Three young rock 'n'
roll stars have been killed in a plane crash in the United States.
Buddy Holly, 22, Jiles P Richardson - known as the Big Bopper - 28,
and Ritchie Valens, 17, died in a crash shortly after take-off from
Clear Lake, Iowa.
Born
on 7th September 1936 Buddy Holly was
a singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll.
Although his success lasted only a year and a half before his
death in the airplane crash, Buddy Holly was as "the single
most influential creative force in early rock and roll",
and in 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Holly number 13 on
their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
Not at all bad for someone that had such a short musical career
and was taken away so young.
Buddy Holly turned to rock music after
seeing Elvis Presley sing live in Lubbock in early 1955. A few months
later, he appeared on the same bill with Presley, also in Lubbock. Holly's
transition to rock continued when he opened for Bill Haley & His
Comets at a local rock show.
After working with DECCA records Holly formed his own band and began
recording at Norman Petty's studios in Clovis, New Mexico. Norman had
music industry contacts and believing that "That'll Be the Day"
would be a hit single, he contacted publishers and labels and Coral
Records, a subsidiary of Decca, signed The Crickets along with Buddy
as a solo artist.
After the release of several highly successful songs in 1958, Holly
and the Crickets toured Australia in January and later the United Kingdom.
The ambitious Holly became increasingly interested in the New York music/recording/publishing
scene, while his younger and more easygoing bandmates wanted to go back
home to Lubbock. As a result, in 1959 the group split.
Holly began a solo tour with other notable performers, including Dion
and the Belmonts, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper"
Richardson. After a performance in Green Bay, Wisconsin at the Riverside
Ballroom, on 1 February the tour moved on to the Surf Ballroom in Clear
Lake, Iowa on 2 February 1959. Afterwards, Buddy Holly chartered a Beechcraft
Bonanza to take him and to play the next leg of the Winter Dance Party
tour. The plane took off in light snow and gusty winds at around 12:05
A.M., but crashed a few minutes later.
Because Buddy Holly recorded so prolifically through his short musical
career his record label was able to release brand-new Buddy Holly albums
and singles for 10 years after his death, and especially in europe and
the UK Buddy Holly bacame a legend of who many still adore 50 years
after he was killed.
We hope to bring details of any Buddy Holly tribute nights that arranged
to mark his death and would be interested in anything you know that
is happening in your area.
