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Artist
Buddy Holly
12+ albums
rockabillyRock and Roll50soldiesrock
about
Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who played an important role in the early development of rock and roll. He was born in Lubbock, Texas, during the Great Depression and grew up in a musical family, learning to play guitar and sing with his siblings. Holly made his first appearance on local television in 1952, and the following year he formed the duo Buddy and Bob with his friend Bob Montgomery. In 1955, after opening a concert for Elvis Presley, Holly decided to pursue a professional music career. He performed with Presley on several occasions that year, and his band’s style began to shift from country and western toward rock and roll. Later in 1955, while opening for Bill Haley & His Comets, he was noticed by Nashville music scout Eddie Crandall, who helped him obtain a recording contract with Decca Records. Holly’s recording sessions for Decca were produced by Owen Bradley, known for producing orchestrated country recordings for artists including Patsy Cline. Dissatisfied with Bradley’s approach and the level of control exercised in the studio, Holly later worked with producer Norman Petty in Clovis, New Mexico. There he recorded a demonstration of "That'll Be the Day" and other songs. Petty became the group’s manager and submitted the recording to Brunswick Records, which released it as a single credited to the Crickets, a name adopted by the band partly to a
