Charles Hardin Holley ( September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959 ), known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll.

Holly was among the first group of inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.

Holly was always called " Buddy " by his family.

As Holly was signed both as a solo artist and a member of the Crickets, two debut albums were released: The " Chirping " Crickets on November 27, 1957 and Buddy Holly on February 20, 1958.

In the liner notes to Buddy Holly: The Definitive Collection, Billy Altman notes that " Peggy Sue " was originally written as " Cindy Lou " ( after Holly's niece ), but Holly changed it prior to recording as a tip of the hat to Crickets drummer Jerry Allison's girlfriend, Peggy Sue Gerron.

" Holly went to her guardian's house the next morning and Maria came running at him and jumped into his arms, which was a sign to him that it was a " yes ".

Although Holly had already begun to become disillusioned with Norman Petty before meeting Maria Elena, it was through her and her aunt Provi, the head of Latin American music at Peer-Southern, that he began to fully realize what was going on with his manager, who was paying the band's royalties into his own company's account.

Holly was having trouble getting his royalties from Petty, so he hired the noted lawyer Harold Orenstein at the recommendation of his friends the Everly Brothers, who had engaged Orenstein following disputes with their own manager, Wesley Rose.

Holly was offered a spot in the Winter Dance Party, a three-week tour across the Midwest opening on January 23, 1959, by the GAC agency, with other notable performers such as Dion and the Belmonts, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. " The Big Bopper " Richardson.

In his biography of rock legend Elton John, Philip Norman recounted that by his early teens, John ( then known as Reg Dwight ) was wearing glasses " not because he needed them, but in homage to Buddy Holly.

During the January 1969 sessions for the Let It Be album, the Beatles played a slow impromptu version of " Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues " — although not written by Holly, it was popularized by him — with Lennon mimicking Holly's vocal style ; the recording was eventually released in the mid-1990s on Anthology 3.

The launch of Bobby Vee's successful musical career resulted from Holly's death, when he was selected to replace Holly on the tour that continued after the plane crash.

According to the band's website, although the group admired Holly ( and years later produced an album covering some of his songs ), their name was inspired primarily by the sprigs of holly in evidence around Christmas of 1962.

The demand for unissued Holly material was so great that Norman Petty resorted to overdubbing whatever he could find: alternate takes of studio recordings, originally rejected masters, " Crying, Waiting, Hoping " and the other five 1959 tracks ( adding new surf-guitar arrangements ), and even Holly's amateur demos from 1954 ( where the low-fidelity vocals are often muffled behind the new orchestrations ).

The last new Buddy Holly album was Giant ( featuring the single " Love Is Strange "), issued in 1969.

Holly was based in Lubbock as his career took off between 1956 and 1958.

He was also known as The Originator because of his key role in the transition from the blues to rock, influencing a host of acts, including Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground, The Who, The Yardbirds, Eric Clapton, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, and George Michael, among others.

The fourth album, Playin ' Favorites was a top-40 hit in the UK in 1973 and included the Irish folk classic, " Mountains of Mourne " and Buddy Holly ’ s " Everyday ", a live rendition of which returned McLean to the UK Singles Chart.

Holly is depicted growing around the towns crest.

He was previously depicted in the made for TV film The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer, which featured Naomi Watts as Holly Maddux, Kevin Anderson as Einhorn, and Ian D. Clark as Weaire.

According to this episode, Dr. Sam Beckett ( Scott Bakula ) influences Buddy Holly to change the lyrics from " piggy, suey " to " Peggy Sue ", thus setting up Holly's future hit song.

Holly tells Jeff in the first episode " You can't travel into something that doesn't exist.

In one episode, Holly is apparently replaced by a back-up computer called Queeg.

This episode's credits featured Kapture but not Estes, for the only time in the series ; and also Kokotakis, along with Tyler Layton, who was introduced in the episode as detective Holly Rawlins.

In this episode, reference is made to Elaine's Grandma Mema, from whom Holly inherited a set of cloth napkins.

In one episode, Holly asks Carrie ( referring to her inability to find a boyfriend ), " What am I doing wrong?

On the May 22 episode of SmackDown !, Mysterio defeated Shannon Moore and Crash Holly in a Handicap Elimination match to become the number one contender for the Cruiserweight title.

She performed " Holly Jolly Christmas " for the " Schools Out Christmas " album, and sang " Tossin & Turnin " in the Oliver Beene episode " Oliver & Others.

Give us a Clue returned for a special Comic Relief episode on March 5, 2011 with Sara Cox, Christopher Biggins, Lionel Blair, Una Stubbs, Holly Walsh, Jenni Falconer and David Walliams.

Lockwood debuted as Crash Holly, the on-screen cousin of Bob " Hardcore " Holly, on the August 16 episode of Raw is War in 1999.

In early 2000, Holly joined the hardcore division and went on to win the Hardcore Championship 22 times, with his first title win coming on the February 24, 2000, episode of SmackDown!

On October 3, on an episode of SmackDown !, Noble defeated Holly to retain the title.

After being sidelined for four months, Holly made his return on April 24, 2003 episode of SmackDown !.

Gilpin appeared on the TV series Cheers, playing Holly Matheson in the 21st episode of the eleventh season.

At No Mercy after Kennedy defeated Holly in a singles match, Sylvan came out and continued his feud with him by attacking the injured Holly, which led to Sylvan losing a singles match on an episode of Velocity and a Hardcore Street Fight to the following week on SmackDown!

Holly does not appear in Series VI, but reappears in the final episode of Series VII as the original male version, again played by Lovett.

In May 2007, she portrayed Holly Lauren / Kathleen Shaw in the Law & Order: Criminal Intent sixth season finale episode, " Renewal "; as a neighbor and later girlfriend to Detective Mike Logan ( Chris Noth ), her character dies towards the end of the episode.

Kim held the title for four weeks, before losing it to Molly Holly on the July 28, 2003 episode of Raw.

In one of Smith's last televised appearances, Holly regained the title from him in New Haven, Connecticut on the May 11 episode of SmackDown !.

The second change saw Crash Holly defeat Dean Malenko on the March 15, 2001 episode.

Cole's album, Holly Cole ( originally entitled This House Is Haunted ) was released in Canada in March 2007.

In the previous year, due to the suddenly enlarged roster, a shootfighting ( unscripted ) knockout tournament entitled WWF Brawl for All was organized on a voluntary basis with Bart Gunn winning the tournament on August 24 after defeating every opponent by knockout aside from his opening round opponent Bob Holly.

In 1980, Holly was featured in a novel by Richard Dubelman entitled The Adventures of Holly Hobbie.

In 1982, Holly Beth Vincent released a solo album entitled Holly and the Italians.

In 1995, Holly toured and teamed up with Concrete Blonde singer Johnette Napolitano for a musical side project entitled Vowel Movement.

She completed recording a CD of traditional Christmas songs and carols with the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, entitled The Holly and the Ivy, which was released in 2008.