Buddy Holly

Mark Twain was quoted as saying, "the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated". A member of Buddy Holly band the Crickets, stand-up bass player Joe B. Maudlin could be saying the same thing.

Friday, February 3rd, 1959 is known in the music world as "the day the music died"-- in reference to Don McLean's song, "American Pie" and the death of Lubbock native-turned-superstar Buddy Holly. Entertainers Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper(J.P. Richardson) died along with the pilot in the 1 a.m. crash of a small plane after a concert in Clear Lake, Iowa the night before.

This "Man of Music" is probably the best known native-born Lubbockite. Buddy Holly's birthday is Wednesday, September 7. If a tragic plane crash in 1959 hadn't cut his life short, Buddy would be 75 this year. A special commemoration of his birthday will be held as a celebration at the Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock.

On this day back in 1958, Buddy Holly, a huge recording star at the time, and Maria Elena Santiago, a receptionist at a music company, got married.

Jerusalem has it's Wailing Wall, Ireland has the Blarney Stone and now, Lubbock, combines the two with a Kissing Wall. Well, it's now OFFICIALLY a Kissing Wall, but it's an oversized mural of the great Buddy Holly on the outside wall of Texas Discount Furniture at 19th and Buddy Holly Ave in Lubbock's historic Depot District...