American rock music pioneer Buddy Holly (1936 - 1959) (second left) and his band The Crickets perform on Ed Sullivan's CBS variety show 'Toast of the Town,' New York, December 1, 1957.
Charles Hardin Holley, known as Buddy Holly, was an American musician, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll.
Background
He was born on September 7, 1936, in Lubbock, Texas, at 3:30 pm. The youngest of three children, he was nicknamed "Buddy" by his mother, Ella Drake Holley.
His father, Larry Holley, worked at various times as a cook, carpenter, tailor, and clothing salesman.
Education
Buddy studied at Roscoe Wilson Elementary. There became he friends with Bob Montgomery, and the two played together, practicing with songs by the Louvin Brothers and Johnnie & Jack.
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.
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.
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.
Buddy Holly was baptized a Baptist, and the family were members of the Tabernacle Baptist Church.
Views
"We like this kind of music. Jazz is strictly for stay-at-homes."
"If anyone asks you what kind of music you play, tell him 'pop.' Don't tell him 'rock'n'roll' or they won't even let you in the hotel."
"Without Elvis none of us could have made it."
Personality
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.
Playful and exuberant on stage, he was shy and introverted when not performing and was prone to taking long solitary drives in the Texas desert.
Physical Characteristics:
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, which had been 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".
Quotes from others about the person
Bob Dylan: "I just want to say that one time when I was about sixteen or seventeen years old, I went to see Buddy Holly play … at a Duluth National Guard Armory and I was three feet away from him. … And he LOOKED at me."
Julian Lloyd Webber: "Conspiracy theorists might have it otherwise, but any mystery relating to Buddy Holly's death has nothing to do with the plane crash. Far more intriguing is why the six marvellous songs he wrote shortly before he was killed should be among the most angst–ridden in the entire canon of rock. … Whatever the reason, Holly's last compositions were a wonderful achievement. Heard as he recorded them, without the overdubs, his voice is crystal clear yet raw with emotion. Close your eyes and, 50 years later, Buddy Holly is singing directly to you from across the room."
Interests
Music & Bands
Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Snow, Bob Wills
Connections
During a visit to the offices of Peer-South, Holly met María Elena Santiago. He asked her 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 with Holly, who had also started to question Petty's bookkeeping. The Crickets, frustrated because he controlled all of the proceeds from the band, were also in conflict with Petty.