greetings to all Buddy Holly fans everywhere. I was born in Manchester on 19/03/1958, Buddy played Liverpool on the 18th and Wigan on the 20th ( or the other way round)So he was around these parts the day I was born, I was born and raised and still live in Manchester, England.

I only found this out after being a big Holly fan more or less all my life, " The Chirpin' Crickets" was the first LP record in our house and it's the soundtrack to my life.

I always come back to Buddy, I'm amazed he produced so much stuff in his short life. I really like the Decca stuff and often wonder what he'd have done had he not been so tragically killed.

You know, it's funny, I was born in 1959, so I never actually heard Buddy when he was alive---and I never really heard him promoted as a "rock & roll" act.

To me, growing up in the 1960s, Buddy Holly wasn't rock & roll... He was something else. There were the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean and the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan and so on and so forth, and I considered THAT rock & roll... and then there was Buddy Holly, a totally different sound. Different from the 50s and different from the 60s---the guy invented a new kind of music.

God only knows where music would have gone and where we'd be right now if Buddy had lived. And I tip my hat to Eddie Cochran, as well...

Do you ever get the feeling that these guys were on the verge of, I dunno, taking the whole world in a different direction, and something conspired to stop them? I don't mean an actual conspiracy, men in black or anything... But it's as if Fate conspired to stop them---BAM!---right on the verge of setting the world on fire.

It boggles the mind to think of what they could have done. Buddy was so ahead of his time.

Yeah, just imagine if Buddy had opened Taupe records in Lubbock and was able to fully master
the art of producing records!

My god, had Buddy opened Taupe Records in Lubbock, music would certainly be different, I think. I mean, as it is the man lived and breathed music, sleeping on Norm Petty's couch many a time during recording session and to quote Buddy himself "well, when we're in Lubbock, most of our waking hours are spent over in Clovis, isn't that right Jerry?" So had Buddy been able to build that studio where he planned to add living quarters for both him and Maria Elena and his parents, no matter what he did in the music business, performing, recording, producing, the man would have lived and breathed music until he died, which, he did, in reality I guess, just too soon.
My birthday coincides with nice round numbers to the anniversary of his death: I was born 30 years and 2 months too late.

i love buddy, his music chills me out, i relax and onwind. i sing along and i dance. buddy's music is an insperation, how may people will remember the darkness in ten to fifteen years time?

Hi I am new here on this cool site.

My name is bobly, I live in Leeds with my parents and I go to a resource centre in Leeds.

I was born in 1969 and I like watching TV DVD'S and playing on my PC and listening to music.

Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Madness Specials, Selector and Queen are my favourites.

And I follow Leeds United I go to all the home matches not away

What propels Buddy Holly's legend and whetts our appetite to know more about the man, runs much deeper than his great music - it's his mystique. Call it the "what if..."

It's the haunting image of a young man who is cut down before he can realize the fullness of his dreams. Good guys just aren't suppose to go out this way.

Balcony Buddy
Seattle, WA USA

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Balcony Buddy,

Only the good die young. *sad smile
"We let go of our heros slowly, but then again, our heros aren't supposed to die." -Waylon Jennings

Hey bobly and mark greer--
Did you catch the news that the latest Buddy DVD and CD goes on sale in Europe tomorrow, June 26th? It's available at Amazon.UK.com. Check the news announcement of June 6th on this web site. I have copy coming but won't get it until mid-July. I'm dying to know what songs are on the CD. Do you suppose True Love Ways Accoustic will be on it?

Hi Reminiscing, I was looking through the site the other day and that caught my eye.


I wonder if some of Buddy's other songs will be demo versions.

I did often wonder what Buddy's acustic version of True Love Ways would sound like.

I was watching The Buddy Holly Story a while back, I wonder what song he was doing?

Which song in the Buddy Holly Story?
If I remember correctly, in order Gary Busey performs Mockingbird Hill, which was not one of Buddy's songs, That'll Be The Day, Oh Boy, It's So Easy, Rave On, Words Of Love, Listen to Me, Maybe Baby, a short song in the apartment that I can't remember, True Love Ways, Maybe Baby again, Oh Boy, Peggy Sue...I think that's it...for the rest of you on the board don't shoot the messanger if I missed one or they're slightly out of order.
When you talk about demo songs, a lot of the stuff that Buddy did with Bob Montgomery (which incidentally was a little bit more country) were demo tapes, not to mention that all the Apartment Tapes, as good as they sound, were only intended, and seen, as demos in Buddy's eyes. He had a whole lot more work to do, is probably what he saw in those tapes.

the song Busey (portraying Buddy) played in the apartment for the young boy was "well...alright". by the way, i like what Busey had to say about Buddy - "Buddy was responsible for long hair and a guitar on every corner - he spawned all that music in England...".

and you're right about the "demo" aspect of some of Buddy's songs. however, as we know, many of Buddy's greatest were just 'demos'. 'that'll be the day', 'wishing', etc.... come to mind. when Buddy made a demo, he put his heart and soul into it, just as he did when making a record. which is why literally everything he ever recorded is inspired.

but lately i've thought about the apartment tapes. imagine Buddy, a top rock n' roll star, who'd spent the last couple of years recording some of the greatest stuff ever, applying and using creative techniques that were unheard of at the time, and years ahead of the time, suddenly stuck in a new york apartment, minus his bandmates and producer. this must've been a very lonely time for Buddy - Maria, notwithstanding. and so while the apartment tapes are 'demos' technically, there's no doubt that Buddy put his heart and soul into these recordings, just as he'd always done with everything he'd put down to tape. in this case, though, he was the producer, engineer, artist, singer, guitarist - everything. Maria has said that Buddy would rehearse the songs over and over again before he committed them to tape. which is typical of a great artist. however, when you consider that songs like 'you're the one' were recorded (and written, for that matter) on the spur of the moment, you still have the same inspired sense of excellence shining through.

what a talent. what a loss.

Buddy threads the tape, he puts the mic on the coffee table, he pushes the record button.
He sings.

Even in these sparse recordings, the songs come across as nothing less than brilliant, and the sound quality is fortunately, good enough to add backings to in the studio.

All it would have taken to ruin these recordings for professional use would be the sounds of screaming kids running down the hall or blaring car horns from the city streets in the background - but somehow, that didn't happen.

In the '50s, lots of bands didn't record in real studios. Jan & Dean's early Dore hits "Jenny Lee" and "Baby Talk" were recorded in Jan's garage. The Five Satins recorded "In The Still Of The Night" in the basement of a church. Radio was so unpretentious that even amateur recordings could become national hits overnight.

So it was quite acceptable in the early '60s for radio to play 'sweetened' versions of Buddy's home-made demo recordings. Ahhh, the simplicity!

Balcony Buddy
Seattle, WA USA

ironically, it's very common today, with entire albums having been recorded in people's living rooms, technology having advanced to the point where even the average person can get great results with fairly inexpensive gear.

it's true that some recordings in the 50's weren't made in 'real' studios. that was the exception, rather than the rule, however. the key to get getting a listenable recording (then and now) is the type of microphones that are used, their placement, the kind of room where the performance takes place (acoustics), and the machine used to capture the sound on tape.