Born in 1936, to a musical family of Lawrence Odell Holley and Ella Pauline Drake, Charles Hardin Holley as he was named made his first music debut singing harmony duets at local clubs and high school talent shows along with Bob Montgomery in 1949. During his childhood, Buddy Holly learned to play piano, guitar, fiddle and the violin. It was by sheer circumstances that Holley became Buddy Holly when Buddy Holly teamed up with Bob Montgomery and the duo later came to be known as “Buddy & Bob”. Excerpts from Amburn book mentions that his name changed to Holly instead of Holley mainly due to the fact that Buddy Holly signed the Decca Contract which mis-spelled his name as Holly.
It was Elvis Presley who inspired Buddy Holly to take to Rock music during his live performance in Lubbock. Buddy Holly foray into Rock music was completed when he performed for Bill Haley & His Comets at a local rock show organized by Eddie Crandall. The peformances for Bill Haley and His Comets ensured that Buddy Holly got a contract from Decca Records to perform solo. This was the moment of reckoning for Holly as his career took an upward leap and in 1957, Buddy Holly formed his own band “The Crickets”. They began their recordings in Norman Petty’s Studios.
Buddy Holly got married in 1958 to Maria Elena Santiago after less than 2 months of dating. Holly died under very tragic circumstances in 1959 when the plane he boarded after a performance Green Bay, Wisconsin, crashed minutes after taking off. Though his death news may have got a bit overshadowed by another Boeing Crash the same day in New York, Don Maclean termed it as “The day the music died”.