at Norman Petty's studios in Clovis, New Mexico. Among the songs they recorded was "That'll Be the Day", which takes its title from a phrase which John Wayne's character says repeatedly in the movie, ''The Searchers''. Norman had music industry contacts, and believing that "That'll Be the Day" would be a hit single, he contacted publishers and labels. Coral Records, a subsidiary of Decca, signed Buddy Holly and The Crickets. This put Buddy in the unusual position of having two record contracts at the same time. Before "That'll Be The Day" had its nationwide release and became a smash hit, Holley played lead guitar on the hit-single "Starlight", recorded in April 1957, featuring Jack Huddle. Buddy Holly and The Crickets
Holly's music was sophisticated for its day, including the use of instruments considered novel for rock and roll, such as the celesta (heard on "Everyday"). Holly was an influential lead and rhythm guitarist, notably on songs such as "Peggy Sue" and "Not Fade Away". While Holly could pump out boy-loves-girl songs with the best of his contemporaries, other songs featured more sophisticated lyrics and more complex harmonies and melodies than had been previously shown in the genre.Many of his songs feature a unique vocal "hiccup" technique, a clipped "uh" sound used to emphasize certain words in any given song, especially the rockers. Example, the start of the raucous number "Rave On": "Weh-UH-eh-UH-ell, the little things you say and do, make me want to be with you-UH-ou...".Holly also managed to bridge some of the racial divide that punctuated rock, notably winning over an all-black audience when accidentally booked for New York's Apollo Theater (though, unlike the fictional portrayal in his movie biography, it took several performances for audiences to be convinced of his talents).After the release of several highly successful songs, in March 1958, he and the Crickets toured the United Kingdom. In the audience were teenagers named John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who later cited Holly as a primary influence (the band's name, The Beatles, was later chosen partly in homage to Holly's Crickets). The Beatles did a cover version of "Words of Love" that was an almost perfect reproduction of Holly's version. The Rolling Stones did a cover of "Not Fade Away." The group, The Hollies were named in homage.Holly's personal style, more controlled and cerebral than Elvis's and more youthful and innovative than the country and western stars of his day, would have an influence on youth culture on both sides of the Atlantic for decades to come, reflected particularly in the New Wave movement in artists such as Elvis Costello and Marshall Crenshaw, and earlier in folk rock bands like The Byrds and The Turtles.He married Maria Elena Santiago on August 15 1958.In 1959, Holly split with the Crickets and began a solo tour with other notable performers including Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson, "The Big Bopper". One audience member at the tour stop in Duluth, Minnesota was a young Bobby Zimmerman who would later be known as Bob Dylan.Following the February 2 performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, Buddy Holly chartered a Beechcraft Bonanza to take him and his new Crickets band (Tommy Allsup and Waylon Jennings) to Fargo, North Dakota. Richardson came down with the flu and didn't feel comfortable on the bus, so Jennings gave his plane seat to him. Valens had never flown on a small plane and requested Allsup's seat. They flipped a coin, and Valens called heads and won the toss. The four-passenger Beechcraft Bonanza took off into a blinding snow storm and crashed into Albert Juhl's corn field several miles after takeoff at 1:05. The crash killed Holly, Valens, Richardson, and pilot Roger Peterson, leaving Holly's pregnant bride, Maria Elena Holly, a widow (though she would miscarry soon after). Funeral services were held at the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Lubbock, Texas, and Buddy Holly was interred in the City of Lubbock Cemetery.Holly's headstone carries the correct spelling of his name, Buddy Holley. It also features a carving of his favorite guitar. Downtown Lubbock has a "walk of fame" with plaques to various area artists such as Mac Davis and Waylon Jennings, with a life-size statue of a guitar-playing Buddy as its centerpiece.The tragic plane crash inspired singer Don McLean's popular 1971 ballad "American Pie", and immortalized February 3 as "The Day the Music Died". Contrary to popular myth, "American Pie" was ''not'' the name of the ill-fated airplane.The Surf Ballroom, a popular and old-fashioned dance hall that dates to the height of Big Band Era, continues to put on shows, notably an annual Buddy Holly tribute on the anniversary of his last performances.

Tributes


Monument at Crash Site,
September 16 2003.]]
In 1988, Ken Paquette, a Wisconsin fan of the 1950s, erected a stainless steel monument depicting a steel guitar and a set of three records bearing the names of each of the three performers. It is located on private farmland, about one quarter mile west of the intersection of 315th Street and Gull Avenue, approximately five miles north of Clear Lake. He also created a similar stainless steel monument to the three musicians near the Riverside Ballroom in Green Bay, Wisconsin. That memorial was unveiled on July 17 2003.The dramatic arc of Holly's life story inspired a Hollywood biography ''The Buddy Holly Story'', for which actor Gary Busey received a nomination for Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Holly, as well as successful Broadway and West End musicals documenting his career. The West End musical, ''Buddy'', ran for seven years.Buddy Holly is considered one of the founding fathers of rock 'n roll and one of its most influential. Although his career was cut short, his body of work is considered some of the best in rock music history and his music would influence not only many of his recording contemporaries, but also the future direction music would take. As one of the capstones of rock 'n' roll, Buddy influenced groups for decades.The science fiction novel ''Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede'', by Bradley Denton (ISBN 0688108229 and ISBN 0380718766), begins when television sets throughout the world suddenly begin broadcasting a concert by an apparently living Buddy Holly, who says he is on Ganymede.Terry Pratchett's novel ''Soul Music'' features a protagonist whose name translates to "Bud Y Holly"."Oil", an episode of ''The Young Ones'' features Mike (Christopher Ryan) discovering Buddy Holly, alive and well and tangled in parachutes, in the attic of a house in London. Holly comments that he loves "your British beetles", as he has been eating them since the plane crash. Mike asks Holly if he has come up with any new material, and Holly plays a brief song about eating crickets...then his parachute strap suddenly breaks, slamming him into the floor and killing him. Mike later hands off a duffle bag containing Holly's corpse to two minor characters, asking them to "take care of my Buddy."The 1998 film "Six-String Samurai," a surreal romp through an alternate-timeline post-apocalyptic America (Russia bombed and then invaded the United States in 1957), features a rock-and-rolling martial arts hero named "Buddy" who sports familiar black horn-rimmed glasses and a tuxedo. The film follows Buddy's journey to "Lost Vegas", the last outpost of freedom in the world, to claim the crown of the recently-deceased King Elvis.Buddy Holly was part of the first group inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its formation in 1986. His pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

Selected discography



Since his death many bands & artists have covered Buddy Holly material such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, John Lennon, Humble Pie, Rush and many others.
''Buddy Holly'' was a hit song in 1994 for the indie rock band Weezer on their self-titled debut album. The music video for the song was included with Microsoft Windows 95.

External links



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