I want to start this thread with a thank you to my co-author,featherfingers.During my research he offered numerous helpful suggestions and ideas and also provided the links to the music contained in the thread.Any factual errors or omissions are mine alone.This is by necessity a long thread and much of it will be of interest primarily to the music geeks among us.If you chose not to read the entire thread we hope you will at least enjoy some on the music.It was a labor of love for both of us.
On the evening of February 2 1959 Buddy Holly,Ritchie Valens and J.P.(The Big Bopper)Richardson performed for what would be the last time at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake Iowa,a stop on the "Winter Dance Party" tour.Also on stage that night were Dion and the Belmonts.
Early the next morning Holly,Valens and Richardson boarded a chartered Beechcraft Bonanza to fly to the next tour stop in Fargo North Dakota.Conditions aboard the tour bus were so bad that drummer Carl Bunch was admitted to a hospital with frostbitten feet,and Holly refused to set foot on it again.The plane took off at 12:55 a.m. into a snowstorm.Only 8 miles from the airport the plane,piloted by 21 year old Roger Peterson crashed into farmer Albert Juhl's cornfield at an estimated 170 mph.All aboard died instantly.
Ritchie Valens
Ricardo Steven Valenzuela was born May 13 1941 in Pacoima California,in the San Fernando Valley.As early as age 5 Ricardo was interested in music and learned to play guitar and trumpet.There is a story that a neighbor found the boy playing a guitar with only two strings.The man fixed the guitar and taught Ritchie some chords.Although he was left-handed his desire was such that he learned to play the traditional right-handed way.
When he was 16 Ritchie was asked to join The Silhouettes,a local band, as lead guitar.When the vocalist left the group Valens assumed that role also.When performing live Valens would often improvise new lyrics and guitar riffs,a talent not heard on his recorded music.
In May 1958 Valens,still then known as Richie,was signed to a recording contract by Bob Keane of Del-Fi Records.Valens added the t to his name because he wanted to be different,and Keane suggested the change of his last name to Valens for marketing reasons.
In July of that year Valens cut his first record,featuring "Come On,Lets Go" and "Framed".The record was a success and not long after Valens would cut his second and final 45,with "La Bamba" on one side and "Donna",written about a former girlfriend on the other.Ironicaly Ritchie grew up speaking English at home had to learn the Spanish lyrics to "La Bamba" phonetically.
His professional career lasted less then a year,but he influenced the music of Carlos Santana,Los Lobos,Selena and countless others.Ritchie Valens was 19 when he died.
http://www.youtube.com/v/8nVHaw-xYKA&rel=1
Jiles Perry Richardson
J.P. Richardson was born October 24 1930 in Sabine Pass Texas.The family later moved to Beaumont Texas,where J.P. earned a letter jacket on his high school football team.While studying pre-law at Lamar College he also worked part time as a disc jockey at KTRM in Beaumont,and left school when offered full time work.
After a two year stint in the Army J.P. returned to KTRM.College kids in the area were doing a dance called The Bop,and he adopted the moniker The Big Bopper for his 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. time slot.In May of 1957 he set a record for continuous on air broadcasting,lasting five days,two hours and eight minutes.He played 1,821 records and lost 35 pounds.He was paid $746.50 in overtime.
Richardson began writing music around this time.One of his songs,"White Lightning",became the first #1 hit for a young George Jones.He also wrote "Running Bear" for Johnny Preston,a friend from Port Arthur Texas.The song,on which he sang background vocals was not released until after his death but also became a #1 country hit.
Harold "Pappy" Daily of Houston,promotional director for Mercury and Starday Records,launched J.P. as a recording artist.His first single,"Beggar To A King" went nowhere.In the summer of 1958 however he cut "Chantilly Lace" as The Big Bopper.Released on the Mercury label the song hit #6 on the pop charts and remained in the national Top 40 for 22 weeks.
With the success of "Chantilly Lace",Richardson took time off from KTRM to join the "Winter Dance Party" tour.A member of Holly's band,Waylon Jennings was given a seat on the plane that fateful night but Richardson,suffering from a cold,asked Jennings to give up his seat.J.P. Richardson was 28.
http://www.youtube.com/v/awTsQra0u3Q&rel=1
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley was born September 7 1936 in Lubbock Texas.As a boy Buddy studied guitar,piano and violin.His brothers oiled the strings to spare themselves from Buddy's screeching on the instrument.
In 1949 Buddy became friends with Bob Montgomery,and teamed up as "Buddy and Bob",they began performing at local clubs and talent shows.Elvis Presley played in Lubbock in early 1955 and Buddy became a fan of rock and roll music.When Presley returned to Lubbock Buddy appeared on the same stage with his idol,and his conversion to rock music was complete when he opened a show for Bill Haley & His Comets.
