He began performing as a teenager, imitating his musical heroes Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, and Hank Ballard, while introducing his own unique style of songwriting that was characterized by an energetic and blues-heavy lyricism. He also played a form of country western music—what he called “western bop”—around town with his childhood pal Bob Montgomery.

In 1955, Holly purchased a Fender Stratocaster guitar, and in 1956, he signed with Decca Records in Nashville, Tennessee. Songs he cut for Decca included “Blue Days, Black Nights” and “Midnight Shift,” but none of them were hits. It was during this time that the “e” from his last name was dropped—probably by accident when the records went to press.

In 1957, Holly teamed up with the Crickets, consisting of fellow musicians Jerry Allison on drums, Niki Sullivan on rhythm guitar, and Larry Welborn (who was later replaced by Joe B. Mauldin) on bass. They began recording with manager Norman Petty out of his studio in Clovis, New Mexico. Their recordings used numerous technological “tricks,” such as overdubbing (a common process nowadays, which basically meant layering one recording onto another), and innovative placement of their microphones that produced unique effects. In 1957, the Crickets released their first single, “That’ll Be the Day,” which quickly hit the charts, selling millions of copies within the first year.

Other singles, including “Not Fade Away,” “Peggy Sue,” and “Every Day,” also earned them national attention, and in 1957, Holly and the Crickets joined an 80-day cross-country Biggest Show of Stars for ‘57 tour, featuring the Everly Brothers, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, and Eddie Cochran, among numerous other headliners. The tour featured more black performers than white, and because of local ordinances in the racially segregated South, once it moved past the Mason-Dixon territory line, black and white performers were forbidden from playing on the same stages.

During the tour, Holly and the Crickets recorded four more songs while on hiatus in Oklahoma. When the tour ended in November, their song “Peggy Sue” was No. 3 on the charts, and “That’ll be the Day” was No. 1. Within three months, the band appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show twice. They returned to Lubbock with a decidedly cosmopolitan shift in appearance and manners. Holly, for instance, had begun to wear stylish suits that he had purchased in New York; he also began wearing the thick black eyeglass frames that became his trademark, cementing his geeky but cool image.

In 1958, Holly and the Crickets became only the second white rock & roll band to tour Australia and England. They returned to the United States and toured the Northeast and Midwest, enjoying the height of their success as a group and releasing two new singles, “Maybe Baby” and “Rave On.” During a break in the summer, Holly met Maria Elena Santiago, a Puerto Rican receptionist who worked at his record company in New York. Fiercely spontaneous, Buddy proposed to Maria over dinner on their first date, and the couple flew down to Lubbock, where they were married in the Holley family living room.

Buddy and Maria Holly then returned to New York, where they lived in Greenwich Village. The Crickets parted ways with Holly after their manager convinced them they could do better on their own. During this separation, Holly continued to perform, and his singles “Early in the Morning” and “Heartbeat” made it to the charts. In January 1959, he embarked on the Winter Dance Party package tour with several other prominent musicians, traveling from one venue to the next on buses. On February 3, Holly chartered a small plane to transport himself, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson, a.k.a. “the Big Bopper” (incidentally, Tommy Allsup and Waylon Jennings had given up their seats to the latter two) to Fargo, North Dakota. Eight minutes after takeoff from Mason City, Iowa, the plane crashed into a cornfield, killing everyone aboard.

Holly’s death, at age 22, was a tremendous blow to family and fans alike. His wife was pregnant at the time of his death, but she suffered a miscarriage. “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore,” a song released after his death, became a posthumous hit. The world was left to wonder what else, if given the opportunity, Holly could have contributed to music, given his extraordinary talent and fiery ambition.

Holly has remained one of the most influential musicians in rock and roll, and his contribution—in terms of inspiration to other musicians alone—is worth much. Among his early devotees were Roy Orbison and John Lennon, and more recently, Elvis Costello. Paul McCartney acquired the rights to all of Holly’s music, and Don McLean had a hit in 1971 with “American Pie,” a song which spoke of Holly’s death as “the day the music died.” In 1986, Holly was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Since his death, his records have sold over 40 million copies