68 Fun Facts About Buddy Holly

What was Buddy Holly's family surname at birth?

Holley. His first record contract dropped the e, probably by accident, and he kept the shorter spelling as his stage name.

In which Texas city was Buddy Holly born and raised?

Lubbock. He went back there to marry Maria Elena Santiago in August 1958, after meeting her in New York that summer.

Buddy Holly quit lessons on which instrument after nine months?

Piano. Holly, born in 1936, started at 11, then briefly studied the steel guitar before settling on the acoustic guitar.

Which star died alongside Holly and Ritchie Valens?

The Big Bopper. J. P. Richardson had the flu and asked for a seat on the charter plane instead of another night on the tour bus; Holly was 22.

Besides the guitar, which string instrument did Buddy Holly learn to play as a child?

Violin. He was performing early too: at the age of five he won a local talent contest, appearing alongside his older brothers.

Which song, later a hit for the Clash, was first recorded by the Crickets soon after Buddy Holly's death?

I Fought the Law. Sonny Curtis, Holly's replacement on guitar, wrote it, but it got little airplay until the Bobby Fuller Four made it a top-ten hit in 1966.

Buddy Holly turned from country to rock and roll after opening 1955 shows for which rising singer?

Elvis Presley. Bandmate Sonny Curtis said Holly fell for the sound at once: "The next day we became Elvis clones."

Holly was spotted by Nashville scout Eddie Crandall in October 1955 while opening for which act?

Bill Haley & His Comets. The scout's interest brought a Nashville record deal within months, but for Holly alone, which broke up his trio.

Which label's 1956 contract misspelled Buddy Holly's surname and so gave him his stage name?

Decca Records. It dropped him after two failed singles, yet his breakthrough hit came out months later on Brunswick, one of its own subsidiaries.

Which Nashville producer, famed for Patsy Cline's orchestrated records, ran Holly's frustrating early sessions?

Owen Bradley. The label tried to fit Holly into the country mould, the records sank, and within a year he was back home in Texas without a contract.

Which producer, known for recording Buddy Knox's 'Party Doll', became Buddy Holly's manager?

Norman Petty. By most accounts he banked the Crickets' royalty cheques himself, and by 1959 Holly was weighing legal action against him.

Buddy Holly and the Crickets cut 'That'll Be the Day' at a studio in which New Mexico town?

Clovis. Holly and the Crickets treated the studio as a laboratory, working long sessions late into the night on echo effects and overdubs.

The title 'That'll Be the Day' came from a line John Wayne kept repeating in which 1956 film?

The Searchers. Holly and his drummer saw the Western in 1956 and built a song on its catchphrase; a British band later took the film's title as its name.

Buddy Holly's wife, Maria Elena Santiago, was born on which Caribbean island?

Puerto Rico. After her mother's death she was sent to live with an aunt in New York, an executive at the music publisher where she later met Holly.

Which actress played the title role in Peggy Sue Got Married, the 1986 film named after a Buddy Holly song?

Kathleen Turner. Francis Ford Coppola's time-travel comedy borrowed its title from Holly's sequel to 'Peggy Sue', a home demo released only after his death.

In summer 1957 the Crickets played which Harlem venue, booked by a promoter who expected a Black group?

The Apollo Theater. The crowd was cool for the first two days, then warmed to the Texans once they tore into "Bo Diddley".

Which Liverpool skiffle group paid to record 'That'll Be the Day' in 1958?

The Quarrymen. John Lennon's teenage band pooled their money for the session and passed the one disc it produced between them; it was finally released in 1995.

Buddy Holly's 'Peggy Sue' was named after whose girlfriend?

His drummer's. In the usual telling the song began as 'Cindy Lou', and Jerry Allison asked for the new title to win Peggy Sue Gerron back; they married in 1958.

Which 1958 Bobby Darin hit name-checks Peggy Sue among the guests at its party?

Splish Splash. Darin's bather walks in on a party whose guests are borrowed from other hits of the day, among them Lollipop and Good Golly Miss Molly.

Which Crickets single failed to chart in 1958 but became a US top-five hit in a 1977 cover?

It's So Easy. Holly mimed it on American Bandstand in October 1958, but the last single he made with the Crickets still sank without trace.

Which Crickets single did Buddy Holly sing on his second and last Ed Sullivan Show appearance, in January 1958?

Oh, Boy! The song outlived him on the charts: British glam band Mud took a cover of it to number one in the UK in 1975.

In March 1958 Buddy Holly and the Crickets headlined a tour of which country?

Britain. His records were already hits there, and British bands took note: the Rolling Stones' first top-ten single was one of his songs.

Which keyboard-pounding star shared the bill with Buddy Holly and Paul Anka on a 1958 tour of Australia?

Jerry Lee Lewis. Holly's band made the trip as a trio, because rhythm guitarist Niki Sullivan had quit only weeks earlier.

