70 Fun Facts About Buddy Holly

What was Buddy Holly's real surname, as spelled on his birth certificate and headstone?

The stage-name spelling came from a typo in his first record contract, and he simply kept it.

In which Texas city was Buddy Holly born and raised?

The city now has a Buddy Holly Center, a Buddy Holly Avenue and a Crickets Avenue.

In which year was Buddy Holly born?

He was the youngest of four children born during the Great Depression.

How old was Buddy Holly when he died?

By then he had recorded around 50 tracks, most of them his own.

As a small child Holly played which instrument in a talent show, with the bow greased so it made no sound?

The brothers won the contest anyway.

Holly's schoolboy duo 'Buddy and Bob' paired him with which friend from Roscoe Wilson Elementary?

They practiced Louvin Brothers songs together and later got a Sunday radio slot on KDAV.

Holly picked up his famous "vocal hiccup" after hearing which singer on the Louisiana Hayride in 1955?

He alternated it with swoops between his normal voice and falsetto.

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

Crandall persuaded Grand Ole Opry manager Jim Denny to shop a demo tape around Nashville.

The stage name 'Holly' came from a misspelling of his surname in his 1956 contract with which label?

The label later dropped him but insisted he could not re-record the same songs elsewhere for five years.

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

Bradley chose the session players and arrangements, and Holly hated the lack of control.

Which producer, who made 'Party Doll' a hit for Buddy Knox, became Holly's manager?

He later turned out to be paying the band's royalties into his own company's account.

Holly's manager-producer's studio, where most of his hits were cut, was in which New Mexico town?

It sat just over the state line from West Texas.

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

Holly, his brother Larry and two bandmates saw the film together in June 1956.

Which member of the band proposed the name 'Crickets'?

A band name was needed because Holly was still legally tied to his old label.

Recordings under Holly's own name went out on which sister label to the Crickets' Brunswick?

His manager reasoned that DJs would happily play two new records if they seemed to be by different acts.

In August 1957 the Crickets became the first white act to play which Harlem venue?

The crowd was cool at first and only warmed up once the band added a Bo Diddley number.

For how long was 'That'll Be the Day' number one on the UK Singles Chart in November 1957?

It had already topped the US Best Sellers in Stores chart on September 23.

Before being renamed for the drummer's girlfriend, 'Peggy Sue' was titled after Holly's niece as what?

The drummer had temporarily split from his girlfriend, and the name change helped patch things up.

What was the highest position 'Peggy Sue' reached on Billboard's pop chart in 1957?

It did even better on the R&B chart, reaching number two.

What was the title of the debut album by Holly's band, released in November 1957?

It was the first album Eric Clapton ever bought, and reached number five in the UK.

Which song did Holly sing on his second Ed Sullivan Show appearance in January 1958?

He had recorded 'Rave On' the day before the broadcast.

How many shows did Holly and the Crickets play during their 25-day tour of the UK in March 1958?

Among the teenagers watching were the future Lennon-McCartney partnership, Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton.

Which two stars shared the bill with Holly on his week-long 1958 tour of Australia?

He flew out via Honolulu the day after his second Sullivan appearance.

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

He produced a red rose with a ring inside it during dinner at P. J. Clarke's.

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

The Crickets' drummer and his new wife Peggy Sue joined them on a shared honeymoon.

To hide their marriage from fans, Maria Elena travelled with the band presented as what?

She also collected the concert money instead of sending it to the manager in New Mexico.

Which duo introduced Holly to Ivy League clothes and later recommended the lawyer who won his royalties?

Don took the band to Phil's Men's Shop in New York for the makeover.

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

His frames were made in Mexico and bought from a Texas optometrist; teenagers soon called them 'Buddy Holly glasses'.

Which member of Holly's 1959 tour band gave up his plane seat to the Big Bopper, who had the flu?

Holly had produced this bass player's first single, 'Jole Blon', when he was still a Texas radio DJ.

Who lost the coin toss with Ritchie Valens for the last seat on the plane?

He later opened a bar in Fort Worth called the Heads Up Saloon.

In which New York City neighbourhood was the apartment where Holly taped his last six original songs?

He and Maria Elena lived in Apartment 4H of the Brevoort at 11 Fifth Avenue.

Which of the four songs from Holly's October 1958 orchestral 'string session' did he write himself?

The others came from the Bryants, Paul Anka and his manager; the 18-piece band included ex-NBC Symphony players.

Why did drummer Carl Bunch miss shows on the Winter Dance Party tour?

The unheated buses broke down twice in freezing weather, which is why Holly went looking for a plane.

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

The show was a last-minute booking on what was supposed to be a day off, 350 miles from the previous gig.

What type of aircraft did Holly charter from Dwyer Flying Service?

It had four seats, which is why two of Holly's band were left to ride the bus.

The doomed flight was headed to Fargo so the band could reach their next show in which town?

Holly wanted time to rest and do laundry rather than sit through another all-night bus ride.

How old was pilot Roger Peterson on the night of the crash?