As a result of that performance Buddy was offered a contract with Decca as a solo artist.When he signed with Decca in February 1958 a typo changed his last name to Holly,and Buddy decided to keep the new spelling.One of his first recordings for Decca was an early version of "That'll Be The Day",a line taken from John Wayne's 1956 film "The Searchers".
When he returned to Lubbock Buddy formed his band,The Crickets,and they began recording at Norman Petty's studio in Clovis New Mexico.Petty got Holly and the band a contract with Coral Records,a subsidiary of Decca.In 1957 they released "Starlight" with Buddy on lead guitar and featuring Jack Huddle.
In 1958 Holly and The Crickets toured Great Britain.That same year,while visiting a music publisher in New York Buddy met Maria Elena Santiago,born in San Juan Puerto Rico who was working as a receptionist.He proposed to her on their first date and they were married August 15 1958 in Lubbock.
By 1959 Buddy was increasingly intrested in the New York music scene,and because his bandmates wanted to return to Lubbock,the Crickets split up.That winter Buddy began a solo tour,billed as the "Winter Dance Party".Also on the tour were Ritchie Valens,J.P.(The Big Bopper) Richardson and Dion and the Belmonts.Two days after a show in Duluth Minnesota they performed for the last time in Clear Lake Iowa.The crash of their plane on February 3 1959 was overshadowed in the national news by an airplane crash that same day in New York City.American Airlines Flight 320 crashed during an instrument landing at LaGuardia Airport,killing 65 passangers and crew.
Buddy Holly's music did not die with him.He had recorded so much material in his short life that new albums were released for some ten years after his death.The last album,"Giant" was realeased in 1969.Holly's influence on rock and roll cannot be underestimated.The Rolling Stones,The Beetles and countless others credit him with inspiration for their own music.Buddy Holly was 22.
http://www.youtube.com/v/pribHw93OPc&rel=1
http://www.youtube.com/v/Ko0qw3nHwdU&rel=1
http://www.youtube.com/v/QhKa8Rn-Hvg&rel=1
Finally,i will end this thread with two special links i hope everyone will take a look at.I found them moving,i hope you will also.
http://www.youtube.com/v/mFOyLDe1nbw&rel=1
http://www.youtube.com/v/Kb0KIRhHsFE&rel=1
It theres a rock and roll heaven,you know they got a hell of a band.
On the evening of February 2 1959 Buddy Holly,Ritchie Valens and J.P.(The Big Bopper)Richardson performed for what would be the last time at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake Iowa,a stop on the "Winter Dance Party" tour.Also on stage that night were Dion and the Belmonts.
Early the next morning Holly,Valens and Richardson boarded a chartered Beechcraft Bonanza to fly to the next tour stop in Fargo North Dakota.Conditions aboard the tour bus were so bad that drummer Carl Bunch was admitted to a hospital with frostbitten feet,and Holly refused to set foot on it again.The plane took off at 12:55 a.m. into a snowstorm.Only 8 miles from the airport the plane,piloted by 21 year old Roger Peterson crashed into farmer Albert Juhl's cornfield at an estimated 170 mph.All aboard died instantly.
Ritchie Valens
Ricardo Steven Valenzuela was born May 13 1941 in Pacoima California,in the San Fernando Valley.As early as age 5 Ricardo was interested in music and learned to play guitar and trumpet.There is a story that a neighbor found the boy playing a guitar with only two strings.The man fixed the guitar and taught Ritchie some chords.Although he was left-handed his desire was such that he learned to play the traditional right-handed way.
When he was 16 Ritchie was asked to join The Silhouettes,a local band, as lead guitar.When the vocalist left the group Valens assumed that role also.When performing live Valens would often improvise new lyrics and guitar riffs,a talent not heard on his recorded music.
In May 1958 Valens,still then known as Richie,was signed to a recording contract by Bob Keane of Del-Fi Records.Valens added the t to his name because he wanted to be different,and Keane suggested the change of his last name to Valens for marketing reasons.
In July of that year Valens cut his first record,featuring "Come On,Lets Go" and "Framed".The record was a success and not long after Valens would cut his second and final 45,with "La Bamba" on one side and "Donna",written about a former girlfriend on the other.Ironicaly Ritchie grew up speaking English at home had to learn the Spanish lyrics to "La Bamba" phonetically.
