THE
KING OF ROCK AND ROLL MEETS THE FATHER OF ROCK AND ROLL | Elvis
and Buddy Holly Meet
THE
KIN OF ROCK AND ROLL
is proud to display this tribute
page to someone Elvis truly admired--Buddy Holly, acknowledging
both their historic meeting and the contribution to music history
by these two rock and roll heroes and legends. What is more,
The Kin of Rock and Roll
recognizes that both Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly were greatly
influenced by each other's music, and that each brought his own
style of country and rock to the music fold. Following are some
excerpts from reported accounts of that meeting in Lubbock, Texas,
when Holly was the opening act for a young, touring Elvis. Elvis
was promoting his first Sun record, "That's Allright Mama."
Meanwhile Holly was soonafter signed to a five-year recording contract
with Decca records.
"...Holly
was already growing famous by this time; he had recorded several
records, been on the Ed Sullivan Show and had toured in the United
States and abroad. He and Montgomery had opened for Elvis Presley’s
show in Lubbock. Following the show, Holly took Griffith backstage
to meet Presley. When he asked if he could kiss her, she turned
him down. "I wasn't that kind of girl," she explained..."
Excerpt from an interview
with Echo McGuire Griffith, school sweetheart and first steady girlfriend
of Buddy Holly, entitled " ENMU
Grad Dated Buddy Holly (Turned Down Kiss from Elvis)Date: 9/27/2007
Reporter: Erin Griffith," for the Eastern New Mexico University
Alumna Assoc.
"...While
working around Lubbock with his next partner Bob Montgomery (Neal
had married in 1954), Holly introduced himself to Presley at Lubbock's
Cotton Club in early 1955. He came away dazed that the King was
so approachable and soft-spoken, a real country boy; onstage the
King was greased lightning, offstage he was all shucks. The "Buddy
and Bob" act opened for Elvis the next morning at a Pontiac
dealership. "And when the next KDAV Sunday Party rolled around,"
write Goldrosen and Beecher, "Buddy was singing Elvis's songs."
The next time Presley came through town, Holly and Montgomery met
him outside Lubbock and gave him the tour: Elvis and Buddy, just
two hicks cruising town..."
Taken from an excerpt of "Buddy
Holly-Learning the Game," by Tim Riley, Oct. 2006
From the Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock, Texas, the following
excerpt is taken from his biography:
"Elvis --And Rock 'N Roll!
{<<Buddy Holly
and his famous black rimmed glasses}
"If there was a single influence that
indelibly shaped Buddy Holly's life and music, it was Elvis Presley.
By the time Elvis first barnstormed through Lubbock in early 1955,
Buddy and Bob (along with Larry Welborn) were starring on their
own Buddy & Bob Show on Lubbock's KDAV radio Sunday Party. They
were also opening shows for the big country acts at the Fair Park
Coliseum and local clubs.
The boys were familiar
with Presley's early Sun Records That's Alright Mama and Good Rockin'
Tonight, as well as black rhythm and blues picked up from powerful
late night radio stations in Memphis and Shreveport. But seeing
"The Hillbilly Cat" in person at Fair Park Coliseum and
the Cotton Club was something else. "Presley just blew Buddy
away," recalls Sonny Curtis. "None of us had ever seen
anything like Elvis, the way he could get the girls jumping up and
down, and that definitely impressed Holly. But it was the music
that really turned Buddy around. He loved Presley's rhythm --it
wasn't country and it wasn't blues --it was somewhere in the middle
and it suited just fine. After seeing Elvis, Buddy had only one
way to go." Buddy himself would later tell Billboard columnist
Ren Grevatt that "without Elvis Presley none of us would have
made it." Rock 'n roll had taken hold of Buddy Holly -- and
vice versa."
Buddy Holly died tragically in
a plane crash on 3 February 1959, along with the Big Bopper (J.P.
Richardson) and Richie Valens. His career had only begun.
Elvis
was in the army when news of Holly's death was announced. Like the
rest of the nation, Elvis felt deeply saddened by the news and understood
that rock and roll had lost a great friend and three budding inspirations.
Elvis had Col. Parker send beautiful floral wreaths to the four
separate funerals.. To the left is the very wreath sent by Elvis
and the Colonel as it appeared at the wake of J.P. Richardson, The
Big Bopper. Elvis had similar wreaths sent to Buddy Holly and Richie
Valens and to the funeral of the pilot, Roger Peterson, he had sent
yellow roses. The loss of these young musician's lives to a plane
crash, and the loss of Patsy Cline, who Elvis also knew, played
a strong factor in Elvis' fear of flying. Flying had always made
him wary, and not until he bought his own jets and had his own personal
pilot, did he feel the more comfortable traveling across the skies.
Please join The
Kin of Rock and Roll in
remembering another rock and roll legend. Elvis would encourage
it for he was the first to give credit to others for their contributions
to the music world.
Elvis
once said, "Looking back over the last 20 years, I guess
the guy I've admired most in rock and roll is Buddy Holly."
The song, "True Love
Ways," co-written with Norman Petty and performed by Buddy
Holly, written for and dedicated to his bride, Maria Elena Holly.
The rights to Buddy Holly's catalogue of music are said to be
owned by former Beatle, Sir Paul McCartney. Url shared from
MY SPACE playlist. THE
KIN OF ROCK AND ROLL acknowledges that the images
and name of Buddy Holly belong to the Holley family, and to
his widow, Maria Elena Holly.
A special added treat, in further remembrance of Buddy,
please check out John Mueller's ( the most authentic and original
Buddy Holly tribute artist) Winter Dance Party website
to honor Buddy, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper.
Mueller, Ray Anthony (Richie) and Jiles P. Richardson, Jr.,
(portraying his father) are the most amazing set of tribute
artists; almost like having all three back with us. John's own
site dedicated to Buddy: www.yourbuddyjohn.com
www.winterdanceparty.com
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We pray for
you, Buddy
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