Well, the Bill Griggs site I go to isrockin50s one, and from there theres a link to one of his Buddy websites, and theres where thers a ton of pics and anecdotes....I never thought of copying into paint before, I'll have to try that, although I dont really know what I'm doing there either lol...I'll try and fumble my way through it..thanks a bunch.

I am new to this board and I am am also doing a report on Buddy Holly. I have done a lot of research on him but was wondoring if any one could give me a link that might have more info. If you cant thats ok too. Thankyou!
P.S. I have two more weekes till its due!Please reply ASAP.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bbkid662003,

Wow. There's so many websites and books for Buddy, it's amazing. Exactly what are you looking for? The kid that started this topic, Perry, was looking for people to tell him why they got into Buddy Holly. I've already done one project on Buddy and am looking to do another on more of the little bits of his life, because if someone recognizes his name, they associate it with the plane crash or his glasses. So I thought that as my english project, I was looking to change the view of my classmates.
In a nutshell, I got into Buddy as I already said, because of a previous englsih project. Part of the assignment was to play one of the artist's songs for the class. I played a smippet of Rave On, It's So Easy and the whole song of It Doesn't Matter Anymore, because at the time, I had heard only one of his CDs, a greatest hits one, and those were the songs that best exhibited his vocal range, stutter, and hiccup. Another, while not as "pretty" song, if you will, song that showcases his vocal range is Ain't Got No Home. I like Buddy because when I listen to one of his CDs, I feel like I'm listening to a mixed CD. He knew very well what would sell, what would get him money. But he chose to experiment, making his music available, but at the same time, not caring what others thought, if it would sell or not. He just wanted to make music, and if it sold, hey, bonus. Now the result is, listening to his music, is that nothing is the same. He tried all sorts of stuff. I'll be sixteen pretty soon, even my parents aren't of the first generation of rock and roll, they're at the very beginning of the second generation. I didn't even grow up listening to this stuff, though I did grow up listening to the classic rock. Though I listen to other, more recent stuff, Buddy is the artist that occupies the most space in my CD case. And it doesn't hurt that the guy was skinny, cute and charming. Is it coincidence that the guys I crush on are often also skinny, cute, and funny in a charming way? lol

thankyou for replying buddy_blue. I am just looking for sites that might give some odd facts about Buddy. I have done a powerpoint on him with clips of some of his songs. I am also writting a written report on him too.

If you're looking for odd facts about Buddy, this site is a good place to start. I don't know how much of this board that you've seen, so I'll try and be brief.
See above messages (page 1)for stories that are little known facts. (Want more details about a story? Just ask.)
Buddy's eyesight was 20/800. He was legally blind.
The proper way to play the guitar is by strumming down and up. You can make it sound different, harder, by playing stronger on the downstrokes and softer on the up strokes. Technically speaking, Buddy didn't play the guitar correctly, because he only played downstrokes. If you get a chance to see footage of him in performance, watch his strumming hand at the same time while watching his rhythm guitarist's (Niki Sullivan) hand. Buddy's hand moves twice as fast because he doesn't play the upstrokes. Not only that, he played on all the strings, all the time. For some notes, you're only supposed to play 4 or 3 strings, or even one or 2 like Chick Berry, but Buddy's sound was very full. he played on all the strings, all the time. (Sonny Curtis demonstrates in the Real Buddy Holly Story)
Buddy couldn't read music, yet legend has it he conducted the orchestra sessions while recording his own vocals.
Niki Sullivan, the rhythm guitarist, left the band after only one tour, for a couple of reasons. He claims part of it had to do with that he felt that Joe B. and Jerry were such good friends that they would gang up on him in teasing (Niki loved pancakes, even eating them for dinner) but the main reason was because he didn't like waking up and not knowing where he was each morning. Niki died this past April.
Waylon Jennings was haunted for years by the fact that the last thing he said to Buddy was "I hope your old plane crashes." This was in response to Buddy saying "So I hear you're not flying with us tonight? Well, it's 30 below outside, and you're going to get awful cold. I hope your old bus freezes up again." What had happened was that Waylon Jennings, Buddy's bass player, was suppose to fly with Buddy and Tommy Allsup. The Big Bopper asked Waylon for his seat, and Waylon consented. This lead to the teasing exchange between the two friends, neither would know that both statements would come true that night. Tommy Allsup lost his seat to Ritchie Valens in a last minute coin toss. Ritchie exclaimed it was the first thing he had ever won in his life, and the first time he had flown. Tommy wanted Buddy to pick up a letter for him at the post office, but Buddy would need ID. So instead of just pulling out his driver's liscence, Tommy just handed Buddy his whole wallet. At the scene of the crash the next morning, when 4 bodies and 5 IDs were found, the first news that went out stated that Tommy Allsup had also died. Questions were also asked as to if Tommy Allsup was Buddy's real name, which of course it wasn't. Waylon admits that he was just a kid at the time, 19 years of age, and it really messed him up for awhile. Finally a friend told him, he couldn't kill Buddy with just words, nor could he bring him back with words.
Something else you may like to try would be to email Bill Griggs, who is the historian of Buddy Holly's life. He knows anything you could ever want to know about the guy, and maybe give you some other little known stories. Please share with the rest of us though if you do email him. His email (see link crazy_for_buddy posted at the top of this page) and just go to the bottom where it says email Bill Griggs.
Good luck, ask if you've got any more questions, and let us know how it goes!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: buddy_blue,

