Remembering Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens & JP Richardson

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 3 Feb 2014 11:54 am

On this day in 1959 we lost three geat talents. Who knows what they would have gone on to accomplish had they not perished so tragically young?

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 3 Feb 2014 12:50 pm

In all probability, none of them would have been able to sustain their careers s rock stars after the Beatles took over, but Richie Valens would have had a thriving career in the Hispanic market, Buddy holly would have become a producer and record company executive, and The Big Bopper would have resumed his career as a disc jockey, and possible have become a TV game show host.

They made movies about Richie Valens and Buddy Holly. They should do one on "Jape" and complete the trilogy.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 4 Feb 2014 4:57 pm

Mike Perlowin wrote:...They made movies about Richie Valens and Buddy Holly. They should do one on "Jape" and complete the trilogy.

That's what Jape's son was saying recently. Unfortunately all that most people remember him for is Chantilly Lace.

Michael Hartz · Post by **Michael Hartz** » 4 Feb 2014 7:32 pm

I am often in the Clear Lake area doing service calls and recently went out to the crash site. You get a very somber feeling there realizing four human beings ( three of them famous) lost their lives in an instant on that exact spot. Tragic.

rpetersen · Post by **rpetersen** » 5 Feb 2014 5:25 am

Michael - That had to be a weird feeling - I became a real close friend to one of the original members of Buddy's band - Nick Sullivan - he was with Buddy at the beginning and was on the Ed Sullivan show..etc.- Had some very interesting stories about everything that went on. He is also gone now
Take care...Ron

joe long · Post by **joe long** » 5 Feb 2014 1:23 pm

We visited the crash site last summern. Visitors bureau in Clear Lake said they average 10 request a day for directions to the crash site.

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 5 Feb 2014 3:33 pm

rpetersen wrote:I became a real close friend to one of the original members of Buddy's band - Nick Sullivan

I can't say we were friends, but he was the manager of a store called Wallach's Music city where I worked in 1969. He worked days, and I worked nights, so we rarely saw each other.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 5 Feb 2014 4:23 pm

It's interesting to note that the hits had dried up a bit for Holly as early as '59. He'd split with the Crickets and was doing that tour because he was short of money. As we all know it was a pick-up band and the traveling conditions were pretty dire.

His death, of course, sparking renewed interest and sales were high again but I've often wondered how he'd have finished up had he lived.

rpetersen · Post by **rpetersen** » 5 Feb 2014 5:38 pm

One thing is - It wasn't hard to find a musician in Lubbock Texas to go along on tour - there were quite a few!!

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 6 Feb 2014 4:28 am

Roger Rettig wrote:... butI've often wondered how he'd have finished up had he lived.

Travelling Wilburys?

Sonny Jenkins · Post by **Sonny Jenkins** » 6 Feb 2014 9:26 am

I grew up in Lubbock (the fabulous 50's) with Buddy (Joe B., Niki Sullivan, Don Guess, Mac Davis, etc),,,Buddy was very "driven",,,he would have been at the top of anything he chose.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 6 Feb 2014 10:08 am

My assistant, before we both retired, was brought up in Lubbock and went to school with Buddy. She knew him well and at one time was dating him. She also knew Waylon Jennings and Sonny Curtis. After living in the San Francisco area for some years, on retirement she moved back to Lubbock, where she now lives. I keep promising to fly over and visit with her, and someday I will. Buddy Holly has always been my lifetime mentor. He had so much talent at such an early age, who knows what he would have accomplished.

Sonny Jenkins · Post by **Sonny Jenkins** » 6 Feb 2014 1:40 pm

Yes Alan,,,just like any group or click of kids,,if you knew one of the group you pretty well knew all of them,,,,some closer than others. People are not aware of how much talent came out of 50's Lubbock. i.e. when Buddy started it was as a group called Buddy and Bob and the Bluegrass Boys,,,,the "Bob" being Bob Montgomery,,,,very successful N'ville producer, songwriter etc. At the time none of us had any idea what others would go on to become,,,or it never crossed our minds,,,we were just kids having fun.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 7 Feb 2014 11:31 am

...and 50 years on I'm still trying to master some of the instrumental licks that Buddy could play as a teenager.

It's ironic that the largest proportion of his work was released years after his death. Had he lived we would probably never have had the opportunity to hear them, and certainly he would never have taken his home tapes and given them to the Fireballs to add backing to. He would have arranged his own backings and done them again.

