Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin 'Buddy' Holly (Septemnber 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959) was an early rock and roll pioneer from Lubbock, Texas, home to 150 churches. The lead singer of the group called "The Crickets," Holly is most famous for his songs "Peggy Sue" and "That'll Be The Day." He split with his high school sweetheart due to a difference over religious beliefs, and he did not drink alcohol.
On February 3, 1959, the plane on which Holly was flying, crashed outside Macon City, Iowa, within four minutes of takeoff at a high speed. Killed were Holly and two other rock and roll singers, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper. Don McLean, a friend of both the Big Bopper and Holly, wrote the song American Pie to commemorate their death. The song refers to February 3 as "the day the music died."[1][2]
In 1979, Lubbock radio pioneers Larry Corbin and Jerry "Bo" Coleman and the famous musician Waylon Jennings, decided that their old friend, Buddy Holly should be honored in Lubbock. Corbin himself paid for the startup costs of the landmark Buddy Holly statue. With financial help from the proceeds of two Waylon Jennings concerts, the statue was completed and stands as a memorial to Buddy Holly. After the Holly statue, Corbin, Jennings, and Coleman developed the concept of West Texas Walk of Fame, dedicated to area musicians. The Walk of Fame inducted Holly in 1979, Jennings in 1980, Mac Davis in 1983, and Don Allison in 2018.[3]
The statue of Holly on the Walk of Fame was sculpted by Grant Speed.
See also
References
- ↑ Bob Dearborn's original analysis of Don McLean's song American Pie
- ↑ Understanding American Pie
- ↑ William Kerns (August 7, 2018). West Texas Walk of Fame to add Abbott, Allison, Livingston, Weeks. Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Retrieved on August 8, 2018.