Thankyou again buddy_blue. Where is a good place to get footage of Buddy? I have been looking and cant find much.
Thankyou!

It's probably possible for you to rent the Buddy Holly Story, with Gary Busey. I'll just warn you now, while Gary Busey does a lot of tribute to Buddy, the writers took a lot of liberties with Buddy's life, and thus there's a lot of the movie that has been made up, and key people left out, partially for simplicity sake, but probably just to tick off Buddy fans.
Sadly, Buddy Holly is still a hidden figure of the 1950's. Paul McCarteny did tribute to his hero in a movie called the Real Buddy Holly Story, but I doubt your local movie store carries that title, and 35.00 (Cdn) is a lot to spend on a movie that you'll just use for a school project. Think about it if you've got a real interest in Buddy, otherwise don't worry about trying to find TV footage of him, generally, everything Buddy Holly is impossible to view, hear or enjoy. Stupid legal proceedings, and people that can't just release Buddy's stuff without worrying about how much money that they'll make.
The only footage that "exists" of Buddy Holly is from the Ed Sullivan show, where he is seen performing Oh Boy!, That'll Be The Day and Peggy Sue. I put exists in quotation marks because there was footage from American Bandstand, but it was either destroyed in a flood or fire, depending on which day you catch Dick Clark. Due to the inconsistancy of these replies, I still hold out hope that the footage exists and people are just being greedy, waiting til the extrememly high and "right" price comes along. Supposedly there was a made for TV movie of Buddy's life with interviews and footage, but I have only heard mention of this once and have never seen it. There is talk of another biography with interviews movie coming out in April in the UK and around the same time here in North America, but I suppose that's a little late, right?
Your best bet is probably pictures, check out the topic Photos and Videos where both crazy_for_buddy and I have photo albums of photos of Buddy, (Great Pics and Best of Buddy, respectively)most of them are the hard to find ones though, so check it out.