He was recently married and not certified to fly on instruments alone.

Investigators suggested the pilot misread which instrument, whose display was inverted from those he trained on?

They concluded he may have believed he was climbing when the plane was actually descending.

Holly's missing glasses turned up in a county courthouse storage area in which year?

They had been found in the field when the snow melted in 1959 and filed in an envelope with the Big Bopper's watch.

Holly's headstone carries a carving of which guitar?

His first one was stolen on tour in Michigan in 1957 and he bought a replacement before a Detroit show.

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

He said Holly looked straight at him from three feet away.

Which teenage singer's career launched when he replaced Holly on the tour after the crash?

The B-side of his hit 'Rubber Ball' was a cover of Holly's 'Everyday'.

Which Holly song did the Rolling Stones chart with in 1964, after Mick Jagger saw him perform it in Woolwich?

Keith Richards modelled his early guitar playing on the track, and the Grateful Dead later played it more than 500 times.

Which band's name was partly a tribute to Holly's insect-themed Crickets?

They also covered 'Words of Love' on Beatles for Sale, and Lennon later cut 'Peggy Sue' on his Rock 'n' Roll album.

Which musician's company owns the publishing rights to Holly's song catalogue?

Unhappy with the 1978 biopic, he produced his own documentary, The Real Buddy Holly Story, in 1985.

How old was Don McLean when he learned of Buddy Holly's death, as recalled in 'American Pie'?

'American Pie' spent four weeks at number one in early 1972 and was then the longest song ever to top the Hot 100.

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

He was 33 playing a man in his early twenties, sang the songs live on set, and earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination.

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

Joe Renzetti collected the statuette; the film's lead lost Best Actor to Jon Voight.

Which actor plays Holly in a brief cameo as a waiter at a 1950s-themed restaurant in Pulp Fiction?

He takes the order from Mia Wallace and Vincent Vega at Jack Rabbit Slim's.

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

Rivers Cuomo nearly left the song off the Blue Album because he thought it was cheesy.

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

It was shot in a single day at Charlie Chaplin Studios, and Al Molinaro reprised Al Delvecchio to introduce the band.

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

The label negotiated the deal without telling the band, none of whom owned a computer.

Holly was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in which year, as part of its first class?

The Crickets themselves were not inducted until 2012, when a special committee corrected the omission.

Where did Rolling Stone rank Holly on its 2010 list of the 100 Greatest Artists?

In 2023 the same magazine placed him at 74 among the 200 Greatest Singers.

According to the band, the Hollies' name was mainly inspired by what?

They admired Holly but say the decorations around Christmas 1962 were the real prompt.

What was the title of the final 'new' Buddy Holly album, released in 1969, a decade after his death?

His label had enough unreleased masters, demos and even amateur tapes to keep issuing records for ten years.

Which singer put 'That'll Be the Day' on her Grammy-winning 1976 album Hasten Down the Wind?

The original was added to the US National Recording Registry in 2005.

Which Holly song did Eric Clapton's supergroup Blind Faith cover in 1969, with Steve Winwood singing?

Clapton has said seeing Holly's Fender on TV was like seeing an instrument from outer space.

The only known poster from Holly's final concert sold at auction in 2022 for roughly how much?

Heritage Auctions called it a record for a concert poster.

Which 1989 TV episode ends by revealing Sam Beckett helped a young Buddy Holly fix a lyric?

The episode is titled 'How the Tess Was Won'.

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

His version of 'Crying, Waiting, Hoping' is on the film's soundtrack.

Which vocal group overdubbed backing on Holly's apartment demos to create his first posthumous single in 1959?

The result was 'Peggy Sue Got Married' backed with 'Crying, Waiting, Hoping', made to simulate the Crickets sound.

Which single was chosen from Giant, the final 'new' Holly album of 1969?

Norman Petty assembled a decade of posthumous releases from masters, alternate takes and even amateur tapes from 1954.

Who sculpted the 1980 statue of Holly that anchors Lubbock's Walk of Fame?

The statue moved in 2011 to the new Buddy and Maria Elena Holly Plaza.

The Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock occupies a building that was formerly what?

It sits on Crickets Avenue, one street east of Buddy Holly Avenue.

In which year did Holly receive the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award?

His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame arrived on what would have been his 75th birthday.

According to a 2019 New York Times Magazine report, what happened to 'virtually all' of Holly's master tapes?

Chad Kassem of Analogue Productions disputes this, saying he used the masters for 2017 reissues.

Which Small Faces frontman mimicked Holly as a boy by wearing big-rimmed glasses with the lenses removed?

His bandmates nicknamed him 'Buddy', and Humble Pie later covered 'Heartbeat'.

Roughly how many times did the Grateful Dead perform 'Not Fade Away' in concert between 1968 and 1995?

It often served as a high-energy set closer.

Which German punk band recorded a 1985 song about Buddy Holly's glasses?

'Buddy Holly's Brille' joined tributes from The Clash and Sweden's Gyllene Tider.