The Crickets were named "Best Vocal Group" of 1957, and they didn't even sing! 
The background vocals were done by "The Picks". (Bill & John Pickering, and Bob Lapham). 
  
Buddy asked Maria Elena Santiago to marry him after only one date. 
She thought he was crazy, which made Buddy mad. He assured her that he was serious. 
She insisted that he ask her aunt for permission. She was just as amazed, asking "Can't you wait?" . 
Buddy's ironic (prophetic?) response: "No, ma'am. I don't have time". 
  
The Rolling Stones are often credited as being the oldest continuing performing band. 
However, the Crickets were performing at least seven years before the Stones. 
  
After Buddy's tragic death in 1959, Buddy "soundalike" Earl Sinks and later David Box joined the group. 
Box, ironically, was himself killed in a plane crash in the early 1960's. 

Later, Jerry Naylor joined as lead singer with Glen Campbell singing harmony in the song "Don't Ever Change". 
Ernie Freeman played piano. 
  
In 1961, the Crickets teamed up with Bobby Vee and released several singles and an album. 
  
The Crickets appeared in at least two movies in the 1960's, "The Girls On The Beach" 
along with Leslie Gore and the Beach Boys. And, also the English movie "Just For Fun". 
  
Jerry Allison is responsible for the Crickets' group name. Most bands of the time were named after insects, 
birds and cars. Jerry looked under "Insects" in the encyclopedia and found "Crickets: Insects that make 'music',
or 'chirping' by rubbing their legs together" . The group liked it, and adopted the name. 
Years later, another group decided to take the name of an insect 
for their group, inspired by the Crickets. They became known as the Beatles. 

Buddy Knox was the first rock 'n roll artist to record at Norman Petty's studio in Clovis, New Mexico. 

Other artists to record at Petty's studio included Roy Orbison, Jimmy Gilmer, the Fireballs
and "the String-a-Longs". 
  
Most of the recordings done in Clovis were done at night, to lessen the chance of traffic noise spoiling a take. 
  
Buddy's brother, Larry, was (and still is) in the tile business in Lubbock He and Buddy helped build an 
"Echo Chamber" lined with tile at Petty's studio. 
  
Buddy's first hit was "That'll Be The Day" , inspired by John Wayne's catch phrase in the movie "The Searchers". 
Whenever Wayne's character in the movie became disgruntled, he would say "That'll be the day!". 
After seeing the movie, Jerry Allison was over at Buddy's house. Buddy said "Why don't we write a song?". 
Jerry replied "That'll be the day!" to which Buddy replied "Yeah! That's it!".
 (It was released on May 27, 1957 under the Brunswick label and 
was the #1 record in the country on September 23, 1957). 

 

Buddy's last hit was "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" which was written by Paul Anka. 
  

"Oh Boy" was originally titled "All My Love". The lyrics were also changed, 
considerably altering the meaning of the song. 
  
"Peggy Sue" was originally titled "Cindy Lou" after Buddy's niece. 
Jerry Allison wanted to impress his girlfriend (later wife), 
Peggy Sue Gerron and begged Buddy to change the name of the song. 
Jerry played the drums so loudly on that song that they finally had to put him
in a hallway away from the others with a set of headphones. 
  
 "Peggy Sue" has had many covers over the years, but has never been out of the record catalogs during the 
41 years since it's recording. In some countries around the world, "Peggy Sue" 
still hits the record charts occasionally. 
  
"Rock Around With Ollie Vee" was inspired the wife of an employee of Sonny Curtis' Dad. 
Sonny just liked the name. 
  
The "drums" in the song "Not Fade Away" were not actually drums at all. Rather, 
they were played on a large cardboard box. In the song "Everyday" there were also no drums. 
Jerry Allison slapped the rhythm on his knee. 

According to Larry Holley: "Buddy was just becoming a success in the recording industry. 
He came home once, and I guess Mother thought he was getting a little too big for his britches or something. 
She said ' You're not so hot! Why I'll bet I could write a song just as good as you can! 
Let's see.......Maybe......Maybe.....Maybe, Baby.....Maybe Baby!" 
  
Buddy and the Crickets stopped performing together in 1958. 
Their last performance together was on "American Bandstand" on October 28, 1958. 
  
Joe B. Mauldin was a member of another group before the Crickets called "The Four Teens",
consisting of Joe B., Brownie Higgs, Terry Noland and Larry Wellborn. 
  
Buddy spent Christmas 1958 in Lubbock. During this stay he visited KLLL Radio 
(located on top of the Great Plains Life Building, now the Metro Tower) 
and someone bet that he couldn't write a new song within 30 minutes. 
Buddy went into a back room, and long before the time limit was up, produced the song "You're the One". 
As the radio station had an acetate machine (for doing commercials), 
the song was recorded with Buddy singing and playing his guitar.
The DJ's at the station, Waylon Jennings and Ray "Slim" Corbin, 
attempted to provide a background by clapping their hands 
(if you listen to the original undubbed version they were out of tempo at times). 
As the handclapping was considered an integral part of the song, 
Jennings and Corbin were both listed as co-writers with Buddy. 

The Crickets also recorded under the name "The Camps" (or "The Campers") 
depending on which copy of their record you have) for a strange release titled "Ballad of Batman" 
and "Batmobile" in a attempt to capture the theme for the 1960's television show "Batman". 
  
