What If Buddy Holly Had Survived?

On February 3, 1959 Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens died in a tragic plane crash a few miles from Clear Lake, IA.

There have been many discussions about the ‘what if?’ What if Buddy had lived? Here are our thoughts…

In the early days of popular music, Buddy wrote and produced his own music. He fought tooth and nail with the Decca Label executives who demanded full control of the recording process. In spite of the heat, Bubby brought to light innovative studio techniques such as ‘overdubbing’ and brought in violins and other non-rock instruments to appear on the track. He did it his way or not at all.

Given Buddy’s passion (or stubbornness) it’s likely that he would have continued to break the mold on how the music business was run at the time and become a maverick. He very likely would have landed at a bigger record label willing to give him full reigns.

Would Buddy have survived the Beatles or British Invasion? You bet, as Buddy was driven to innovate; he simply would have adapted his music to find his voice.

Most people agree that Buddy would have eventually become a record executive, or perhaps stated his own label. He was very comfortable with the talents of other artists, and would no doubt have derived a great deal of pleasure from the nurturing of their careers.