A blog about Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly, and the Big Bopper
I love Netflix- I've been catching up on all kinds of movies I haven't seen in, well, ever. Or in some cases seeing ones I watched during childhood. Recently two music biopics I watched got me thinking about "The Day the Music Died" which was February 3, 1959- when a plane crash claimed the lives of musicians Buddy Holly, Richard Valenzuela "Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson.
The first of two movies I saw is "La Bamba" (click the link to order the movie) which is about the very short life of high schooler Ritchie Valens, who grew up in California. The film stars Lou Diamond Phillips and portrays the young musician's influence on the Chicano rock movement. When Ritchie died at the mere age of 17... (17!) he already had songs like 'Donna' and 'Come on Let's Go' and 'La Bamba' as huge hits on the radio.
I watched La Bamba when it came out in theaters and it enhanced my love of Ritchie's music and the sad tragic end and the contributions to music and society he could have continued to bring.
Buddy Holly was a musical genius who not only wrote and sang but also produced music. Buddy came from Lubbock, Texas and initially was in a band, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, before they parted ways. His influence on music has been long lasting, including impacts on The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. Don McLean's album and song "American Pie" were dedicated to Buddy Holly as well as the other two involved in the plane crash (find the track on this soundtrack album).
At 22 years old, Holly was ahead of his time when he died, and left us songs like "Maybe Baby" and "That'll be the Day" to remember him by. He and the Crickets used overdubbing and multi-track recording as they recorded and produced their own music- years ahead of other bands. The Crickets continued on without him and tour to this day with a childhood friend of Buddy on lead guitar.
The biopic film about Buddy is "The Buddy Holly Story" (click link for DVD) starring Gary Busey in an Oscar-nominated performance as the singer, and includes Busey actually singing each song.
The Day the Music Died the book details the events of the plane crashed that killed Valens, Holly, and musician/radio personality J.P. Richardson, "Big Bopper" outside of Clear Lake, Texas.
Richardson was 28 at the time of his death and recorded the hit song "Chantilly Lace."
It's notable to mention that musician Waylon Jennings gave up his seat on the airplane to Richardson.
-William
Thursday, June 5, 2014
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Buddy Holly was one of my first influences. Thanks for turning me on to "The Day the Music Died." I've never seen, but will watch it at some point.
ReplyDeleteAt first I thought you were referring to the Buddy Holly story. That was a good movie too, though I heard mostly not true. Still fun though.
La Bamba was great. I'll need to see that again.
Also, have you seen the old tv show about Elvis's early days? It only lasted one season, but was a lot of fun for a lot of the same reasons as the Buddy Holly Story and La Bamba. I love that song "Oh Donna."
Paul Christian