Buddy Holly

It was forty nine years ago today that one of early rock's greatest pioneers, the one and only Mr. Charles Hardin Holley, better known as Buddy Holly, met his premature fate in a snow covered, Iowa cornfield along with fellow recording artists and tour mates Ritchie Valens, J.P. Richardson aka "The Big Bopper" and Roger Peterson, the plane's pilot. Though Buddy was only around for a short time his innovations were many and his influence vast (The Beatles, The Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton etc. etc.). In addition to helping popularize the Fender Stratocaster amongst rock artists, Buddy, along with Chuck Berry, was one of rock music's first singer/songwriter/guitarists, largely rising to fame on the strength of original compositions like "That'll Be The Day" and the million selling 45 "Peggy Sue". He was also one of the very first rock artists to utilize Les Paul's early overdubbing techniques, synching two tape machines together to perform sublime harmonies with himself on outstanding original compositions like "Words Of Love", "Listen To Me" and "Wishing". If all this wasn't enough he was also one of the first rock artists to utilize full fledged orchestration on later recordings like the Paul Anka penned "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" and the self-penned "True Love Ways". One can only imagine what heights Buddy would have scaled had he not boarded that plane on that fateful night and continued to evolve as a writer, producer and arranger. Still, as it is his recorded legacy and it's subsequent impact on the British Invasion, as well as every generation since, is truly immeasurable.



For further reading on Buddy I would recommend Ellis Amburn's slighly controversial but truly exhaustive bio titled simply "Buddy Holly". Posted below are a handful of Buddy related links I've gathered including youtube links to his appearances on Ed Sullivan, backed by his legendary group The Crickets (featuring bassist Joe B. Mauldin, drummer Jerry Allison and eventually rhythm guitarist Niki Sullivan). At the time of his death Buddy was touring with a new backing group featuring Waylon Jennings on bass, Tommy Allsup on guitar and Carl "Goose" Bunch on drums.

Buddy Holly wikipedia entry
Buddy Holly Online
The Official Community Of Buddy Holly
buddyhollyarchives.com
"Oh Boy" live on Ed Sullivan
"That'll Be The Day" live on Ed Sullivan
"Peggy Sue" live on Ed Sullivan
recent footage of the crash site