The Father of Rock Music

Author: Jeff Little

Dick Clark said, "Elvis was the King of Rock 'n' Roll, but Buddy Holly was the undisputed father of rock music." Dick Clark is a smart man. And Dick Clark is right.

Elvis was an amazing performer, but wrote very little. Buddy Holly wrote, produced, and performed in a way that no one has before or since and changed the world of music for the better in the 22 years that encompassed his all too short life.

22-years-old at the time of his death, Holly was, needless to say, a young father. But, none the less, he did parent a new age that involved artists being self-sustained by becoming renaissance-like in their approach to music. After Holly, many would emulate his hands-on approach to performing, producing in the studio, and most importantly, writing their own material.

On September 7, 1936 no one could have guessed that the birth of Charles Hardin Holley (later to be known as "Buddy Holly") would have such a profound impact on the entertainment industry. But just 20 years later, the world would be clued-in.

Residing in Lubbock, Texas, The Holley's were a musical family that encouraged Buddy over the years as he learned to play the piano, violin, and the guitar. By the time he was thirteen Holly had formed his first musical act with childhood friend Bob Montgomery, and just a few years later he would team with other players to make the sound that still so strongly influences all forms of music today.

By 1955, Holly and company were playing most of the small venues around Lubbock and eventually lit upon a small recording studio in Clovis, New Mexico (approximately 100 miles away) that charged by the song instead of by the hour. The studio was run by Norman Petty, a musician-turned-producer, and under his tutelage the boys were on their way by the spring of 1956.

Earlier in the year Holly had cut some sides for Decca Records in Nashville, but creative differences and the short-sighted nature of the studio's executives failed to capture the sounds that Holly was after. It took the insight and creativity of Norman Petty to help Holly's group eventually realize their dream.

"That'll Be the Day" was released in 1957 on Coral Records, a subsidiary of Decca and based in New York. The song became a smash and kicked off a huge string of hits that Holly would produce consistently until his death on February 3, 1959.

Following a concert in Clear Lake, Iowa, a small plane crashed killing its pilot, J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, Ritchie Valens…and Buddy Holly. The event would come to be known as "The Day That Music Died" (most notably by Don McLean on the title cut of his 1972 classic LP "American Pie"), but that wasn't an entirely true statement. Buddy Holly's music still lives today.

Leaving behind a pregnant wife, a grieving public, and some of the greatest music ever recorded, Buddy Holly left us with a legacy that can be heard every day in most every form of music due to his massive influence.

Yes. The music still lives, thanks to "The Father Of Rock Music".