Well, the information I can give you all depends on how you want to do your project. There are too many excellent sites out there to post, but most just state the basics...Born in Lubbock, died in Iowa ect..You could wander around this site for days and pick up almost everything you could ever want to know about Buddy, his life and his music, however thats a hell of alot of reading. But, in a nutshell, I can give you some info as to personal stories that you might not find on your regular bio site. Plus some clarificational info as to misconceptions made about Buddy and the Crickets.Ok, so heres goes, if you want me to elaborate more specifically on anything just say so, and I will do.ment was the violin, and of course his voice. He and his brothers won a talent show when he was 5 after greasing his bow to reduce the screeching. He tried piano for a brief time before quitting. He was a talented leather and steal worker, as seen on his Gibson acoustic. At the age of 15 he decided he wanted to play guitar, and his parents presented him with his acoustic. Through high school he played a local radio show with fellow musican and friend Bob Mongomery, and billed it as the Buddy and Bob show;Western and Bop. They played primarily country music. Buddy soon found himself getting more interested in rock n roll and traded his Gibson for his trademark Fender Stratocaster. Buddy was discovered and signed by Decca in 1955 and was asked to travel to Nashville for recording sessions. The producers were hoping to mold Buddy into the next country star and were not pleased to find that he was reluctant to play country music. Four singles were realesed, inculding a early version of That'll Be The Day, however all failed to catch the publics attention. Decca revoked Buddys contract and it was back to square one. After being rejected by Decca Buddy was crushed, but not beaten.He paired up with childhood friend and co-songwritter Jerry Allison(drummer) and with Joe B. Mauldin(bass) and Niki Sullivan(rhythm guitarist) became Buddy Holly and the Crickets.There are varying accounts as to how this name came about, but the most predominent one is they were simply skimming a dictionary, and since Texas was full of crickets that year, they thought the name fit. Apparently they looked at the name the Beatles, but passed on it. Niki Sullivan quit soon after due to the hectic schedual. In 1956 Buddy Holly and the Crickets had the oppertunity to open for Elvis Presley at a local gig, and this inspired Buddy profoundly. The Crickets were discovered soon after by Coral records, and Buddy was signed as a solo artist to their subsidary Brunswick. It was due to a spelling error on his contract that the "e" in Holley was dropped.Athough Buddy had complete musical control, Norman Petty acted as the groups producer. The first sigle to hit the charts was a revamped That'll Be The Day, which went straight to number 1 in the U.S.A and in the U.K. Peggy Sue was the next single cut, and in its original form was billed Cindy Lou and had a calypso beat. Jerry Allison asked Buddy to change the name after his girlfriend Peggy Sue, as they had just had an argument and he thouth the song would impress her. Buddy said that if J.I could play the whole song through playing paradiddles(the fast drum beat) he would change it. Obviously Jerry won.The hits kept coming with Oh Boy, Rave On and Everyday. Through 1957 and most of 1958 Buddy was touring endlessly, but found time to apear on American Bandstand, and Ed Sullivan twice, aswell as time to get kicked out of a motorcycle shop or two, and pull a gun on a robber.(like I said, I can give you the full stories if you want.)Soon after this Buddy and the Crickets became the first white act to play the Appllo Theater. In July of 1958, Buddy met Maria Elena Santiago who had been filling in as a receptionist at Coral. He asked her out to dinner and that very same day proposed to her in the reasturant by getting down hand and knee and presenting her with a rose. Maria Elena was Peurto Rican, so in order to get married Buddy needed her aunts permission. He past the test, although both Marias aunt and Buddys father were not pleased with the inter-racial marriage (Buddy was Dutch, British, Irish.) Mr and Mrs. Charles Hardin Holley were married in Lubbock Texas, and Buddys childhood home in a private ceremony on August 15th, 1958. After the ceremony, Buddy and his bride, as well as Jerry Allison and his new wife Peggy Sue, honeymooned breifly in Aulcopoco. Buddy and Maria then relocated to Greenwhich Village in New York City, however the Crickets remained in Lubbock. In October of that year Buddy made the decison to split with Norman Petty after acquiring the knowlede that he had been claiming royalties and song writting credits for which he deserved neither. After a lengthy legal battle, Petty conviced the Crickets that, since he controlled the money, it would be in their best interests to stay with him and continue recording in Clovis, New Mexico. Thus, Buddy became a solo artist, and his recording sessions were conducted in New York. In December of that year Buddy created the famed Apartment Tapes with nothing but a pen, his guitar, and and old Ampex recorder. Norman Petty over-dubbed these with the background vocals of the Picks in the years after Buddys death to satisfy the demand for new Holly material. After battling with Petty, Buddy found himself in desperate need of cash. He very reluctanly signed up for the Winter Dance Party Tour of the Midwest. The tour was set to cover all the major areas of Wisconson, Minnisota, and Iowa, and was to be conducted by bus. The tour was horribly arranged, and the busses were consistantly breaking down and never had heat. At one point the group was riding in an abandoned school bus. On February 2nd, 1959, the preformers appeared at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake Iowa,to over 1000 fans. Buddy called Maria Elena, who had discovered she was pregnant, and informed her that he was going to charter a plane to take himself, Waylon Jennings and Tommy Allsup ahead to Fargo, North Dakota so they could get their laundry done and sleep in a warm bed( the group only had one pair of matching stage clothes as the others had been either forgotten or stolen at a venue). Waylon was approached by The Big Bopper, and was presueded to give up his seat as the Bopper was ill. Tommy was approached by Ritchie Valens, who also needed laundry done, and the pair flipped a coin for the remaining seat. Buddy and Waylons famed last conversation consisted of Buddy jokingly saying he hoped Waylons bus froze up, and Waylon equally jokingly sayin he hoped Buddys plane crashed. The three preformers arrived at Mason City airport, where they met with John(?) Dwyer, the owner of the plane, and Roger Perteson, the pilot. Perterson had failed parts of his flying exams, and was unfamilar with flying solely on instruments should the weather conditions decline. The 4 seater Beechcraft Bonanza took off at 1:00 in the morning, on February 3rd 1959, and crashed in a confield owned by Albert Juhl ten minutes later. The suspected cause for the crash was the weather decline matched with the pilots ignorance. However, Buddys 22 pistol was found at the crash site, and was supposedly recently fired. Reports say it was fired by the farmer, although much speculation still surrounds the cause of the crash. I can give you all the gruesome details of Buddys cause of death if you want, although Im not really fond of that subject. Maria miscarried the baby upon hearing the news of Buddy death. Buddys identity was verified by his brother and a family friend before being transported by air back to Lubbock for burial. Buddys trademark hornrimmed glasses remained in the Mason City police investigation room until 1980, at which time they were returned to his family. Buddy was buried on February 7th at the Lubbock City cemetary. The Crickets, Phil Everly, and his brothers acted as pallbearers. So there ya go, the shortest possible summary of Buddy Hollys life. I've left out like a bunch of stuff, but I had to make it as short as possible. If you want verification on anything just ask...I hope this helps...

