"That'll Be The Day" - Buddy Holly In Vancouver, 1957
The Show of Stars for 1957 featured the changing appearance of Rock and Roll. The line-up for this event included Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Frankie Avalon, George Hamilton IV, Buddy Knox, The Everly Brothers, Paul Anka and Eddie Cochran. Anyone even remotely interested in Rock and Roll today can appreciate the significance of this show. Even by today's standards it was big. The line-up was not only impressive in its day, it was historic. I was most anxious to meet Buddy Holly. There was special meaning here. The Show of Stars was held in September and Buddy and the Crickets had their first hit in August. The song was "That'll Be The Day". In those early days of Rock and Roll, I loved the music and I would listen to every single new release. Both sides. I liked "That'll Be The Day" and played it for months on CKWX before it ever made a mark on the national charts. In those days Cash Box magazine had a page filled with top ten records from various deejays. I was one of the few Canadians on that page. I had listed "That'll Be The Day" on my top ten hit list for six weeks running. In this interview, Buddy and I talk about how my listing of the song brought it to the attention of other radio stations across North America. His record company made a special presentation to me thanking me for playing "That'll Be The Day" and listing it week after week in Cash Box. From the moment Buddy Holly and I met there was a bond. He was a country boy with much enthusiasm. He was happy to have had a hit and was intent on adding to his success. In our interview I ask him what he has coming out and he says they had just recorded a song called "Oh, Boy". It was soon to be another Holly hit with the Crickets. In late 1957 it rose to the Top 10. Buddy Holly was a diamond in the rough. In this photo you can see that his teeth are in bad shape and his glasses are not as stylish as they might be. It didn't matter to the audience that night in Vancouver. The music of the Crickets filled the hall and Buddy Holly was recognized by the crowd as something original. Buddy Holly grew up in Lubbock, Texas and was featured with Bill Haley and the Comets on a show in his hometown. A Decca record scout saw Buddy perform and signed him. This arrangement didn't work out. It wasn't until later when Holly recorded "That'll Be The Day" for Norman Petty in Clovis, New Mexico, that it all came together. In many ways I can see now what writers mean when they say a man becomes a legend after he has passed on to his final reward. The stories of Buddy Holly's life are blown all out of proportion to the real man. As a young deejay, I was impressed only with the sincerity, the energy, the youth and the happiness of a young man doing something he obviously loved to do more than anything on this earth — to sing his song. Buddy Holly was a giant for what he offered the world in the form of his music, but he was just like you and me in person. My memory of Buddy is one of a warm, average guy you would like to call your friend. He was extraordinary by being ordinary in an entertainment world filled with giant egos. I could see all of Buddy Holly that night in Vancouver so long ago because he was unguarded, he was a real flesh and blood human being. He wasn't a star someone had manufactured for mass consumption. Buddy Holly was an honest to God talent.