Posted on 02/03/2008 11:42:38 AM PST by SE Mom
...It was about 1 a.m., Feb. 3, 1959, when a light plane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. (The Big Bopper) Richardson crashed near Mason City, Iowa. The trio had just finished a concert in Clear Lake and was headed to Fargo, N.D., the next stop on their tour, when the plane went down in bad weather.
All three were hitmakers on the music scene at the time, Valens with the song “La Bamba” and Richardson with “Chantilly Lace.”
But the real star of the group was Holly. He was the creator of songs which are now considered to be part of the roots of rock and roll, tunes such as “That’ll Be the Day,” “Words of Love” (covered by the Beatles), “Not Fade Away” (the Rolling Stones first British hit) and other classics.
All of his success and the legacy he left behind was created in just a very short time. When he died, Buddy Holly was just 22 years old.
That leads one to wonder if that plane hadn’t gone down 49 years ago today, what else might he have contributed to the world of music?
...
(Excerpt) Read more at niagara-gazette.com ...
49 YEARS...whoa..
Watched part of The Buddy Holly Story yesterday myself.
Huh, I never made the connection
I daresay the ‘British Invasion’ might have been short circuited somewhat had Buddy lived.
Waylons life was saved by a flip of the coin
The group was flying into Hector Field in Fargo, ND.
The performance was to be held at the now torn down
National Guard Armory in Moorhead, Minnesota.
The armory held many events, including a college dance in the fall of 1967 which I attended. One of the colleges in Moorhead, Concordia College did not permit dances on its campus so their students came to these dances which included students from Moorhead State College, now Minnesota State Univesity Moorhea, and NDSU (North Dakota State University).
As you may know Buddy Holly’s replacement for the concert was Moorhead resident Bobby Vee.
Teenagers back in the beloved ‘50s would go to the bowling alley in Lubbock and listen to the Buddy Holly and the Crickets play their music.
“True Love Ways” is one of my favorite Holly songs. The DJ at our daughter’s wedding played it for the couple’s first dance, not realizing that she and her husband had met at Texas Tech, and they had gone to check out the newly-dedicated Buddy Holly memorial in Lubbock on their first date. Serendipity.
Bye bye, Miss American Pie.
Several good ones died in plane crashes. I can still recall when I first heard the news of Ronnie Van Zant and that to me was the day when music died since while there have been decent bands to come since Skynyrd they were still at the top of their game during what was the greatest period of rock music.
Ironically, Rick Nelson closed his last show with a cover of “Rave On”, just before he died in a plane crash of his own on New Year’s Eve 1985.
Buddy Holly was an extremely talented songwriter, one of the greatest in pop music, in my opinion.
Now I am blue. Thanks.
There was quite the concert last night and events since last Wednesday night here to remember. Incredible the number of people come to North Iowa in the middle of winter from as far away as the UK every year.
I agree. Many of his melodies and chord progressions were very sophisticated for his time.
I agree- he is one of my all time favorites. The talent and creativity for a young man his age...imagine if we’d had him longer..
By the way - decent coverage, and some video clips can be found at: http://www.globegazette.com/
Thanks for fixing the headline- I wasn’t THINKING!!!
:)
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