Buddy Holly grave
Buddy Holly
City of Lubbock Cemetery
Lubbock, Texas

(Holly's real name was spelled "Holley," but in his professional
singing career, it was spelled without the "e.")


A long, long time ago
I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And maybe they’d be happy for awhile
But February made me shiver
With every paper I’d deliver
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn’t take one more step
I can’t remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died....

      —Don McLean, American Pie

(The opening verse of McLean's song refers to the plane crash on February 3, 1959 that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, J. P. Richardson (The Big Bopper), and the pilot Roger Peterson.)



Buddy Holly last tour poster
Poster from Buddy Holly's last tour,
one week before the fatal plane crash.



Buddy Holly U.S. postage stamp
U.S. postage stamp honoring
Buddy Holly, issued in 1993