Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll. Although his success lasted only a year and a half before his death in an airplane crash, Holly is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most influential creative force in early rock and roll." His works and innovations inspired and influenced both his contemporaries and later musicians, notably The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan, and exerted a profound influence on popular music.
Charles Hardin Holley was born in Lubbock, Texas, to Lawrence Odell Holley and Ella Pauline Drake on Labor Day, 1936. The Holleys were a musical family and as a young boy Holley learned to play piano, guitar, and fiddle. He was always known as Buddy to his family. In 1949, Buddy made a recording of Hank Snow's "My Two Timin' Woman" on a wire recorder "borrowed" by a friend who worked in a music shop, his first known recording.
During the fall of that year, he met Bob Montgomery at Hutchinson Junior High School. They shared a common interest in music and soon teamed up as "Buddy and Bob". Initially influenced by bluegrass music, they sang harmony duets at local clubs and high school talent shows. In Lubbock, Holly attended Hutchinson Junior High School, which has a mural honoring him, and Lubbock High School, which has numerous features to honor the late musician. His musical interests grew throughout high school while singing in the Lubbock High School Choir.
Downtown Lubbock has a "walk of fame" with plaques to various area artists such as Glenna Goodacre, Mac Davis, Maines Brothers Band, and Waylon Jennings, with a life-size statue of Buddy by sculptor Grant Speed (1980) playing his Fender guitar as its centerpiece. Downtown Lubbock also features Buddy Holly Avenue and the Buddy Holly Center, which is a museum dedicated to Texas art and music.
In 1988, Ken Paquette, a Wisconsin fan of the 1950s, erected a stainless steel monument at the site of the airplane crash, depicting a steel guitar and a set of three records bearing the names of each of the three performers. It is located on private farmland approximately five miles north of Clear Lake. He also created a similar stainless steel monument to the three musicians at the Riverside Ballroom in Green Bay. That memorial was unveiled on July 17, 2003.
Buddy Holly's previous home in Lubbock is still standing. It is a private residence and not open for tours.