Enjoying a burger with Buddy Holly and the band after the concert.
"You actually talked with Buddy Holly?" Exclaimed my youngest son as we listened to one of Buddy's old Decca albums from my collection. "Yes, the first time I saw him was back in September, 1957,  where he appeared at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. My buddies and I drove the fifty miles to Toronto from our home town…
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Rick's Music Trivia
“You actually talked with Buddy Holly?” Exclaimed my youngest son as we listened to one of Buddy’s old Decca albums from my collection.

“Yes, the first time I saw him was back in September, 1957, where he appeared at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. My buddies and I drove the fifty miles to Toronto from our home town of Hamilton, Ontario to see Buddy and the Crickets appear in a show headlined by Chuck Berry. (There were six of us, My buddies John and Terry and our dates.)”

Then, the following year in February, 1958, I talked with Buddy when John and I hitch-hiked to Toronto to see him (headlining this time), at the Gardens. After the show we went to Lindy’s, an all-night restaurant just around the corner, from the Gardens when Buddy and the band showed up at the table next to us. This time, Buddy sat with the band for a while but then moved to another table to sit with an attractive young lady whom we later assumed was Maria Elena Santiago. They married in 1957 but we didn’t know at the time that they were married. She travelled with the band as a secretary for almost a year before it was made public.

We munched on our burgers and sucked down our shakes while Buddy and the Crickets got their food and then when we all left I asked Buddy for an autograph and said.., “whatever happened to Joe Mauldin”. Without missing a beat, Holly replied,“He quit. Got a pen?” Although with Buddy”s Texas drawl, the word pen became “peayen”.

Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, he was a musician, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. Born in Lubbock, Texas to a musical family during the Depression and learned to play guitar and sing alongside his siblings. His style was influenced by gospel, Country and blues acts, and he performed in Lubbock with his friends from high school. He made his first appearance on local television in 1952, and the following year he formed the group “Buddy and Bob” with his friend Bob Montgomery. In 1955, after opening for Elvis, he decided to pursue a career in music. He opened for Presley three times that year; his band’s style shifted from country and western to entirely rock and roll. In October that year, when he opened for Bill Haley and the Comets he was spotted by scout Eddie Crandall, who helped him get a contract with Decca Records.

Holly’s recording sessions at Decca were produced by Owen Bradley. Unhappy with Bradley’s control in the studio and with the sound he achieved there, he went to producer Norman Petty in Clovis, New Mexico and recorded a demo of “That’ll be the Day” among other songs. Petty became the band’s manager and sent the demo to Brunswick Records which released it as a single credited to “The Crickets”. In September 1957, as the band toured, “That’ll Be the Day” topped the US chart. Its success was followed in October by another major hit, “Peggy Sue”.

The album, “Chirping Crickets”, released in November 1957, reached number five on the Albums chart. Holly made his second appearance on Ed Sullivan Show in January 1958 and soon after, toured Australia and then the UK. In early 1959, he assembled a new band, consisting of future country music star Wylon Jennings, (bass), famed session musician Tommy Alsup (guitar), and Carl Bunch (drums), and embarked on a tour of the midwestern U.S. After a show in Iowa he chartered an airplane to travel to his next show, in Minnesota. Soon after takeoff, the plane crashed, killing him, Ritchie Valens, J.P. Richardson and pilot Roger Peterson in a tragedy later referred to by Don McLean as ‘The Day the Music Died.”

During his short career, Holly wrote, recorded, and produced his own material. Buddy became friends with Bob Montgomery, and the two played together, practicing with songs by the Louvin Brothers. Holley played with other musicians he met in high school, including Sonny Curtis and Jerry Allison.

In 1952, Holley and Jack Neal participated as a duo billed as “Buddy and Jack” in a talent contest on a local television show. After Neal left, he was replaced by Montgomery and they were billed as “Buddy and Bob”. The two soon started performing on the Sunday Partyshow on KDAV in 1953 and performed live gigs in Lubbock. At that time, Holley was influenced by late-night radio stations that played blues and (R&B). Holley would sit in his car with Curtis and tune to distant radio stations that could only be received at night, when local transmissions ended. Holley then modified his music by blending his earlier country and western (C&W) influence with R & B.

