Buddy Holly, with his Ivy League suits and horn-rimmed glasses, made for a very unusual rock star. No smouldering good looks, no flamboyant stage presence, but one could argue that Holly's influence on popular music far outweighs that of Elvis Presley, or Little Richard. Despite the fact that his career was so tragically curtailed when he died in the fateful plane crash on 3rd February 1959, in which The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens also perished, Holly remains as one of the most important and innovative songwriters and performers of the rock 'n' roll era. With a style that uniquely blended country and R&B influences from his background in Texas, and under the guidance of writer/producer Norman Petty, Buddy Holly and The Crickets had a landmark US and UK No.1 in 1957 with That'll Be The Day, which was followed by a string of memorable classics. Holly recorded both with The Crickets and as a solo artist, until fate intervened only eighteen months after his chart debut. He had recorded sufficient material to provide a number of posthumous singles releases and chart entries, and The Crickets continued recording and having hits without Buddy. Between them they established a legacy of evocative and distinctive material. This epic 20-track LP collection is packed with the greatest singles released under the various different guises - Buddy Holly, The Crickets, Buddy Holly and The Crickets. It is a rollicking ride through the recordings which established Holly and his colleagues as influential pioneers of the genre.
