Buddy Holly

Singer / Songwriter / Guitarist / Composer / Producer

Born Charles Hardin Holley on Sept 7th 1936, died Feb 3rd 1957.

Known to family and friends as Buddy, he grew up in Lubbock, Texas and was introduced to music at a young age. Music was in the family (Buddy was the youngest of four) and he learnt to play the fiddle and piano, then was taught the basic chords on the guitar by his older brothers Larry & Travis. He also had an older sister called Patricia. His father "Lawrence Odell "L.O." Holley" and his mother "Ella Pauline Drake" were very supportive of him and his music as he grew up.

During his early years, Buddy listened to the music of Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers, Moon Mullican, Bill Monroe, Hank Snow, Bob Wills, and the Carter Family. His father helped to bring his first duet partner Jack Neal and him together and they jammed/practiced together and so Buddy & Jack was formed around 1952. The young duo performed at local events around Lubbock and even appeared on a local TV talent show. There are some recordings available from this time on collector release CD's ("I Saw The Moon Cry Last Night" / "I Hear The Lord Callin For Me".

Buddy then teamed up with Bob Montgomery again in 1952/53, as they'd known each other for a few years. Bob was a high school friend who also played guitar, sang and soon the duo would be writing their own songs, recording them, also performing & recording cover versions, performing locally to great success (Western Bop). They both listened to the radio programs Grand Ole Opry on WSM, Louisiana Hayride on KWKH, and Big D Jamboree. "Buddy & Bob" would harmonise and play bluegrass/western bop and they had their own slot on the local radio show "Sunday Party" on KDAV radio (in 1953) in their home town of Lubbock. Again, some wonderful recordings exist from that time and have been included on album releases. Stand up bass player Larry Welborn played/gigged with them too. Larry would later play bass on "That'll Be The Day/I'm Looking For Someone To Love" in spring 1957.

Through Bill Haley's booking agent, Eddie Crandall, the trio were given an opportunity by Decca to go to Nashville and record some songs, but the deal was only for one singer, in the Rock n Roll style, as Decca were looking to expand their R&R roster, so Bob Montgomery bowed out, he wanted to focus on Country music, so he told Buddy to go Bass player Don Guess went with Buddy, along with Sonny Curtis who played lead guitar on the sessions. Larry Welborn and Buddy's high school friend and drummer, Jerry JI Allison couldn't get time off school to go with them. Don is credited as co-writer for "Flower Of My Heart", "Queen Of The Ballroom", "Girl On My Mind", "Modern Don Juan", "You Are My One Desire", and "Baby Won't You Come Out Tonight". He would later make three recording trips to Nashville for Buddy's "Bradley's Barn" sessions with Owen Bradley.

As the young musicians were developing, Buddy was listening to more Rhythm & Blues/Gospel and Blues, listening to late night radio out of Shreveport, Louisiana and he also became friends with Sonny Curtis, Don Guess (dbl bass) and JI Allison at that time. This began his departure away from the Bluegrass/Country and western style he and Jack Neal and Bob Montgomery had been performing for a few years. They were growing up, expanding their musical preferences and developing as musicians. Incidentally, Bob would co-write "Wishing", "Heartbeat" and "Love's Made A Fool Of You" with Buddy. "Wishing" and "Love's Made A Fool Of You" were recorded in the hope The Everly Brothers would record them.

By 1955, after graduating from Lubbock High School, Buddy decided to pursue a full-time career in music. He was further encouraged after seeing Elvis Presley perform in Lubbock, whose act was booked by Pappy Dave Stone of KDAV. In February, Holly opened for Presley at the Fair Park Coliseum, in April at the Cotton Club, and again in June at the Coliseum. By that time, Holly had incorporated into his band Larry Welborn on the stand-up bass and Jerry JI Allison on drums, as his style shifted from country and western to rock and roll due to seeing Presley's performances and hearing his music. In October, Stone booked Bill Haley & His Comets and placed Buddy Holly as the opening act to be seen by Nashville scout Eddie Crandall. Impressed, Crandall persuaded Grand Ole Opry manager Jim Denny to seek a recording contract for Buddy. Stone sent a demo tape, which Denny forwarded to Paul Cohen, who signed the band to Decca Records in February 1956. In the contract, Decca misspelled Holly's surname as "Holly" and from then on he was known as "Buddy Holly", instead of his real name "Holley".

