1. Buddy Holly

2. Background Grew up in Lubbock, Texas Started playing violin, piano, and steel guitar before giving up those for the guitar Heavily influenced by Elvis Presley Struggled playing in Nashville, couldn’t fit in with the country music crowd

3. The Crickets Made up of Jerry Allison on drums, Joseph Mauldin on bass, and Niki Sullivan on rhythm guitar Sullivan left band in the fall of 1957 The Crickets toured in the U.S. and England They would break up 1958

4. Hit Songs Oh, Boy! Everyday Peggy Sue That’ll Be The Day Rave On

5. Post Crickets Buddy Holly After break-up of the Crickets, Buddy performed on his own He moved to New York City with his wife, Maria Elena Santiago (the couple was married August 15, 1958) There he stepped into the role of developing new talent

6. New Opportunity Buddy was offered a way to make cash touring with the Winter Dance Party Since he was hurting for cash, he decided to take the opportunity He would tour the Midwest with artists like Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper, and Dion and the Belmonts

7. The Beginning of the End Busses for this tour were poorly heated, and many artists got sick. Buddy’s new drummer actually got frostbite. At Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly chartered a plane for himself, Tommy Allsup, and Waylon Jennings Jennings gave up his seat to the Big Bopper who had the flu, and Allsup lost his seat to Ritchie Valens on a coin toss.

8. The End At approximately 1:00 am on February 3, 1959, the plane took off from Iowa It crashed in the middle of a field and all aboard were killed