Buddy Holly: The day the music died

Feb 2 2009 By Andy Welch

February 3 is the 50th anniversary of Buddy Holly's death. To mark the occasion, we take a look back at the singer's short yet hugely influential career, and hear from Buddy's widow Maria as well as lifelong fans including Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger.

"Where on earth is show business heading?"

So wrote an outraged Peter Holdsworth in the Bradford Telegraph And Argus in March 1958.

He'd been to see Buddy Holly And The Crickets perform, and from his review at least, seemed less than impressed with what he saw and heard.

What a different opinion we have of the bespectacled singer now.

On February 3, it will be 50 years since Buddy Holly died in a plane crash alongside fellow rock 'n roll pioneers Ritchie Valens and JP 'The Big Bopper' Richardson.

Buddy, born Charles Hardin Holley - the 'e' was dropped due to a spelling mistake on a record contract - was just 22 when he died.

In the few years he was writing and recording music, however, he left behind a legacy that's been inspiring artists ever since.

"When I was 16 or 17, I went to see Buddy Holly play and I was three feet away from him, and he LOOKED at me!" said Bob Dylan during his acceptance speech at the 1998 Grammy awards. The concert Dylan went to was only two days before Buddy's death.

"He was a poet, and way ahead of his time," added the legendary songwriter.

That other great American storyteller, Bruce Springsteen, speaks equally highly of Buddy.

"I play Buddy Holly every night before going onstage. It keeps me honest," says The Boss.

Of course, his innovation and exciting, energetic songs such as Rave On, That'll Be The Day and Peggy Sue, weren't going unnoticed on this side of the Atlantic either.

Elton John was an early fan, and was so affected by Buddy's songs he permanently changed his appearance - although it might not have been on purpose.

"I only needed specs for reading, but as a result of wearing them all the time to try to look like Buddy Holly, I became genuinely nearsighted," he says.

Paul McCartney took notice too, so much so that he now owns all the publishing rights to Buddy's recordings.

"At least 40 of the songs The Beatles wrote were influenced by him," he says.

His songwriting partner John Lennon once commented that Buddy "made it OK to wear glasses. I WAS Buddy Holly."

Perhaps the most famous eulogy to Buddy Holly's talent and influence is Don McLean's 1971 classic American Pie.

Loaded with pop culture references, the song tells the story of a young boy who, while on his paper round, finds out about the death of those three young singers and their pilot, Roger Peterson.

"February made me shiver, with every paper I deliver. Bad news on the doorstep, I couldn't take one more step," goes the lyric.

The song later refers to February 3 as "the day the music died," a phrase that has been used ever since.

"I can't remember if I cried, when I read about his widowed bride. Something touched me deep inside, the day music died."

Maria Elena Holly was the widowed bride, and had been married to Buddy for just six months before he was killed. She was also pregnant, but miscarried a few weeks later.

Each year, Maria, now in her mid-70s, commemorates the passing of her husband in the same way.

"I pray for Buddy, like I do every night," she begins.

"I light a candle, I buy flowers, and stay home. If I'm travelling, I just remember him as he was when I met him.

"When Buddy died it was so sudden," she continues.

"Those kinds of deaths are very, very difficult to deal with because you don't have the chance to say goodbye.

"I mean, he left home against my will, I was pregnant," she says.

"He said 'It will be a short tour - I just can't continue without getting my own money to do what we're planning to do.'

"We had plans to open record companies and our own publishing company and Buddy also wanted to develop new artists, even at that time."

Without Buddy's insistence that she stay at home, Maria would have been aboard the plane. She's also stated in many interviews that both she and her partner had premonitions about an accident.

"I dreamt about a comet," she explains.

"There was this great ball of fire coming down. It came past me and made a hole in the ground, and I could see the fire coming out of that hole."

Due to his prolific writing and recording, Buddy's record label were able to release new material of his for 10 years after his death.

By the mid-60s, some five or six years after he died, he was known the world over. He continues to inspire musicians today.

He's particularly influential in the UK, where, after just one tour, he won a legion of fans. The popularity of Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story, the West End musical that has been showing since 1989 and goes on its own tour of Britain from February to June, is testament to his longevity.

While Elvis, all cheekbones, drawl and pelvis, wowed the girls, his look was difficult for the average lad in the late 50s to pull off effectively.

But Buddy's simple style and bookish glasses, appealed to everyone, be they the nervous outsider or genuine cool kid.

"Of all the music heroes of the time, Buddy Holly was the most accessible, and he was the real thing... He was one of us," said guitarist and fan Eric Clapton when asked about his early influence.

He had the complete package - breathtaking yet accessible music, and a style that was easy to copy. No wonder Britain, still recovering from the war, took in this lanky kid with such open arms.

"For Buddy and a lot of American musicians, they had to go out of the US to be recognised," says Maria.

"Buddy was more recognised in the UK than he was in America.

"He loved his fans," she continues.

"He connected with them because he always said 'Those people are the ones who are making me, they love my music so why should I be distanced from them?'," she says.

"Fifty years is a long time in anyone's life, let alone to be apart from your first true love.

"To me, it doesn't seem like 50 years since he's been gone," Maria concludes.

"To me, he's still around - not in person of course, but he's here."

BUDDY HOLLY - EXTRA TIME

:: Buddy was born in the city of Lubbock, Texas, on September 7, 1936.

:: Buddy took the title of his most famous hit, That'll Be The Day, from a phrase used by John Wayne's character in classic 1956 Western The Searchers.

:: Fellow rock 'n roller Eddie Cochrane was a close friend of Holly, Valens and The Big Bopper. After their deaths, he recorded a tribute, Three Stars, but didn't allow its release as he was too distraught to perform it. Cochrane also died prematurely, a year after Holly, aged just 21. The song was then released and became a hit.

:: Buddy's widow Maria says he was "blind as a bat" without his thick glasses, but they made him feel self conscious and he disliked wearing them.

:: Buddy was inspired to take up rock 'n roll after seeing Elvis Presley perform. A short time later, he was playing alongside Elvis, and also supported Bill Haley & The Comets.

:: The 50th anniversary of Buddy Holly's death is on February 3.

:: The Very Best Of Buddy Holly And The Crickets double CD album and The Music Of Buddy Holly And The Crickets: The Definitive Story DVD are both released on February 2.

:: Buddy the musical plays London's Duchess Theatre until February 7 and goes on a UK tour runs until June. See www.buddythemusical.com for details.