Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American musician and
singer-songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s

 rock and roll.

 

He was born in Lubbock, Texas, to a musical family during the Great

Depression, and learned to play guitar and sing alongside his siblings.

His style was influenced by gospel music, country music, and rhythm

and blues acts, which he performed in Lubbock with his friends from

high school.

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He made his first appearance on local television in 1952, and the

following year he formed the group "Buddy and Bob" with his friend

 Bob Montgomery. In 1955, after opening for Elvis Presley, he decided

to pursue a career in music. He opened for Presley three times that year;

his band's style shifted from country and western to entirely rock and

roll. In October that year, when he opened for Bill Haley & His Comets,

he was spotted by Nashville scout Eddie Crandall, who helped him get

a contract with Decca Records.

​

Holly's recording sessions at Decca were produced by Owen Bradley,

who had become famous for producing orchestrated country hits for s

tars like Patsy Cline. Unhappy with Bradley's musical style and control

in the studio, Holly went to producer Norman Petty in Clovis,

New Mexico, and recorded a demo of "That'll Be the Day", among

other songs.

Petty became the band's manager and sent the demo to Brunswick

Records, which released it as a single credited to "The Crickets",

which became the name of Holly's band. In September 1957, as the

band toured, "That'll Be the Day" topped the US and UK singles

charts. Its success was followed in October by another major hit,

"Peggy Sue".

​

The album Chirping Crickets, released in November 1957, reached

number five on the UK Albums Chart. Holly made his second

appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in January 1958 and soon after,

toured Australia and then the UK. In early 1959, he assembled a new

band, consisting of future country music star Waylon Jennings (bass),

famed session musician Tommy Allsup (guitar), and Carl Bunch 

(drums), and embarked on a tour of the midwestern U.S. After a show

in Clear Lake, Iowa, he chartered an airplane to travel to his next

show, in Moorhead, Minnesota. Soon after takeoff, the plane crashed,

killing Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper, and pilot

Roger Peterson in a tragedy later referred to by Don McLean as

"The Day the Music Died".

​

During his short career, Holly wrote and recorded several songs.

He is often regarded as the artist who defined the traditional

rock-and-roll lineup of two guitars, bass, and drums. He was a

major influence on later popular music artists, including Elvis

Presley, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Eric

Clapton, Elvis Costello, Marshall Crenshaw (who later played

Holly), and Elton John. He was among the first artists inducted

into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 1986. Rolling Stone

 magazine ranked him number 13 in its list of

"100 Greatest Artists".