1936: September 7, Charles Hardin Holley is born to Ella and Lawrence Odell “L.O.” Holley on Labor Day at the Holley’s Sixth Street home in Lubbock.
1949: Buddy’s first recording is “My Two-Timin’ Woman,” a Hank Snow song, which he sings into a wire recorder.
1954/55: Buddy, joined at various times by Bob Montgomery, Sonny Curtis, Larry Welborn, Don Guess and/or J. I. Allison, travels to Nesman Recording Studio in Wichita Falls to record a number of songs including: “Flower of My Heart,” “Door to My Heart,” “Soft Place in My Heart,” “Gotta Get You Near Me Blues,” “I Gambled My Heart, “Down the Line,” “You and I Are Through,” “Baby Let’s Play House,” and “Queen of the Ballroom.”
February 13: Buddy and Bob Montgomery open for Elvis Presley at the Fair Park Coliseum in Lubbock.
October 14: At the Fair Park Coliseum, Buddy, Bob Montgomery, and Larry Welborn perform in a show featuring Bill Haley and The Comets and Jimmy Rodgers Snow.
October 15: Buddy, Bob Montgomery, and Larry Welborn open for Elvis at the Fair Park Coliseum.
October 28: Buddy, Bob Montgomery, and Larry Welborn open for headliner Marty Robbins at the Fair Park Coliseum. Eddie Crandall again watches Buddy’s performance.
1956
January 23-25: Buddy negotiates a recording contract with Decca and a three-year songwriter’s contract with Cedarwood Publishing Company.
February 8: Buddy’s name is misspelled in Decca’s contract, with the “e” inadvertently dropped from Holley. As a result, Buddy adopts the “Holly” spelling for his last name.
April 21: Billboard reviews “Love Me”: “If the public will take more than one Presley or Perkins, this one stands a chance.”
1957
January 22: Decca sends Buddy a letter informing him that his renewal option is not being exercised and his contract will expire on January 26, 1957.
February/March: Buddy is restricted from recording any of the songs that were done under his contract with Decca. A name is needed in order to release the new version of “That’ll Be The Day.” J. I. Allison searches through an encyclopedia under “Insects” in order to find a name for the band. They consider briefly, then discard “The Beetles” before selecting “The Crickets.”
July 1: “Peggy Sue,” “Oh Boy,” “Listen To Me,” and “I’m Gonna Love You Too” are recorded in Clovis, New Mexico.
August 2: Buddy Holly and The Crickets begin their first major tour at the Howard Theater in Washington, D.C. where “That’ll Be The Day” is number two on the charts.
August 16-22: Buddy Holly and The Crickets perform at the Apollo Theater in New York City.
August 26: Buddy Holly and The Crickets perform “That’ll Be The Day” on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
August 27: Buddy Holly and The Crickets appear on the Ted Steele Show in New York City.
August 30: The Alan Freed Holiday Show at the Paramount Theater in New York features Buddy Holly and The Crickets.
September 9: Buddy Holly and The Crickets join the Biggest Show of Stars for 1957 in Norfolk, Virginia.
September 21: Cash Box features a cover photograph of Buddy Holly and The Crickets pointing to a circled date of October 1, 1957. “That’ll Be The Day” is expected to pass the one million mark in sales on this date. Two days later Billboard lists “That’ll Be The Day” as the No. 1 best seller in stores.
November 27: Brunswick releases the album The Chirping Crickets.
December 1: Buddy Holly and The Crickets perform “That’ll Be The Day” and “Peggy Sue” on The Ed Sullivan Show.
December 4-5: Buddy Holly and The Crickets return to Lubbock. Niki Sullivan leaves the group.
December 23: Buddy Holly and The Crickets are billed separately during the 12-day Alan Freed’s Christmas Jubilee Show (also billed as the Holiday of Stars) at the Paramount Theater in New York City.
1958
January 8: Buddy Holly and The Crickets join America’s Greatest Teenage Recording Stars tour in Charlotte, North Carolina.
January 25: Bob Thiele of Coral presents Buddy Holly and Norman Petty with the gold record for “Peggy Sue.” The songs “Rave On” and “That’s My Desire” are recorded at Bell Sound Studios in New York.
January 26: Buddy Holly and The Crickets perform “Oh Boy” on The Ed Sullivan Show in New York City.
January 28-29: Buddy Holly and The Crickets travel to Sydney, Australia for a six-day tour. Variety runs an article about the Honolulu show under the headline, “Rock n’ Roll Reaches Hawaii & Makes Good,” and describes “turn-away crowds.”
February 20: Buddy Holly and The Crickets join The Big Gold Records Stars tour (informally known as The Florida Tour). Coral releases the album Buddy Holly, which includes the songs: “I’m Gonna Love You Too,” “Peggy Sue,” “Look at Me,” “Listen to Me,” “Valley of Tears,” “Ready Teddy,” “Everyday,” “Mailman Bring Me No More Blues,” “Words of Love (You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care,” “Rave On,” and “Little Baby.”
February 28: Coral in England releases “Listen To Me/I’m Gonna Love You Too,” and “Maybe Baby/Tell Me How.” Buddy Holly and The Crickets and Norman and Vi Petty arrive in London to begin the 25-day tour of the United Kingdom.
March 14: Buddy Holly and The Crickets perform “Maybe Baby,” which is broadcast live over the BBC’s Off The Record TV show, and “I’m Gonna Love You Too” for a promotional advertisement for the show. During one of the group’s evening performances at the Granada Theatre in Woolwich, London, Mick Jagger is reportedly among the members of the audience.
March 27: Buddy Holly and The Crickets join Alan Freed’s Big Beat Show in Brooklyn, New York.
July 4: Buddy Holly and The Crickets, accompanied by Tommy Allsup and his dance band, perform for the Summer Dance Party tour.
July 8: During a performance at Electric Park in Waterloo, Iowa, Dick Cole asks Buddy to remove his glasses for a picture. Buddy replies: “I never have pictures made without my glasses.”
August 15: Buddy and Maria Elena Santiago are married at the Holley home in Lubbock. Parents L.O. and Ella Holley, brothers Larry and Travis, sister Patricia and the spouses of his brothers and sister are in attendance, along with J. I. and Peggy Sue Allison and Joe B. Mauldin. The Hollys and the Allisons honeymoon for two weeks in Acapulco, Mexico.
September 10: A session for Waylon Jennings is produced by Buddy for his newly founded company Prism Records.
October 28: Buddy Holly and The Crickets appear on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand on WFIL-TV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
November 3: Buddy ends his business partnership with Norman Petty. J. I. Allison and Joe B. Mauldin decide to remain under Petty’s management.
December 25: Buddy and Maria Elena spend Christmas with Buddy’s family in Lubbock.
1959
January 20-22: Buddy, Tommy Allsup, Waylon Jennings, and Carl Bunch leave New York City and travel by train to Chicago to rendezvous with the other artists on the Winter Dance Party tour. From Chicago, the artists are scheduled to travel by bus on the tour route. Other performers include: Ritchie Valens, J. P. “Big Bopper” Richardson, Dion and The Belmonts, and Frankie Sardo.
January 23: The Winter Dance Party kicks off the tour with performances in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
February 2: Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings, and Tommy Allsup perform and serve as back-up musicians during the performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa.
February 3: Shortly after the performance in Clear Lake, Buddy Holly, J. P. “Big Bopper” Richardson, and Ritchie Valens board a small aircraft chartered to take them to their next performance. The plane crashes just minutes after take-off, killing everyone aboard.
For a complete timeline of Buddy Holly’s remarkable life, and for more information, please see www.buddyhollycenter.org