Buddy Holly Lesson by Principal Herman

On 2 March, Principal Stephen Herman taught a lesson about musician Buddy Holly and his influence on music in the 1950’s.

Buddy Holly was a rock and roll singer. He is known to  many as the person who started rock and roll. He inspired so many, including The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Elton John, John Lennon, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, and a plethora of other artists.

Born on 6 September 1936 in Lubbock, Texas, Holly was originally named Charles Hardin Holly. He received his nickname “Buddy” from his mother, who claimed  “Charles” was too grown up for her son.

Buddy Holly experimented with various instruments during his short music career. He created songs where hand-slapping was used. He also incorporated echo chambers, drumming on a cardboard box, and using a xylophone–this can be heard in his hit “Everyday.”  He also used an organ.

During his lifetime, he wrote almost thirty songs and recorded over one-hundred more.  He really had his jump start when he opened for Elvis Presley.

In 1956, Holly signed with Decca Records in Nashville. Buddy was dissatisfied with the record label’s demands. He later went to Clovis, New Mexico, to record “That’ll Be the Day.” He credited the song to The Crickets to avoid contract issues.

The group was booked at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York. The band performed “Peggy Sue” on the Ed Sullivan show.

Buddy was the first to put together a three piece band. This band consisted of, Jerry Allison, Buddy Holly, and Joe B. Mauldin.

In early 1958, Buddy asked Maria Elena Holly to be his wife. He asked for her hand on their first date. They were married in Buddy’s hometown of Lubbock two months later.

The last song Buddy ever recorded was in 1959 and was titled “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore.” On the Winter Dance Party tour, buddy’s tour bus kept breaking down. Having endured the frigid temperatures for too long, he chartered a flight to their next tour stop.

Minutes after the flight took off, the plane crashed and killed everyone onboard. Holly,  Ritchie Valens, and Jiles Perry “J.P.” Richardson, Jr., more commonly known as The Big Bopper, were killed, along with the pilot.

Buddy Holly was twenty-two when he was killed. Ritchie valens was seventeen, and the Big Bopper was twenty-eight.

Even though Holly passed away, his influence did not. In 1964, Keith Richards covered the Buddy Holly song, “Not Fade Away.”

In a Rolling Stones interview, famous singer Bruce Springsteen said, “I play Buddy Holly every night before I go on; that keeps me honest”.

John Fogerty inaugurated Buddy Holly into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the first year it opened.                             

 In Lubbock, The Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts has been announced for imminent construction.