On the record "Smokey Joe's Cafe", the title is not spelled correctly. 
  
Richie Valens real name was Valenzuela, but was changed to avoid racial prejudice. 
  
Buddy's favorite color was blue. 
  
Buddy's favorite gospel song was "I'll Be Alright" and was played at his funeral. 
The melody is the same as "True Love Ways". 
  
Buddy was born on September 7, 1936 and died February 3, 1959. 

Radio station KLLL in Lubbock has done a tribute show to Buddy every year since 1959. 
  
Niki Sullivan and Buddy were related by marriage. 
  
Buddy Got laryngitis during the 1957 "Greatest Show of Stars" 
tour and Niki Sullivan had to sing on one of the tour dates. 
  
According to MCA Records, the album "Good Rockin' " was never released.  
This will come as quite a surprise to many record collectors who do own the album! 
  
Buddy and the Crickets were the first white performers to appear at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. 
They performed there August 16-22, 1957.
(The Apollo thought they were hiring the black group, Dean Barlow and The Crickets). 
  
Buddys real name is Charles Hardin Holley (with an 'e') and was named after his grandfathers. 

Buddy seemed to favor Lincolns over other automobiles. 
  
Buddy's hobbies included fishing, water skiing and leatherwork. 
The leather cover for his Gibson acoustic guitar had been handmade and colored by him. 
This guitar and leather cover is currently owned by actor Gary Busey. 
(Who played Buddy in "The Buddy Holly Story") 
  
Buddy loved a thick steak, peanut butter sandwiches and pizza. 
  
Buddy's eyesight was very bad...20/800 in both eyes. He tried contacts, but they didn't work for him. 
He could only bear wearing them for a few minutes at a time. 
His vision , along with an ulcer, would later keep him out of the armed services. 
Some of his albums picture him in contacts. 
  
Favorite "dress"- t-shirt and tapered jeans. He always performed in a suit and tie, however. 
  
Buddy's first release was "Blue Days, Black Nights" on the Decca label on April 16, 1956. 
 
Buddy's first release on the Coral label was "Words of Love " on June 20, 1957. 
  
"The Chirping Crickets" was Buddy's first album. 
  
Buddy didn't watch much T.V., as music was his life. 
He could be seem just about everywhere, on dates, at school, at the carhop drive-ins playing his guitar. 
  
Buddy had an unusual style of playing the guitar, strumming only on the downstroke,
instead of both up and down like most guitarists. 
(I guess he had to work twice as hard to achieve the right sound!). 
  
Buddy played lead guitar in a rhythm manner, strumming all of the strings at once, instead of one string at a time. 
 
"Well Alright" was inspired by Little Richard who was always going around backstage saying
 "Well, alright!" or "alright!". 
  
The Rolling Stones first major hit was a revival of Holly's "Not Fade Away" 

Buddy was one of the first rock 'n roll stars to tour Great Britain. 
  
In the 1980's, the Crickets traveled to England to record with Paul McCartney. 
  
Buddy did not like the bass guitar. 
He liked the sound they got with the stand-up bass and wanted to keep it. 
However, after the group split up, Waylon Jennings played bass guitar in the band on their final tour. 
  
Bo Diddley was one of Buddy's and Richie Valens' favorites. 
When you listen to them play, you'll find it's very similar. 

Rick Nelson's final song at his last concert was "Rave On" . 
  
Buddy's marriage was kept low key to keep Buddy from losing female fans. 
  
The movie "The Buddy Holly Story", starring Gary Busey, was a TOTALLY inaccurate story according 
to Buddy's family and the Crickets. The producers didn't have permission from Jerry Allison or Joe Mauldin 
to use their names. Consequently, Jerry was called "Jesse" and Joe B. was "Ray Bob". 
(Everybody in Texas is Ray Bob, Billy Bob, Joe Bob...you know?). 
Norman Petty was treated as a non-entity, and Sonny Curtis wasn't even mentioned!
 "The worst thing was depicting J.I. as a racist. That was a terrible thing to do when it wasn't true." 
--Sonny Curtis 
  
"The movie, The Buddy Holly Story , did not include me, nor did it show the influence that Jerry Allison and 
Norman Petty had in creating The Music. So, when they find out that we all existed and played a part in 
Buddy's life and music, people are often overwhelmed. After they get over their shock,
their excitement, and often, their stammering, they have a million questions." --Peggy Sue Gerron 
  
There was a scene in the movie that showed Buddy getting a tooth knocked out just before going 
on the Ed Sullivan Show. This was halfway true. Actually, it happened at the Hammersmith 
Gaumont in England. Joe B. came to their dressing room with a big cigar and announced that he was 
going to light it up and fill the whole room with smoke. Buddy and Jerry 
told him he wasn't going to do that. They scuffled, with Buddy and Jerry pinning Joe's arms to the wall. 
Joe brought his head up suddenly in an attempt to break their hold and hit Buddy in the mouth, 
knocking the caps off of two teeth. (Joe B. carries a scar on his head as a result). 
Buddy chewed some gum and spread it over the missing teeth and the show went off as planned. 
Norman Petty said that was the worse performance he had ever seen Buddy have.