quote:

Originally posted by crazy_for_buddy:
At the age of 15 he decided he wanted to play guitar, and his parents presented him with his acoustic.

Actually, they gave him a steel guitar, and after takinga couple of lessons, he said, "no, I don't want one like that, I want one like Travis (his brother) has got." So Buddy would borrow Travis' guitar, and Travis showed him some chords, but pretty soon it was Buddy who was telling his older brother, "You don't do it like that, it's like this."
There was something else I wanted to say about Niki Sullivan, but everytime I come to this particular topic, I forget! Will try and remember and will try and post.

Isn't it sad though? I said in a post a couple of messages ago how Waylon Jennings said that being a kid of 19 years of age when Buddy, one of his good friends, died, it messed him up, because he thought he had killed Buddy, he thought this, and believed it, because he was so young. Let's not forget that while Jerry and Joe B. weren't with Buddy at the time, it still would have (obviously) impacted them greatly when they heard about it. Like Waylon and Buddy, they were just kids themselves. Sure J.I. was married, but he was 19 (he wouldn't be 20 until the end of August 1959) and Joe B. was only 18. Heck, even Maria Elena was young, 26 years of age, wife to her husband only five short months.

The whole thing just makes me sick to my stomach...The fact of how young they all were, the fact that it happened to a man who was of such influence, and the fact that he was a damn decent person too. Expectant father, husband...22 years old...I almost feel like I knew Buddy personally, like I was there when it happened and remember crying and feeling the pain of everyone involved. I didnt actually know the man I had been listening to since birth was dead until I was 12. I remeber crying like he had been my own best friend, or my husband(dont I wish). Mabey its because his music is so personal and conveys such convincing emotion. I have always said that I wished I could have been a apartof that era and been able to see Buddy live, but now that I think about it, Im not so sure I would have been able to handle it . Not if,46 years later, my eyes still well up with tears and I gag at the sight of that mangled plane....

Hey thanks for all this info it is really going to help me. I am going to e-mail Bill Grigs ethier today or tomorow.

