Had he lived Buddy Holly would be 73 years old today. He was born on Labor Day Monday, September 7, 1936 in Lubbock, Texas to Lawrence and Ella Holley. Growing up he learned to play the piano, guitar, & fiddle but he's best known for his innovative use of the fender stratocaster. In addition to several movies, he's been memorialized in song by Don McClean in 1971's "American Pie" and more recently by Weezer in their 1994 tune "Buddy Holly." His influence on American music and culture can never possibly be measured. I couldn't begin to count the hours I've spent listening to his music.
I offer this diary as a distraction from the usual cacophany and in-fighting around here and a reminder that everyday while we're vociferously debating the lastest hot button issues... people everywhere are living, dying, laughing, loving, mourning, and celebrating this joyous improbability that is life.
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Wikipedia Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll. Although his success lasted only a year and a half before his death in an airplane crash, Holly is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most influential creative force in early rock and roll." His works and innovations inspired and influenced both his contemporaries and later musicians, notably The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan, and exerted a profound influence on popular music.
Holly was in the first group of inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Holly #13 among "The Fifty Greatest Artists of All Time".
This song was written about his wife Maria Elena whom he met while whe was working as a receptionist and married in June of 1958:
Holly's life was chronicled in the 1978 movie "The Buddy Holly Story" for which Gary Busey won an Academy Award...
Wikipedia Buddy Holly
Holly managed to bridge some of the racial divide that marked rock n' roll. While Elvis made black music more acceptable to whites, Holly won over an all-black audience when the Crickets were booked at New York's Apollo Theater for August 16-22, 1956, though, unlike the immediate response depicted in the 1978 movie The Buddy Holly Story, it actually took several performances for the audience to appreciate his talents. In August 1957, the Crickets were the only white performers on a national tour, their first.