Celebrities Project: Buddy Holly

I'm wrapping up Buddy Holly Semi-Month. To be honest, doing this project for the last week or so was a little tedious for me. I think this was partly due to the fact that I read a ridiculously long and tangential biography on Holly by Ellis Amburn. The biography had some good and interesting information, but Amburn included so many extra details, tangents, and irrelevant musings that I kept getting drowsy while reading. And I also tired of listening to Holly's music, too, and I mentioned some of those reasons in a previous post.

That being said, I am glad to have a better perspective on why Holly was so influential. Here are some of the major things that Holly contributed to the world of rock 'n roll:

• Holly was novel because he was a musician who would write his own songs and perform them. This wasn't common at the time. Interestingly, Holly didn't know how to read music, however.
• Holly's method of playing the guitar was also different. He would play all of the six strings on his guitar at the same time, whereas other musicians would play just a one or two strings at a time. (See fellow band member Sonny Curtis demonstrate Buddy's strumming at 3:18 of this clip). Buddy's strumming also produced a unique sound because he would continually strum with downward strokes, instead of alternating with downward and upward strokes. Also, Buddy Holly's use of the capo seems to have been unusual: John Lennon said that Buddy was the first guitar player he'd ever seen use a capo (Amburn, e-book location 6215).
• The simple chords and simple, repetitive chord progressions in Buddy's music would have a major influence on later rock 'n roll bands, such as the Beatles.
• The Crickets also were the first to have the traditional setup for rock bands today: two guitars, a bass, and drums.
• Buddy Holly changed fashion because he was a rock musician who wore glasses. His glasses gave hope and courage to other musicians, such as John Lennon. John Lennon, who was legally blind, used to take off his glasses and stumble around onstage in order to better appear like a rocker. After Lennon saw Buddy Holly, he decided to wear glasses with confidence. Elton John also was influenced by Buddy's appearance, and decided as a young teenager to start wearing glasses, even though he didn't need them to see.
• The so-called "peacock look" rockers wore in the 1960s is attributed to the "Edwardian" clothes that Buddy was wearing in the 1958-59: on his last tour his performance attire included an ascot tie and he also wore a greatcoat with a fur collar (see another image here).

I was particularly intrigued to learn about how Holly had a key influence on the Beatles. Holly's music had a particular impact in Liverpool, since sailors (known as "Cunyard Yanks") worked on the shipping lines and often brought back to Liverpool souvenirs and records they had purchased while docked in New York (Amburn, e-book, location 2247). It seems like Paul McCartney and John Lennon were intrigued by a group of local musician friends who were able to join together and create a band. In fact, one of the reasons that the Beatles chose their name was in homage to Holly's band, the Crickets. Paul McCartney is a particular fan on Buddy Holly, and he mentioned once that "Listen to Me" is his favorite Buddy Holly song (Amburn, e-book, location 3095). McCartney's business company, MPL Communications, purchased the Buddy Holly Songbook n 1975 from nearly-bankrupt Norman Petty, who was Buddy Holly's one-time manager and producer.

Paul McCartney even helped to create a documentary about Buddy Holly in 1985. The documentary is titled The Real Buddy Holly Story, and Paul decided to create it in order to portray a more realistic image of the singer than what was portrayed in the film The Buddy Holly Story (1978). Here is a video of the beginning of the documentary (which is linked in YouTube to a playlist for the entire documentary):

The one thing that I didn't like about The Real Buddy Holly Story is that it didn't really explain the legal conflicts and financial difficulties that Buddy Holly underwent as a result of his conniving producer and manager, Norman Petty. It is pretty apparent that Petty took advantage of the inexperience and talent of Buddy Holly and the Crickets members, not only by taking their money (and limiting their access to money), but also by demanding that he receive co-songwriting credit on the songs that Buddy wrote himself. Buddy eventually broke away from Petty (which ultimately forced him to leave the Crickets) and decided to move to New York to pursue career opportunities there. The Real Buddy Holly Story didn't really touch on this subject, although they did interview Petty's wife for the documentary (Petty was already deceased). It seems like The Real Buddy Holly Story isn't completely "real." Paul and Norman Petty were apparently friends: Paul McCartney inaugurated Buddy Holly Week in Britain in 1976, on what would have been the week of Buddy's fortieth birthday, and McCartney invited Norman Petty to be the guest of honor at a luncheon for the special week.

Some interesting trivia:

• Ed Sullivan was upset with the Crickets deciding to perform "Oh Boy" in his stage; Sullivan felt that the song was too suggestive with its lyrics and rhythm. The Crickets refused to change their selected number, since it was their current song hit. As a result, Sullivan tried to sabotage the performance by ordering the lighting and sound technicians to mess with the lights and sound backstage. You can see on this clip how the lighting goes out right at the beginning of the performance (and look at Sullivan's face after he introduces the number!).
• It doesn't seem like Buddy Holly really publicized his marriage to his wife, Maria Elena Santiago, a Puerto Rican that he met in New York City. They were only married about six months before Holly died. Regardless, it seems like Buddy met less opposition from a cultural standpoint than Sammy Davis Jr. did in the following decade: Caucasian males were allowed to marry outside their race (including John Wayne and Marlon Brando), but men of other races could not (Amburn, e-book, location 3656).
• Buddy wore dark sunglasses at his wedding because he hadn't replaced the regular glasses he'd lost waterskiing in Buffalo Springs Lake that summer. Years after Holly's death, some workmen who were dredging the lake found Holly's eyeglasses and wallet, and returned them to his family.
• The Crickets tried to continue to make music after their split with Buddy Holly, using the singer Earl Sinks (who tries to mimic Buddy's sound on "Love's Made a Fool of You").
• James Dean and Anthony Perkins were Buddy's favorite actors.
• It seems like a lot of conditions could have prevented Buddy and two other musicians, Richie Valens and Big Bopper, to charter a plane to North Dakota during their tour. If Buddy's wife Maria had been on the tour, they wouldn't have flown because she was terrified of small planes. However, she was sick at the time, being in the early stages of pregnancy, and didn't go on the tour with Buddy. Additionally, if the tour group had given the men more time to take care of their laundry and personal errands, they wouldn't have felt compelled to fly ahead of the group and take care of the errands beforehand. Also, someone was aware of the approaching snowstorm and "telephoned the group's agency on Monday night [to try] and call off the next appearance.  Meanwhile, the plane carrying the singers took off." (Amburn, e-book, location 5415).

As a person, I don't know if I can really identify with Buddy Holly in too many ways. He just seems like a young kid who was immature in a lot of ways, although he did seem to be a very generous person. He gave gifts freely and willingly, and also worked hard to help other musicians build their careers. He also was very dedicated to his friends, which is I think one reason why his band was successful. 

It would have been interesting to see what role he would have played in the world of music, if he had lived longer. Regardless, the impact he held on future musical groups (especially those in Britain, like the Beatles or the Rolling Stones) changed the course of history.