The link you gave me buddy_blue to bill grigs wont let me go through. Can i still get it if I go to the rockin 50s .com?thankyou!

Sorry about that. Use the link that crazy_for_buddy posted, that one works, and takes you to the right page where you just scroll down til it says email Bill Griggs. Let us know what he says!

Hows the project coming buddy_blue? I am very curious (and still very envious lol) to kniow how you made out and what pics you used....

The teacher has just mentionned that the presentation should be no longer than 10 minutes, and I think I could have a problem with that. I tend to talk a lot, the first BH project I did was only supposed to be 10 and I think I talked for like 30. lol. The main focus I want to be is the pictures, and then talk around the pictures, but it's hard to bring myself to delete the text that I've written. Hmmm, maybe I'll just put up the pictures with funky backgrounds and stuff, and then just talk....it's not like I haven't memorized all that I've written anyway.

lol! Talk about Buddy for only 10 minutes? Is that physically possible?......uh, no it isnt...You cant sum up the a very eventfull 22 years in 10 minutes....God, I could talk bout Buddy for hours, and still leave out some info...Are you going to use any of the photos from the albums? I know alot of them are small, and some are not as good as the professional photos, but in my opinion, Buddy onstage and unaware of the camera is Buddy at his best...

Yeah, it drives my mom crazy, I'll get excited about something Buddy Holly related, and I'll go on about that one thing for like an hour. Just one event in his life I can go on for an hour. Never mind 22 years worth of events. I think I'm going to suck it up and delete all my text, then just use the pictures in the albums plus the pictures that I already have on the presentation. the size of the ones in the albums don't really matter cause I can always enlarge them in the program that I use, no problem. It's not for another month or so my presentation, but I'll let you know how long I talk for! It's so hard to talk about something for only 10 minutes when you love the subject so much, plus have so much respect for the subject!

Yes, be sure to tell me how it goes....I am so glad that there is someone else out there that drives everyone crazy talkin bout Buddy. I can take anything anyone says and turn the subject to Buddy Holly....with my parents its ok, because they're fans aswell(of course not to my extreame) but I drive my friends insane...they all humor me though, because they know how much I love him and how exited I get when I talk about him...and ususally when Im posting something an this board I'll mutter to myself, and thats when my parents tell me to shut the hell up.lol. Ah well, perhaps its a good thing I dont have to do a project on the sexy Mr Holly, Im afraid I wouldnt be able to stop talking!

All right....the verdict on my presentation. You guys are not going to like this.
I have between 4-5 minutes to speak, she would prefer that we didn't use power point, and I have a couple extra minutes if I want to add a visual like a movie or something. So.....here goes my project, totally revamped.
I am open to any and all quotes said by Buddy Holly, about Buddy Holly, or those who said something good that are in some way related to him i.e Waylon Jennings, Joe B, etc.
I would cram the little unknown stories into 5 minutes (don't worry, I can talk fast ), and then maybe show a clip of him performing Oh Boy, as that's my favorite song that exists a performance of.

quote:

Originally posted by crazy_for_buddy:
I can take anything anyone says and turn the subject to Buddy Holly....

I can do that too, my friend and I were making jokes about how crazy we were, and I said "I may be crazy, but it keeps me from going insane." Waylon Jennings said that of course, in one of his songs, so I mentionned that, along with that he sang country, and I don't usually listen to country, but he was Buddy Holly's bass player. When I said that, my friend it like, "I knew it! I knew this was going to come back to Buddy Holly!"
Something else that is cool...there's a kid that's in a couple of my classes, he asked what I was doing my ebglish speech on, and I said Buddy Holly, because it frustrates me that the only things people associate with him are his glasses and the plane crash, and he replies, "yeah, there was Peggy Sue too."
Oh Buddy, you may have hope, people recognize something other than your glasses and the crash.

lol, yes yes Peggy Sue.....speaking of which, wasnt Peggy Sue banned from certain areas for being a "good song to steal hubcaps to"? Man those 1950s authorities must be rolling in the graves with what we have now if they thought Peggy Sue was the devils song.