How soon after meeting Maria Elena Santiago, a music publisher's receptionist, did Buddy Holly propose to her?

On their first date. He asked over dinner at P. J. Clarke's in New York, and they were married less than two months later.

Where did Buddy Holly and his bride Maria Elena honeymoon after their August 1958 wedding?

Acapulco. Back from Mexico, Holly broke with both his manager and his band within months and settled in New York with his new wife.

Which duo befriended Buddy Holly on a 1957 tour and persuaded him to switch to horn-rimmed glasses?

The Everly Brothers. Don and Phil thought his old plastic-and-metal frames looked dated; the heavy black pair became known as Buddy Holly glasses.

Holly's horn-rimmed glasses copied a style popularised by which television host?

Steve Allen. The look outlived both men: an oversized sculpture of the frames now stands outside the museum devoted to Holly in his hometown.

Which member of Buddy Holly's 1959 tour band gave up his plane seat to a tour mate who had the flu?

Waylon Jennings. Holly had produced his first single and hired him to play bass; shaken by the crash, he quit music for a time and went back to radio.

How did Ritchie Valens win the last seat on Buddy Holly's doomed 1959 charter flight?

A coin toss. Guitarist Tommy Allsup lost it, took the bus instead, and was pressed into finishing the tour without Holly.

In which New York City neighbourhood was the apartment where Buddy Holly taped his final songs?

Greenwich Village. The home tapes he made there were dressed up with studio overdubs after his death and released as new singles.

Which of the four songs from Buddy Holly's 1958 'string session' carries his own writing credit?

True Love Ways. His widow has said he wrote it for her as a wedding gift, and its melody borrows from a gospel song he loved.

Why did drummer Carl Bunch miss shows on Buddy Holly's Winter Dance Party tour?

He got frostbite on the bus. Its heater had failed in bitter cold, and the breakdowns are what pushed Holly to charter a plane the very next day.

At which ballroom in Clear Lake did Buddy Holly play his final show on February 2, 1959?

The Surf Ballroom. Clear Lake wasn't on the original schedule: promoters added the date late, filling what should have been a day off.

What type of aircraft did Buddy Holly charter from Dwyer Flying Service for his final flight?

Beechcraft Bonanza. It had only four seats, the pilot's and three more, which is why two of Holly's band stayed on the bus.

Buddy Holly's doomed flight was bound for Fargo so he could reach his next show in which town?

Moorhead, Minnesota. Flying ahead would have bought Holly time to rest and do his laundry instead of spending another night on the bus.

In which US state did Buddy Holly's charter plane crash on February 3, 1959?

Iowa. The 21-year-old pilot took off from Mason City into light snow, and the plane came down in a field only a few miles from the airport.

Investigators suggested Buddy Holly's pilot misread which instrument, whose climb-and-descent display was the reverse of his training?

The Sperry F3 attitude gyroscope. Relying on it in darkness and gusty winds, he may have thought the plane was climbing while it was in fact descending.

Buddy Holly's lost glasses were found by a sheriff in 1980 in which place?

A courthouse storeroom. They had been picked up when the snow melted in 1959, sealed in an envelope and misfiled; the frames went back to his widow.

Which electric guitar became Buddy Holly's signature instrument?

Fender Stratocaster. He bought his first in 1955 and built his trademark sound on its ringing chords, heard in the solo break of 'Peggy Sue'.

Which future star saw Buddy Holly play in Duluth two nights before the crash, aged 17?

Bob Dylan. In his Nobel lecture he said that Holly looked him straight in the eye that night and "transmitted something" that gave him chills.

Which 15-year-old singer got his break when his band filled in for Buddy Holly at the first show after the crash?

Bobby Vee. Born Robert Velline in Fargo, he and his schoolboy band volunteered for the slot, and within two years he was scoring top-ten hits.

Which Buddy Holly song gave the Rolling Stones their first UK top-ten hit in 1964?

Not Fade Away. The Crickets had released it only as a B-side in 1957; seven years later the Stones' cover climbed to number three.

Which band's name was chosen partly as a tribute to Buddy Holly's Crickets?

The Beatles. They reportedly wanted an insect name in the Crickets' mould, and went on to record Holly songs of their own early in their career.

Which musician bought the publishing rights to Buddy Holly's song catalogue in the 1970s?

Paul McCartney. He followed the purchase by launching an annual Buddy Holly celebration in 1976, timed to what would have been Holly's 40th birthday.

Which song gave the crash that killed Buddy Holly the name 'the day the music died'?

American Pie. Don McLean was a 13-year-old paperboy when he cut open his bundle of newspapers and saw the crash on the front page.

Who played Buddy Holly in the 1978 biopic The Buddy Holly Story?

Gary Busey. The performance earned him a Best Actor Oscar nomination, and in 1990 he paid $242,000 at auction for one of Holly's own guitars.

