Buddy+Holly+g3

=Buddy Holly 1936-1959=

Charles Hardin (Buddy) Holly was born September 7, 1936 in Lubbock, Texas the fourth of four children born to Lawrence and Ella Holly. His entire family had been musically inclined. The family would sing together at their baptist church. At age eleven he began to take piano lessons, but quickly switched to taking the steel guitar. While attending Jr High he met a boy named Bob Montgomery who would become a fellow band member of his. Buddy had spent most of his high school days playing mostly country based music. While playing his music he played at high school talent shows, Local radio shows, and sometimes and local clubs.

Shortly they became a big hit for people. They traveled as far as New Mexico to play in a club, as well as many other clubs on their way there. Their first record company had been a local radio station KDAV. They had the the weekly "Sunday Party" as well as sponsoring live country and early Rock 'n' Roll concerts. It was during one of these shows Buddy caught the interest of a record company.In January of 1956, Buddy was offered a contract from Decca Records. The only hitch was that they were interested in just Buddy. Montgomery insisted Buddy go alone. On June 3, 1955 Buddy and Bob opened for a young Elvis at Connelly's Pontiac Showroom, in a free show to attract customers. After that gone was the country music, replaced by pure rock and roll. He signed a contract to record country music on the Decca label in 1956. The first session was in Nashville on January 26, 1956 and held at Owen Bradley's recording studio. He had a group to play with, and recorded their first soundtrack along with one of his biggest hits.

February 25, 1957 Holly and the newly named Crickets recorded the rock version of "That Will Be the Day" at Norman Petty's studio in Clovis, New Mexico. in June of 1957 The band released a song named "That'll Be The Day" which was one of the best selling records in both the rock and roll and R&B markets.In August, the group began playing the east coast theater circuit, the Howard in Washington, the Royal in Baltimore and the Howard in New York City. They would spend a week at each place playing. They caught the attention of the black community with their energetic stage shows. For the next year it seemed like either Holly or the Crickets cut a hit record every other month. They started making frequent visits on the Ed Sullivan Show. Buddy and the Cricket eventually had different views on the direction of their music so Buddy split from the group. He moved to Greenwich Village, NY where he married Maria Santiago.The split with Petty caused legal problems, tied up his money and Holly found himself in a situation where he needed to tour to pay the bills. Buddy's last performance was at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa February 2, 1959. He was tired of the bus rides, and wanted to fly to their next destination.On February 3, 1959 the plane took off and crashed minutes later killing all on board. Buddy Holly remained a strong influence throughout the 1960's in music.

Refernces (2009-10.1.2.I)
//The History of Rock and Roll//. Web. 07 Dec. 2009. []. "Buddy Holly." //Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum//. Web. 07 Dec. 2009. .