Buddy Holly Tickets

Charles Hardin Holley, known professionally as Buddy Holly was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll. The change of spelling of Holley to Holly came about because of an error in a contract he was asked to sign, listing him as Buddy Holly. That spelling was then adopted for his professional career.

Although his success lasted only a year and a half before his death in an airplane crash, Holly is described by critic Bruce Eder as the single most influential creative force in early rock and roll.

His works and innovations were copied by his contemporaries and later musicians, notably The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, and exerted a profound influence on popular music. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Holly #13 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Holly's music was sophisticated for its day, including the use of instruments considered novel for rock and roll, such as the celesta. Holly was an influential lead and rhythm guitarist, notably on songs such as Peggy Sue and Not Fade Away. While Holly could pump out boy-loves-girl songs with the best of his contemporaries, other songs featured more sophisticated lyrics and more complex harmonies and melodies than had previously appeared in the genre.

Many of his songs feature a unique vocal hiccup technique, a glottal stop, to emphasize certain words in any given song, especially the rockers. Other singers have used a similar technique, though less obviously and consistently.He was among the first to overdub musical tracks with his own voice and guitar playing, and the first to use classical stringed instruments on rock records.

In addition to his own hits, Holly's influence is felt in the work of other musicians, including the Beatles and Bob Dylan. Himself influenced by early rock giant Elvis Presley, Holly nevertheless evolved a distinctive personal style.

Holly's unique vocal style, coupled with Allison's drum beat, ensured success. His singing voice has been likened to that of a person with the hiccups; he is remembered for his use of glottal stops and stretched syllables.

Charles Hardin Holley was born in Lubbock, Texas to Lawrence Odell Holley and Ella Pauline Drake on Labor Day, in 1936. The Holleys were a musical family and as a young boy Holley learned to play piano, guitar and violin. In 1949 Buddy cut a demo of Hank Snow's 'My Two-Timin' Woman' on a home tape recorder, his first known recording.

During the fall of that year he met Bob Montgomery in Hutchinson Junior High School. They shared a common interest in music and soon teamed up as the duo Buddy and Bob. Initially influenced by bluegrass music, they sang harmony duets at local clubs and high school talent shows. His musical interests grew throughout high school while singing in the Lubbock High School Choir.

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 was finalized when he opened for Bill Haley & His Comets at a local rock show organized by Eddie Crandall, who was also the manager for Marty Robbins. As a result of this performance, Holly was offered a contract with Decca Records to work alone, which he accepted.

Back in Lubbock, Holly formed his own band, The Crickets and began making records 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. Coral Records, a subsidiary of Decca, signed Buddy Holly and The Crickets. Holly managed to bridge some of the racial divide that marked rock n' roll music.

While Elvis made black music more acceptable to whites, Holly won over an all-black audience when the Crickets were accidentally booked at New York's Apollo Theater.After the release of several highly successful songs in 1958, Holly and the Crickets toured Australia in January and later the United Kingdom.

That same year, he met Maria Elena Santiago while she was working as a receptionist for Peer-Southern Music, a New York music publisher. He proposed to her on their very first date. She initially thought he was kidding, but they were married in Lubbock on August 15, 1958, less than two months after they met. I'd never had a boyfriend in my life.

I'd never been on a date before. But when I saw Buddy, it was like magic. We had something special: love at first sight, Maria told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal on the occasion of what would have been the Hollys' fiftieth wedding anniversary. She resides in Dallas.

Holly began a solo tour with other notable performers, including Dion and the Belmonts, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. The plane took off in light snow and gusty winds at around 12:55 A.M., but crashed after only a few minutes. The wreckage was discovered several hours later by the plane's owner, Jerry Dwyer, some 8 miles from the airport on the property of Albert Juhl.

The crash killed Holly, Valens, Richardson, and the 21-year-old pilot, Roger Peterson. Holly's body, along with those of Valens and Richardson, was thrown from the wreckage. Holly's pregnant wife became a widow after barely six months of marriage and miscarried soon after.