The Buddy Holly Story won an Academy Award in which category?

Best Adaptation Score. Joe Renzetti won for adapting Holly's songs, the film's only win from three nominations; its star lost Best Actor to Jon Voight.

Which actor has a cameo in Pulp Fiction as a waiter dressed as Buddy Holly at a 1950s-themed restaurant?

Steve Buscemi. He had been considered for a larger part, Jimmie, but couldn't commit, so he turns up only as the waiter at Jack Rabbit Slim's.

Which band's 1994 hit 'Buddy Holly' had a video set at Arnold's Drive-In from Happy Days?

Weezer. Rivers Cuomo thought the song too cheesy for the album until producer Ric Ocasek talked him into keeping it.

Who directed the Happy Days-themed 'Buddy Holly' music video?

Spike Jonze. He spliced the band into vintage Happy Days footage, and Al Molinaro returned as the diner's owner to introduce them.

The 'Buddy Holly' video shipped as a bonus file on which operating system's install disc?

Windows 95. Watching a music video on a computer was still a novelty in 1995, and the exposure sent the song's popularity soaring.

Which pioneer joined Buddy Holly among the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's first inductees, in 1986?

Chuck Berry. The Hall passed over Holly's own band that night, though: the Crickets were not inducted until a special committee added them in 2012.

In his last months in New York, Buddy Holly signed up for lessons in which craft?

Acting. His final months in New York were full of new starts: acting lessons, recordings with a string orchestra and a first try at producing other singers.

Which New York new-wave band covered Buddy Holly's 'I'm Gonna Love You Too' on a hit 1978 album?

Blondie. Holly's name is missing from the song's credits, which go to his manager and two of the Crickets instead.

Which singer took 'That'll Be the Day' back into the US top 20 in 1976?

Linda Ronstadt. Her cover climbed to number 11, part of a 1970s revival of Holly's songs; a film of his life followed two years later.

Which Buddy Holly song did Eric Clapton's supergroup Blind Faith cover on its 1969 album?

Well All Right. Holly had tucked it away on the B-side of 'Heartbeat'; Blind Faith made it the only song on their album that the band did not write.

The only known poster for the show Buddy Holly was flying to when he died sold in 2022 for roughly how much?

$447,000. A maintenance man picked it up off the ground soon after the show and left it in a closet for some fifty years.

Which time-travel TV series had its hero help a young Buddy Holly fix a lyric in a 1989 episode?

Quantum Leap. The hero helps his young assistant turn a song about a pig into a love song, and only the last scene reveals who the boy is.

Who played Buddy Holly in La Bamba, the 1987 biopic of Ritchie Valens?

Marshall Crenshaw. The singer-songwriter sings 'Crying, Waiting, Hoping' on the film's soundtrack, and later wrote the Encyclopaedia Britannica's entry on Holly.

Which relative gave Buddy Holly, born Charles, the nickname he used for life?

His mother. She thought 'Charles Hardin' too big a name for her little boy, so the family called him Buddy from early childhood.

Which rhythm-and-blues hit became Buddy Holly's last 'new' single in 1969, a decade after his death?

Love Is Strange. Holly's unreleased take on the Mickey & Sylvia hit was overdubbed with a band and issued as a single ten years after he died.

Which doo-wop group shared the bill on Buddy Holly's final tour, the 1959 Winter Dance Party?

Dion and the Belmonts. They had befriended Holly on a package tour months earlier, and after the crash the tour rolled on to its end without its three biggest names.

Which American rock star said in 1978 that he played Buddy Holly every night before going on stage?

Bruce Springsteen. Listening to Holly before each show, he explained, "keeps me honest".

Which Recording Academy award did Buddy Holly receive posthumously?

Lifetime Achievement Award. The first Grammy ceremony was held in May 1959, three months after the crash that killed him, so he never held one in his lifetime.

According to a 2019 magazine exposé, nearly all of Holly's master tapes burned in a 2008 fire at which studio lot?

Universal Studios. Roofers heating shingles with blowtorches started the backlot blaze, which spread to a warehouse holding the master tapes of dozens of record labels.

Which Small Faces frontman went on to cover Holly's 'Heartbeat' with his next band, Humble Pie?

Steve Marriott. He quit the Small Faces in the middle of a New Year's Eve show in 1968, walking off stage shouting "I quit".

On Holly's 'Not Fade Away', the Crickets' drummer beat out the rhythm on what, instead of a drum kit?

A cardboard box. He borrowed the trick from Buddy Knox's hit 'Party Doll', recorded at the same New Mexico studio, where a box had stood in for the drums.

Buddy, the stage musical about Holly's life, opened in 1989 and ran for over 12 years in which city?

London. The show opened in the West End in October 1989 and travelled so well that a theatre was built on Hamburg's harbour especially to stage its German run.