By 1955, after graduating from high school, Holley decided to pursue a full-time career in music. He was further encouraged after seeing Elvis Presley performing live in Lubbock, whose act was booked by Pappy Dave Stone of KDAV. In February, Holley opened for Presley at the Fair Park Coliseum, in April at the Cotton Club, and again in June at the Coliseum. By that time, he had incorporated into his band Larry Welborn on the stand-up bass and Allison on drums, as his style shifted from C&W to rock and roll due to seeing Presley’s performances and hearing his music. In October, Stone booked Bill Haley & His Comets and placed Holley as the opening act to be seen by Nashville scout Eddie Crandall. Impressed, Crandall persuaded Grand Ole Opry manager Jim Denny to seek a recording contract for Holley. Stone sent a demo tape, which Denny forwarded to Paul Cohen, who signed the band to Decca Records in February 1956. In the contract, Decca misspelled Holley’s last name as “Holly”; from then on, he was known as “Buddy Holly”

On January 26, 1956, Holly attended his first formal recording session, which was produced by Owen Bradley. He attended two more sessions in Nashville, but with the producer selecting the session musicians and arrangements, Holly became increasingly frustrated by his lack of creative control. In April 1956, Decca released “Blue Days, Black Nights as a single, with “Love Me” on the B-side. Denny included Holly on a tour as the opening act for Faron Young. During the tour, they were promoted as “Buddy Holly and the Two Tones”, while later Decca called them “Buddy Holly and the Three Tunes’. The label later released Holly’s second single “Modern Don Juan”, backed with “You Are My One Desire”. Neither single made an impression. On January 22, 1957, Decca informed Holly his contract would not be renewed, but insisted he could not record the same songs for anyone else for five years.

Holly was unhappy with the results of his time with Decca; he was inspired by the success of Buddy Knox’, Party Doll” and Jimmy Bowen’s I’m Stickin’ With You”, and visited Petty, who had produced and promoted both records. Together with Allison, bassist Joe Mauldin and rhythm guitarist Niki Sullivan, he went to Petty’s studio in Clovis, New Mexico. The group recorded a demo of the song they had previously recorded in Nashville. Now playing lead guitar, Holly achieved the sound he desired. Petty became his manager. Holly, still under contract with Decca, could not release the record under his name, so a band name was used; Allison proposed the name “Crickets”. Brunswick gave Holly a basic agreement to release “That’ll Be the Day”, leaving him with both artistic control and financial responsibility for future recordings. Impressed with the demo, the label’s executives released it without recording a new version. “I’m Looking for Someone to Love” was the B-side; the single was credited to the Crickets. Petty and Holly later learned that Brunswick was a subsidiary of Decca, which legally cleared future recordings under the name Buddy Holly. Recordings credited to the Crickets would be released on Brunswick, while the recordings under Holly’s name were released on another subsidiary label, Coral Records. Holly concurrently held a recording contract with both labels.

“That’ll Be the Day” was released and Petty booked Holly and the Crickets for a tour with Irvin Field who had noticed the band after “That’ll Be the Day” appeared on the R&B chart. He booked them for appearances in Washington, D.C., Baltimore and New York City. The band was booked to play at New York’s Appollo Theraeron August 16–22. During the opening performances, the group did not impress the audience, but they were accepted after they included Bo Diddley in their shows. By the end of their run at the Apollo, “That’ll Be the Day” was climbing the charts. Encouraged by the single’s success, Petty started to prepare two album releases; a solo album for Holly and another for the Crickets As the success of the song grew, it brought more attention to Holly, with the band at the time being billed as “Buddy Holly and the Crickets.”

In the last week of September, the band members flew to Lubbock to visit their families before beginning Canadian tour of Southern Ontario and Quebec. Meanwhile, for their return to recording, Petty arranged a session in Oklahoma City where he was performing with his own band. While the band drove to the location, the producer set up a makeshift studio. The rest of the songs needed for an album and singles were recorded; Petty later dubbed the material in.

A new recording session in Clovis was arranged in May; Holly hired Tommy Allsup to play lead guitar. Holly was impressed by Allsup and invited him to join the Crickets. In June, Holly traveled alone to New York for a solo recording session. Without the Crickets, he chose to be backed by a jazz and R&B band, recording “Now We’re One” Bobby Darrin’s Early In the Morning.

During a visit to the offices of Peer-South.Holly met Maria Elena Santiago.He asked her out on their first meeting and proposed marriage to her on their first date. The wedding took place on August 15. Petty disapproved of the marriage and advised Holly to keep it secret to avoid upsetting Holly’s female fans. Petty’s reaction created friction with Holly, who had also started to question Petty’s bookkeeping. The Crickets, frustrated because he controlled all of the proceeds from the band, were also in conflict with Petty.

Santiago accompanied Holly on tours. To hide her marriage to Holly, she was presented as the Crickets’ secretary. She took care of the laundry and equipment set-up and collected the concert revenues. Santiago kept the money for the band instead of their habitual transfer to Petty in New Mexico.

She and her aunt Provi Garcia, executive of the Latin American music department at Peer-Southern, convinced Holly that Petty was paying the band’s royalties from Coral-Brunswick into his own company’s account. Holly planned to retrieve his royalties from Petty and to later fire him as manager and producer. At the recommendation of the Everly Brothers, Holly hired lawyer Harold Orenstein to negotiate his royalties.

