Lubbock, Texas, was the birth place of one of the most influential musicians of all times. Charles Hardin Holley was born on the 7th of September 1936, nicknamed Buddy by his parents because he was the youngest in the family. He made his first stage appearance at the age of 5 and also won a talent contest together with his brothers, Travis and Larry. After learning to play the piano, violin and guitar in his childhood, he began entertaining friends in his neighbourhood with songs from Hank Williams. Around 1949, after having met his later partner Bob Montgomery, they formed the duo Buddy & Bob and became a major attraction in their hometown. Eventually they were offered their own programme once they took the chance to perform 2 songs on radio with added bassist Larry Welborn. That's also what gave them the chance of a lifetime later on, which was to play as a warm-up for Bill Haley and Elvis Presley on their tours. After a time however Bob Montgomery decided to take a different path in life and left.

Holly, along with friends Sonny Curtis and Don Guess, was asked by Eddie Crandall to produce four demo songs believing that he could get the group a contract with Decca Records. Everything didn't go according to plan though and, although Holly secured the deal, it was on the condition that he sang with session musicians and not with his own band and that he wouldn't have much control over his style. Because of these reasons he decided to leave the record label the same year.

In 1957, along with Sonny Curtis, Joe Mauldin and Jerry Allison, he formed the group Buddy Holly And The Crickets. By taking his early song "That'll Be The Day" (a phrase taken from the film "The Searchers" with John Wayne) and revamping it the group secured a hit. The record, which was recorded on the Brunswick label and with manager Norman Petty, proved to be a turning point in their career. The style of Buddy Holly and the way he looked was anything than what was normally expected from a Rock'n Roll star, but even though he looked and sounded different in comparison to other singers, he still found world wide acclaim with hits such as "Words Of Love", "Everyday", "Oh Boy" and "Peggy Sue" which was actually originally called Cindy Lou after drummer Jerry Allison's girlfriend.

In August 1958 Holly married Maria Santiago at his parents' home in Lubbock. After several disagreements with Petty, Holly decided to leave his manager and set up a base in New York. Unfortunately for Holly he was rather shocked when his band decided to stay loyal to their manager and not to follow him to New York. So instead Holly began his solo career and had numerous memorable hits. "Heartbeat" and "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" are just two brilliant examples of his later works.

Whilst performing a 24 Winter Dance Party tour in January 1959 along with others stars such as Richtie Valens, Dion And The Belmonts and The Big Bopper tragedy struck. After freezing temperatures and an uncomfortable coach in which the heating didn't work, Holly decided to hire a light aircraft to fly them from Clear Lake Iowa to their next gig in Minnesota. Accompanied by The Big Bopper and Richtie Valens, who had won his seat on the plane with the toss of a coin from fellow musician Tommy Allsup, they took off in the early hours of 3rdFebruary. Shortly after take-off however the plane crashed in poor visibility, killing all on board.
Before leaving, the pilot Roger Peterson had tried to pursuade a fellow pilot to make the trip instead of himself as he was feeling tired. Later it was revealed that the cause of the crash was due to Peterson misreading the gyroscope, he had actually thought that the aircraft was gaining height when in fact it was loosing height.

Since his death Hollys music has become even more popular. His influence on other stars is acknowledged world wide from The Beatles to The Rolling Stones. Even Don Mclean with the hit record "American Pie" mentions his idol with the line "the day the music died".

Holly's style was way ahead of his time and yet sometimes very simple, for instance the classic song "Everyday", where Jennings actually uses the sound of slapping his knee caps instead of playing the drums.

Paul McCartney now owns the publishing rights to Buddy Holly songs. A lifetime fan of Holly's who has always said that he was a big influence on The Beatles, he celebrated the star's death in 1976 with the annual Buddy Holly week and later the same year filming began on the Buddy Holly Story. Even as late as 1990 a stage production called Buddy made its debut in New York.

Maybe as Don Mclean put it: the star did die, but as for his music, today is living prove that it lives on.


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