Buddy Holly

Though Buddy was his childhood nickname, his last name changed from Holley to Holly when it was misspelled on his first Decca Records contract. ∙ Of all of Holly’s iconic songs, only his initial breakout hit, “That’ll Be the Day,” topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart. ∙ “Peggy Sue” was originally going to be called “Cindy Lou” after Holly’s niece, but Crickets drummer Jerry Allison persuaded Holly to name it for his girlfriend, Peggy Sue Gerron. ∙ Buddy helped kickstart Waylon Jennings’ career when he hired him to play backup on the 1959 Winter Dance Party tour. ∙ British Invasion band The Hollies took their name as a tribute to the late singer. ∙ In 1976, Paul McCartney bought the publishing rights to Holly’s song catalog. ∙ Gary Busey was nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of Holly in 1978’s The Buddy Holly Story. ∙ John Fogerty inducted Holly into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. ∙ In 1996, Holly’s hometown opened the Buddy Holly Center, which features the world’s largest collection of his personal effects, including his first Fender Stratocaster guitar. ∙ In his hit song “American Pie,” Don McLean sings about “the day the music died,” referring to the plane crash that took the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson.