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 Holly,
Buddy (1938-1959), American rock-and-roll singer, instrumentalist,
and songwriter, one of the first major performers of rock-and-roll
music. He was born Charles Hardin Holley in Lubbock, Texas. Holly
began to sing in country groups while still in high school, and by
the mid-1950s he was playing small clubs throughout the Southwest,
singing and playing country music. Drawn increasingly to rock music
as exemplified by Elvis Presley, Holly recorded both alone and as
lead performer with the Crickets; for the latter he co-wrote the best-selling
"That'll Be the Day" (1957), the same year his solo single "Peggy
Sue" became a hit. Holly was immensely popular, rivaling Presley in
audience appeal. Holly and the Crickets had a regular radio show (1955-1958)
and toured all over the world. In the same period he was featured,
with the Crickets or alone, on leading television variety shows, including
the "Ed Sullivan Show" and Dick Clark's "American Bandstand." Holly's
phenomenal career was abruptly ended when he died in a plane crash
near Clear Lake, Iowa. Rock stars Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper
(J.P. Richardson) also died in the crash. Holly's life and short career
formed the basis of the motion picture The Buddy Holly Story (1978)
and the stage musical Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story (1990). He was
also a character in La Bamba (1987), a movie on the life of Valens.
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