Rock and Roll
There was a lot of pioneering with different strands of American music during the 1950s. Part of the experimentation came from Buddy Holly and The Crickets. The Crickets were Niki Sullivan on rhythm guitar, Joe Mauldin on stand-up bass, Jerry Allison on drums, and Buddy Holly on lead guitar and vocals. “That’ll Be The Day” was written by Buddy Holly and Jerry Allison, with Norman Petty on productions. Holly and Allison had gone to see the film The Searchers, which starred John Wayne. In the movie, Wayne’s character would say, “that’ll be the day” when someone would say that something would happen and he believed it wouldn’t. The Crickets performed the song on The Ed Sullivan Show on December 1, 1957. They wore bow-ties. Holly had on his signature horn-rimmed glasses. “That’ll Be the Day” rose to #1 on the U.S. Billboard Pop Chart, #2 on the R&B Chart, and #1 on the U.K. Chart. (That night, they also performed “Peggy Sue,” which went to #3 on the Billboard Chart.)
Charles Hardin Holley, who became known professionally as Buddy Holly, was born on September 7, 1936, in Lubbock, Texas. He is one of those people we tend to remember for the anniversary of their death rather than their birthday, as he died on February 3, 1959, along with Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper on what is called “the day the music died.” Buddy Holly and The Crickets released their first album called The Chirping Crickets in November, 1957, in the U.S. In those fifteen months from the release of that album until his death, he recorded three studio albums, 22 singles, and numerous other tracks that were released posthumously. He became an influencer and pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly.
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[…] you are interested in other songs by Buddy Holly: “Peggy Sue,” “That’ll Be the Day,” and “True Love […]