In early 1956, Buddy attended his first formal recording session, which was produced by Owen Bradley He attended two more sessions in Nashville, but with the producer selecting the session musicians and arrangements, Buddy became very frustrated by his lack of creative control.

In April 1956, Decca released "Blue Days, Black Nights", a Ben Hall song, as a single, with "Love Me" on the B-side. Jim Denny included Buddy on a tour as the opening act for Faron Young. During the tour, they were promoted as "Buddy Holly and the Two Tones", while later Decca called them "Buddy Holly and the Three Tunes". The label later released Buddy Holly's second single "Modern Don Juan", backed with "You Are My One Desire."

Neither single made an impression. On January 22, 1957, Decca informed Buddy that his recording contract would not be renewed, but insisted he could not record the same songs for anyone else for five years - Buddy called Decca to ask if they would release "That'll Be The Day" contractually, so that he could re-record it in Norman Petty's studio in Clovis, NM with JI on drums, Larry Welborn on stand up bass, and backing vocals from Niki Sullivan (Crickets rhythm guitarist who recently joined) along with Gary & Ramona Tollett. Decca refused, so at the probable suggestion of Norman Petty (who knew the music industry), they came up with "The Crickets" name to get around it being released as Buddy Holly. Shortly after this, Joe B Mauldin became The Crickets bass player and remained with them until his death a few years ago in 2015.

Needless to say, the "That'll Be The Day" (B side "I'm Looking For Someone To Love") demo was sent to "Brunswick Records" in New York by Norman Petty and it was well received, who in turn offered Buddy & The Crickets a basic agreement and released the demo, yes "That'll Be The Day" was a demo, and it gradually starting selling more and more and Rock & Roll history was made. From there, they toured and recorded relentlessly, in the US, then Australia then then England/Wales. They thought Rock & Roll wouldn't last, so they wrote and recorded as much as they could and put it out under The Crickets label of Brunswick and also under Buddy Holly's name with Coral Records. Ironically, "Brunswick Records" was a subsidiary of Decca, who ditched Buddy some months earlier.

Within a short period of time, Buddy Holly went from performing locally as Buddy & Jack, then Buddy & Bob, then as Buddy Holly & The Three Tunes, then Buddy Holly & The Crickets, had major success with record releases, toured all over North America, Hawaii, Australia and the UK, On top of that, Buddy Holly then recording with an orchestra at the Pythian Temple in New York, in 1958, he also made plans to start up his own record label (Prism Records) and music publishing arm (Taupe Publishing) and signed Waylon Jennings then Lou Giordano to his label and produced their first recordings. Buddy was also making plans to open up a record pressing plant in his home town of Lubbock. The Beatles didn't start their own label Apple until ten years later.

That's not all, he had started taking acting lessons, had professional photos done (Bruno in New York), he planned to do a duet album with Ray Charles, he was apparently learning or studying flamenco guitar and there was talk of him producing Ritchie Valens.

Had he not died in that fateful plane crash in Feb 3rd 1959, along with Ritchie Valens, JP The Big Bopper Richardson and the young pilot, Roger Peterson, Buddy Holly would have been a tremendous force in the music industry today. I suspect he would also have gone into scoring/composing for feature films, as he had experience with many genres, he'd worked with arrangers/orchestra with Dick Jacobs, he could play guitar, bass, drums, piano, fiddle, banjo, he had a lot of studio experience, wrote songs for other artists, he recorded some instrumental guitar pieces and was home recording with the pro tape machine he bought from Norman Petty.

Buddy was 22 years old when he died ! Twenty two years old and that is his legacy. Then to top it all off, he inspired so many others to pursue their own musical journey's and write/sing/perform their own music.

What a remarkable young man - Never to be forgotten