The problems with Petty were triggered after he was unable to pay Holly. At the time, New York promoter Manny Greenfield reclaimed a large part of Holly’s earnings; Greenfield had booked Holly for shows during previous tours. The two had a verbal agreement; Greenfield would obtain 5% of the booking earnings. Greenfield later felt he was also acting as Holly’s manager and deserved a higher payment, which Holly refused. Greenfield then sued Holly. Under New York law, because Holly’s royalties originated in New York and were directed out of the state, the payments were frozen until the dispute was settled. Petty then could not complete the transfers to Holly, who considered him responsible for the missing profit.

In September, Holly returned to Clovis for a new recording session, which yielded “Reminiscing” and “Come Back Baby”. During the session, he ventured into producing by recording Lubbock DJ Waylon Jennings. Holly produced the single “Jole Blon” and “When Sin Stops (Love Begins)” for Jennings.Holly became increasingly interested in the New York music, recording, and publishing scene.

Holly ended his association with Petty in December 1958. His band members kept Petty as their manager, and Holly also split from the Crickets. Petty was still holding the money from the royalties, forcing Holly to form a new band and return to touring.

The Winter Dance Party tour began in Milwaukee, on January 23, 1959. The amount of travel involved created logistical problems, as the distance between venues had not been considered when scheduling performances. Adding to the problem, the unheated tour buses twice broke down in freezing weather, with dire consequences. Holly’s drummer Carl Bunch was hospitalized for frostbite to his toes (suffered while aboard the bus), so Holly decided to seek other transportation. Before their appearance Iowa, on February 2, Holly chartered a four-seat airplane from Dwyer Flying Service for Jennings, Allsup, and himself. Holly’s idea was to depart following the show at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake and fly to their next venue, allowing them time to rest and launder their clothes and avoid a rigorous bus journey. Immediately after the Clear Lake show (which ended just before midnight), Allsup lost a coin toss and gave up his seat on the plane toRitchie Valens, while Waylon Jennings voluntarily gave up his seat to Richardson, who had influenza and complained that the tour bus was too cold and uncomfortable for a man of his size.

When getting on the plane after the Clear Lake show, Allsup agreed to flip a coin for the seat with Valens. Allsup took out a brand new half-dollar, and Ritchie called heads. Heads it was. “That’s the first time I’ve ever won anything in my life,” Valens reportedly said.

The pilot, Roger Peterson,took off in inclement weather, although he was not certified to fly by Instruments. Shortly after 1:00 am on February 3, 1959, Holly, Valens, Richardson, and Peterson were killed instantly when their plane crashed into a cornfield five miles northwest of the Mason City, Iowa airport shortly after takeoff. The bodies of the entertainers were all ejected from the plane on impact, while Peterson’s body remained entangled in the wreckage. Holly had sustained fatal trauma to his head and chest and numerous lacerations and fractures of his arms and legs.

Maria Elena watched the first reports of Holly’s death on television. The following day, she claimed, she miscarried although there is no independent source for this. Holly’s mother, who heard the news on the radio in Lubbock, Texas, screamed and collapsed. Because of Maria Elena’s miscarriage, in the months following the accident, the authorities implemented a policy against announcing victims’ names until after families are informed. Santiago did not attend the funeral and has never visited the grave site. She later told the Avalanche-Journal, “In a way, I blame myself. I was not feeling well when he left. I was two weeks pregnant, and I wanted Buddy to stay with me, but he had scheduled that tour. It was the only time I wasn’t with him. And I blame myself because I know that, if only I had gone along, Buddy never would have gotten into that airplane’.

The demand for Holly records was so great, and Holly had recorded so prolifically, that his record label was able to release new Holly albums and singles for the next 10 years. Norman Petty produced most of these new editions, drawing upon unreleased studio masters, alternate takes, audition tapes, and even amateur recordings (some dating back to 1954 with low-fidelity vocals). The final “new” Buddy Holly album, “Giant”, was released in 1969;

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included Holly among its first class in 1986. On its entry, the Hall of Fame remarked upon the large quantity of material he produced during his short musical career, and said it “made a major and lasting impact on popular music”. It called him an “innovator” for writing his own material, his experimentation with double tracking and the use of orchestration he is also said to have “pioneered and popularized the now-standard” use of two guitars, bass, and drums by rock bands Holly became “one of the most influential pioneers of rock and roll” who had a “lasting influence” on genre performers of the 1960s.

Here is Buddy with a classic from the Nashville studio…Rock Around With Ollie Vee complete with Grady Martin on guitar of course, there’s Dutch McMillin on the tenor sax solo, Floyd Cramer on piano, Harold Bradley on Dano 6-string bass, Don Guess on bass, and Farris Coursey on drums.