On September 7, 1936, Charles Hardin Holley, later known as Buddy Holly, is born in Lubbock, Texas. The lanky, bespectacled musician would have an outsize influence on rock and roll that would far outlast his tragically shortened career.
By 1956, Buddy Holly was still an unknown, but he was blazing a trail that future giants like the Beatles would follow by writing, performing and eventually producing his own material. Both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones would draw heavily on the Buddy Holly catalog either for cover material or direct songwriting inspiration, and Holly would be a tremendous formative influence on the young Bob Dylan, among many others.
In a recording career that lasted little more than 18 months, Holly contributed an astonishing number of classic songs to the rock-and-roll canon, including "That’ll Be The Day,” “Peggy Sue,” “Not Fade Away,” It’s So Easy,” “Everyday,” “Oh Boy!” and “Maybe Baby.” Born on this day in 1936, he died in 1959 at the age 23 in rock 'n' roll’s most famous plane crash.
