Buddy Holly

St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture, Jan 29, 2002 by Dennis Russell

That same month, the Crickets recorded "Rave On" in New York and toured Australia for six days, then recorded "Well ... All Right" on February 1958. Then, in early March of that year, Holly's group toured England, where their songs were topping the charts. Upon their return to America, the Crickets joined a tour assembled by disc jockey Alan Freed that included Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry. Also in 1958, Holly married Maria Elena Santiago, recorded "Heartbeat," "Wishing," and "Love's Made a Fool of You," and held recording sessions that included extra musicians, including Waylon Jennings, Phil Everly, and King Curtis.

By the time Holly's group toured the Northeast and Canada in October 1958, tension was growing between Holly and manager Petty, and there was friction among band members because of their lead singer's expressed desire to become a solo artist. During the tour, Holly left his manager, with the Crickets leaving Holly to stay with Petty. On October 21, 1958, Holly, working with producer Dick Jacobs and studio musicians, recorded "True Love Ways," "It Doesn't Matter Anymore," "Raining in My Heart," and "Moondreams." In January 1959, Holly assembled a new band, also to be called the Crickets, to take on the "Winter Dance Party" tour of the Midwest. Included in the tour were Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper, and Dion and the Belmonts. The tour began on January 23, 1959, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the evening show on February 1 was canceled due to bad weather. The tour then played Clear Lake, Iowa, on February 2. Following this fateful show, Holly, Valens, and the Big Bopper chartered a small place to take them to the next date in Moorhead, Minnesota. The idea was to avoid taking the tour bus, which had previously broken down and had a defective heater. Shortly after takeoff, the plane crashed in a cornfield about five miles north of Clear Lake, killing Holly, Valens, the Big Bopper, and their pilot. Don McLean later memorialized the date as "the day the music died" in his song "American Pie."

Holly's popularity skyrocketed after his death, with his influence still impacting the contemporary music scene. Even as late as the 1980s, unreleased Holly material was still being issued. During the 1970s, Paul McCartney purchased the Holly song catalogue, and he began sponsoring annual Buddy Holly Week celebrations. Holly fan clubs, magazines, books, and Web sites flourish, and movies and musicals have been based on his life. A statue of him stands in Lubbock, and two memorials to Holly have been placed in Clear Lake, Iowa. One memorial is a large, grey stone located at the Surf Ballroom, where Holly performed his last show. The other is a guitar and three records fashioned out of stainless steel placed at the crash site.