![]() It might be worth noting that rock and roll followed the ‘big band’ era, so in the early days rock bands experimented with various combinations of instruments. Buddy sang vocals and played lead electric guitar. There Buddy assembled a band consisting of drummer Jerry Allison, bassist Bill Mauldin and rhythm guitarist Niki Sullivan. Unfortunately, during that period Buddy’s producers shoe-horned him into the restrictive country-and-western “Nashville sound.” This was a bad fit for Buddy’s talent, and after leaving Nashville he eventually ended up in Clovis, New Mexico, where he hooked up with producer Norman Petty. To his surprise, the label on his first record listed the singer as “Buddy Holly,” so that became his stage name. This took him to Nashville, where he signed a record contract and produced some work in the studio. Embed from Getty Imagesīuddy began to play various venues in the South, and gained some exposure opening for artists such as Elvis and Bill Haley and the Comets. Here are the Crickets, from L: Joe Mauldin, Buddy Holly and Jerry Allison, taken on their UK tour. Although his initial exposure was to country musicians such as Hank Williams and Bob Wills, Buddy was also drawn to the late-night stations that played blues and R&B. Born in 1936, he grew up in Lubbock, Texas where he learned to play guitar and aspired to be a musician. So here we will give a brief summary of Holly’s life and career.Ĭharles “Buddy” Holley was one of the all-time great ‘roots’ rockers. We previously encountered Buddy Holly in our blog post on his song That’ll Be The Day. Sonny West’s name will live on because he co-wrote two gigantic hits that helped kick-start Buddy Holly’s career. He has performed with The Crickets on a few of their tours following Buddy Holly’s death. Sonny West has continued to perform since the 50s. So Valens boarded the plane, which subsequently crashed and killed all on board (more on this in the next section). 1959, Tommy and singer Ritchie Valens flipped a coin to see who would fly a plane to their next destination, and who would have to ride the tour bus.Īllsup ‘lost’ the coin toss. Following a concert in Clear Lake, Iowa in Feb. ![]() His main claim to fame was that in the late 50s he was a member of The Crickets traveling band.Īllsup was performing with Buddy Holly and the Crickets on their 1959 Winter Dance Party tour. Allsup was a country guitarist for several decades. In this video clip, Sonny is accompanied by Tommy Allsup. When Sonny’s songs were covered by Buddy Holly, they were transformed into rockabilly classics. However, his greatest talent was not his singing, but his songwriting. Now here is Sonny West decades later, in a live performance of Rave On.Īs you can see, West gives a decent performance. However, the tune was not all that successful, mainly because there is little that distinguishes Sonny from other country & western artists. So here is the audio of Sonny West’s recording of Rave On.Īs you can see, Sonny West is a capable singer. A few months later, the song was covered by Buddy Holly and the Crickets. Sonny West released Rave On as a single in Feb. He describes an overwhelming sense of joy, and urges his lover to continue to articulate her feelings for him. This tune expresses the singer’s delight in realizing that his beloved cares for him. It shot up to #10 on the Billboard pop charts in the U.S., and was an even bigger hit in the U.K., peaking at #3.Īfter their first big hit West, Tilghman and Petty wrote a second song called Rave On. 1957, West released a demo version of the song called “ All My Love.”īut in 1958, Buddy Holly and the Crickets released a single of this song with a new title “Oh, Boy!” The “B” side of this record was Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away.” The first of these songs was written in the mid-50s by Sonny West, Bill Tilghman and Norman Petty. However, his main claim to fame is that he co-wrote two songs that became blockbuster hits for Buddy Holly and the Crickets. Sonny West’s solo career was rather unsuccessful. Below is a fairly recent photo of Sonny West performing in England. He hooked up with producer Norman Petty and frequented Petty’s recording studio in Clovis, New Mexico. Joe “Sonny” West was born in 1937 outside of Lubbock, Texas. Sonny West is a good-ole boy who is a country and western singer-songwriter. Next we will discuss the best-known cover of this song by Buddy Holly & the Crickets, and finally a cover by John Mellencamp. We will first review the original song co-written by Sonny West. Hello there! This week we will discuss the great rockabilly song Rave On.
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