His professional career lasted less then a year,but he influenced the music of Carlos Santana,Los Lobos,Selena and countless others.Ritchie Valens was 19 when he died.
http://www.youtube.com/v/8nVHaw-xYKA&rel=1
Jiles Perry Richardson
J.P. Richardson was born October 24 1930 in Sabine Pass Texas.The family later moved to Beaumont Texas,where J.P. earned a letter jacket on his high school football team.While studying pre-law at Lamar College he also worked part time as a disc jockey at KTRM in Beaumont,and left school when offered full time work.
After a two year stint in the Army J.P. returned to KTRM.College kids in the area were doing a dance called The Bop,and he adopted the moniker The Big Bopper for his 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. time slot.In May of 1957 he set a record for continuous on air broadcasting,lasting five days,two hours and eight minutes.He played 1,821 records and lost 35 pounds.He was paid $746.50 in overtime.
Richardson began writing music around this time.One of his songs,"White Lightning",became the first #1 hit for a young George Jones.He also wrote "Running Bear" for Johnny Preston,a friend from Port Arthur Texas.The song,on which he sang background vocals was not released until after his death but also became a #1 country hit.
Harold "Pappy" Daily of Houston,promotional director for Mercury and Starday Records,launched J.P. as a recording artist.His first single,"Beggar To A King" went nowhere.In the summer of 1958 however he cut "Chantilly Lace" as The Big Bopper.Released on the Mercury label the song hit #6 on the pop charts and remained in the national Top 40 for 22 weeks.
With the success of "Chantilly Lace",Richardson took time off from KTRM to join the "Winter Dance Party" tour.A member of Holly's band,Waylon Jennings was given a seat on the plane that fateful night but Richardson,suffering from a cold,asked Jennings to give up his seat.J.P. Richardson was 28.
http://www.youtube.com/v/awTsQra0u3Q&rel=1
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley was born September 7 1936 in Lubbock Texas.As a boy Buddy studied guitar,piano and violin.His brothers oiled the strings to spare themselves from Buddy's screeching on the instrument.
In 1949 Buddy became friends with Bob Montgomery,and teamed up as "Buddy and Bob",they began performing at local clubs and talent shows.Elvis Presley played in Lubbock in early 1955 and Buddy became a fan of rock and roll music.When Presley returned to Lubbock Buddy appeared on the same stage with his idol,and his conversion to rock music was complete when he opened a show for Bill Haley & His Comets.
As a result of that performance Buddy was offered a contract with Decca as a solo artist.When he signed with Decca in February 1958 a typo changed his last name to Holly,and Buddy decided to keep the new spelling.One of his first recordings for Decca was an early version of "That'll Be The Day",a line taken from John Wayne's 1956 film "The Searchers".
When he returned to Lubbock Buddy formed his band,The Crickets,and they began recording at Norman Petty's studio in Clovis New Mexico.Petty got Holly and the band a contract with Coral Records,a subsidiary of Decca.In 1957 they released "Starlight" with Buddy on lead guitar and featuring Jack Huddle.
In 1958 Holly and The Crickets toured Great Britain.That same year,while visiting a music publisher in New York Buddy met Maria Elena Santiago,born in San Juan Puerto Rico who was working as a receptionist.He proposed to her on their first date and they were married August 15 1958 in Lubbock.
By 1959 Buddy was increasingly intrested in the New York music scene,and because his bandmates wanted to return to Lubbock,the Crickets split up.That winter Buddy began a solo tour,billed as the "Winter Dance Party".Also on the tour were Ritchie Valens,J.P.(The Big Bopper) Richardson and Dion and the Belmonts.Two days after a show in Duluth Minnesota they performed for the last time in Clear Lake Iowa.The crash of their plane on February 3 1959 was overshadowed in the national news by an airplane crash that same day in New York City.American Airlines Flight 320 crashed during an instrument landing at LaGuardia Airport,killing 65 passangers and crew.
Buddy Holly's music did not die with him.He had recorded so much material in his short life that new albums were released for some ten years after his death.The last album,"Giant" was realeased in 1969.Holly's influence on rock and roll cannot be underestimated.The Rolling Stones,The Beetles and countless others credit him with inspiration for their own music.Buddy Holly was 22.
http://www.youtube.com/v/pribHw93OPc&rel=1
http://www.youtube.com/v/Ko0qw3nHwdU&rel=1
http://www.youtube.com/v/QhKa8Rn-Hvg&rel=1
Finally,i will end this thread with two special links i hope everyone will take a look at.I found them moving,i hope you will also.
http://www.youtube.com/v/mFOyLDe1nbw&rel=1
http://www.youtube.com/v/Kb0KIRhHsFE&rel=1
It theres a rock and roll heaven,you know they got a hell of a band.
