He was born Charles Hardin Holly on September 7, 1938, in Lubbock, Texas.  He died
at 21 years of age ("The day the music died...Bye Bye Miss America Pie, drove my
chevy to the Levy, but the Levy was dry.") on February 3rd in 1959, in a plane crash
near Clear Lake, Iowa.  Buddy Holly was no doubt a Rock n' Roll pioneer when he went
down the corn field.  History tells of the inspiration he gave to The Beatles.  Buddy
Holly and the "Crickets" hence John Lennon thought of ...some bugs called "beatles".
Paul McCartney, who now owns the entire publishing rights to Buddy Holly's music says
Buddy had a special effect on him.  Paul still produces a Buddy Holly Festival in Europe.
Keith Richard, of the Stones says, "Buddy Holly was in England as solid as Elvis."

It is said that Buddy's primary influence was country music.  Holly's first performances
was on country stations and shows like "Big D Jamboree" ("D" as in Dallas).  His style
of rockabilly was a little different than that being done by the boys as Sun Records.
Holly's music had the influence of the Tex-Mex sound and Bob Will's western swing.
Mr. Holly was the first white man to play at the all black Apollo Theater in New York,
and was considered unique during his time because he wrote his own songs.

In 1957, Holly went to Clovis, New Mexico where he hooked up with producer Norman
Petty and did a demo that had the future hit "That'll Be The Day", Petty later became his
manager and produced many of Holly's great hits like, "Maybe Baby", "Think It Over",
"Rave On" and others.  In 1958, Holly broke off with Petty and the Crickets and moved
to Greenwich Village in New York.  Problems with a marriage and finances sent him
off on the ill-fated "Winter Dance Party" Tour with the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens.
Tired of riding the bus, Buddy Holly booked a private plane that took him to his death in
a corn field in Iowa.  Waylon Jennings who was in Buddy's band traded his seat on the
plane and lived to tell one of Rock n' Roll's great stories.

NEWS FROM TODAY CONCERING THIS LEGEND...

Rock n roll pioneer Buddy Holly's widow, sister and brothers are suing MCA Records for millions of
dollars in royalties and the return of music they say the company obtained illegally, their lawyer said
on Tuesday.  In a suit filed Monday in Holly's hometown of Lubbock, Texas where he is buried under
a guitar monument--the survivors accuse MCA of a host of offenses, including selling recordings that
a fired manager persuaded Holly's aging parents to give him after the singer's death.

Holly's family alleges that MCA underpaid royalties, used void contracts, sold music without legal
authority and failed to pay up after reaching a settlement with them that should have been effective
as of January 1996.  "MCA has grossly underpaid the fair market value of royalties," said the suit,
a copy of which was made available by the survivors' attorney Kevin Glasheen.  MCA's Los Angeles
based parent Universal Music Group, a division of Seagram Co Ltd., said it had no comment.

"We haven't seen the complaint and we would not comment on pending litigation anyway," a spokes-
woman said.

Holly took the music would by storm in the 1950s with hits like "Peggy Sure" and "That'll Be the Day"
before he was killed in a 1959 plane crash at age 21.  He left behind his pregnant bride Maria Elena
Holly, who subsequently miscarried, his parents and siblings.  The plaintiffs in the suit are Holly's
widow sister Pat Holley and brothers Larry and Travis Holley.  Buddy Holly dropped the "e" from his
family name.

The Lubbock lawsuit does not ask for a specific amount of money but Glasheen's office said it "should
be in the millions of dollars" in compensation and punitive damages.  The  suit alleges MCA underpaid
royalties based on contracts that were void, forged or signed by Holly's manager after he was fired.  The
suit alleges that the fired manager, Morman Petty, obtained copies of Holly's music from his parents and
sold the music to MCA.   After Petty's death in 1984, an agent from MCA obtained still more recordings
from his estate, according to the suit.  No royalties were paid on the music the suit alleges.

"Had she (Holly's widow) been aware that Petty had them (recordings) in his safe, she would have
demanded possession since there were her property stolen by Petty," the suit alleges.

No date has been set for the hearings...stay tuned.

Reuters

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