It's not widely known that the Crickets didn't do the vocals on most of his recordings. Those were done by the Pickering Brothers, and some of the recordings without vocal backing were rushed out in a hurry, but the vocal backings had already been worked out. About ten years ago the Picks, as they were known, went back to the original recordings and added the backing vocals that had been worked out many years before.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 7 Feb 2014 11:37 am

...and it's not widely known that it wasn't always Buddy playing the best solos. Sonny Curtis and Tommy Allsup did a lot of the good stuff.

Dan Carr · Post by **Dan Carr** » 17 Feb 2014 2:42 pm

Sonny Curtis is still alive and kickin', lives and does the steel guitar shows in Columbus, Oh. They have a show this weekend at the Lighthouse Ministries, 2295 South High Street. Time is 12-6pm.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 17 Feb 2014 2:50 pm

Not sure if you're referring to the same Sonny Curtis, Dan - I'm talking about the ex-Cricket and songwriter who is from Lubbock (and grew up with Weldon Myrick) and who I'm almost certain doesn't play steel guitar at all.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 17 Feb 2014 2:57 pm

Me and Sonny Curtis - composer of 'Walk Right Back', 'I Fought The Law', 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show Theme', 'The Straighgt Life' and many, many more. He's also a wonderful guitar-player.

Dan Carr · Post by **Dan Carr** » 18 Feb 2014 7:34 am

Oops! The Sonny Curtis I know is a steel player who was with George Jones back in the day...

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 18 Feb 2014 11:06 am

I thought so - easy mistake.

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 20 Feb 2014 12:25 pm

"Love Has Made A Fool Of You"... A nice version by Carla Olson an James Intfeld:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZBe4r5JpGE

Casey Lowmiller · Post by **Casey Lowmiller** » 20 Feb 2014 5:32 pm

I was fortunate enough to attend the 50th Anniversary festivities there in Clear Lake...it was an amazing experience!!!

It was also bitterly cold, with the weather being very close to what it was like 50 years earlier. It made for an interesting experience going out to the crash site in the same weather conditions...very eerie & gave just about everyone there chills!!! As a news photographer, it made me appreciate and be thankful of the dedicated newsmen that braved the elements that day to perform their jobs & capture what ended up being a significant historical event.

As Roger pointed out, he was in need of cash & had recently split with The Crickets & signed up for the tour to make a quick buck. When I went to the Surf Ballroom, I realized just how tragic and cheap his death was. By that, I mean that I always imagined the Surf Ballroom as being this amazing & majestic place...perhaps some place magical

Instead, it is a neat old ballroom (tons of cities used to have something similar) in a small town in the middle of a frozen tundra!!! Had it not been for this tragic event, how many people would know of Clear Lake and would the Surf still be around/open???

Don't get me wrong, it was a cool place and I took a lot of pics of it. However, after visiting the town, seeing the ballroom, the crash site and the airport, I realized the tragedy of it all. An amazingly talented musician/songwriter (Buddy), a father (JP), a son (Valens) and a newlywed (Peterson) lost their lives...Buddy trying to make a buck, JP who was surely trying to milk his 15 minutes of fame for all it was worth, Valens was striking while the iron was hot & enjoying the ride and Peterson was a 21 year old kid that surely was excited to be flying some Rock stars around.

I love all of these artists music...my comments weren't meant to bring any of them down/trivialize their place in history as performers. It was certainly a tragic event & I've always wondered what Rock would've been like had they all kept living

Casey

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 20 Feb 2014 5:52 pm

Good post, Casey!

Yes, that was a cheap and tawdry package tour undertaken in appalling conditions and a sure sign that the artists involved had fallen on hard times.

It was a terrible accident, of course, and but for a series of occurrences all three might have lived full lives. How productive they'd have been and how important can never be evaluated now - that date has put them into the history books for ever.

So sad....

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 21 Feb 2014 10:05 am

As cheap and tawdry as the venue was, several of today's well-known stars were sitting in the audience waiting for them to appear, including Bobby Vee and Bob Dylan.

Did you know that Phil Everly was one of the pallbearers at Buddy Holly's funeral?

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 21 Feb 2014 10:19 am

I didn't single out the venue when I used that description. It was the tour itself on which corners were cut on transportation with the performers' comfort and well-being seeming to have been of little consequence. In that sense Holly would have felt that he'd already come down in the world after just two short years at the top.

It has to have been depressing.

The Everlys and Holly as well as the Crickets were all very close friends.