Charles Hardin Holley was born on September 7th, 1936 in Lubbock, Texas. Charles learned at an early age to play the piano. fiddle and the guitar. Following High School he formed a band. The band performed regularly on a local Lubbock radio station and would open for acts that were passing through town. A talent scout noticed Holley and he was signed to the "Decca" record label under the name Buddy Holly and the three tunes.
On February 25th, 1957, Holly and a new band line up now called "The Crickets" recorded "That'll Be The Day" at a New Mexico studio of producer Norman Petty. The song became a number one pop hit and rose to number two on the R&B charts. Between August 1957 and August 1958, Buddy Holly & The Crickets had seven top forty singles hit the charts.
In October 1958 Buddy split up with "The Crickets" and dropped his producer/manager Norman Petty. Buddy met and married Maria Elena Santiago. There were financial and legal problems caused by his break up with Norman Petty. Holly reluctantly agreed to join the "Winter Dance Party Tour" starting on January 23rd, 1959 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Click on the hyperlink to read about the out come of the "Winter Dance Party Tour"
