BUDDY HOLLY - AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT UNSIGNED - HFSID 157592

BUDDY HOLLY
His handwritten notes on ruled notebook paper for a high school history test, framed with his phototo an overall size of 34x24.
Autograph Manuscript, unsigned, 1 page, 7¾x10 ruled notebook paper. No place, but Lubbock, Texas, no year. Holly has written an outline of four points, likely to study for his history class. Headed: "Questions on American History/Chapter I". In full: "1. List some of the contributions of the following ancient peoples to our life today./a. Phoenicians/b. Greeks/c. Romans/2. State briefly how the following contributed to the discovery of America./a. The Renaissance/b. The Crusades/c. Marco Polo and other travelers/d. The invention of printing/e. the commercial revolution/3. Spanish Explorers - Date - Scene of Ex. Import/a. Balboa/b. Magellan/c. Cortes/d. Pizarro/e. Ponce de Leon/4. French Explorers - Date - Scene of Ex. - Import./a Verrazano/b. Cartier/c. Champlain". During his high school years in Lubbock, Texas, Buddy did his history homework, as evidenced by this manuscript, on which Holly has written a "1" at the upper right corner. But Charles Hardin "Buddy" Holley (1936-1959) was no ordinary high school student. In 1956, his senior year in high school, he formed the original Buddy Holley and the Crickets (Jerry Allison, Nikki Sullivan and Joe Mauldin). That year, Holley and his band acquired a Decca record contract, on which his name was misspelled as "Holly." Over the next two years, Buddy Holly and the Crickets recorded many songs, most of which Holly wrote. Their first hit, "That'll Be the Day," reached number five on the charts in 1957. The now-classic rock 'n' roll tunes of "Peggy Sue", "Maybe Baby", "Oh Boy!" and "Rave On" followed. In 1958, Holly moved from his native Lubbock, Texas to New York, where he met and married Maria Elena Santiago. It was at this time that Holly discovered that his manager had claimed to be the composer of his songs, causing a split between Holly, his manager and the Crickets. In January 1959, Holly was booked on the Winter Dance Party tour that would cover most of the Midwest. The tour included such headliners as Ritchie Valens, Dion and the Belmonts, Waylon Jennings and The Big Bopper. As the bus pulled into Clear Lake, Iowa for their February 2nd performance, Holly made arrangements to charter a plane to fly him and two of his band members to the next gig in Fargo, North Dakota. J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) and Ritchie Valens had bad colds and Richardson wanted to fly to Fargo so that he would have time to see a doctor. He asked Waylon Jennings if he would give up his seat and Jennings agreed. Valens asked Tommy Allsup for his seat, and the two decided to flip a coin to see who would take the plane (Valens won the toss). The plane took off from the airport at around 1:00 a.m. on February 3, 1959. It made it into the dark snowy night, but plummeted to the ground about five miles from the airport. There were no survivors. The shock felt throughout the music world at the tragic loss is immortalized in Don McLean's song, "American Pie", as "the day the music died". Ink smudged at 2 words and slightly spread at 3 letters. Lightly creased. 2 file holes at left margin. Fine condition. Frame has minor surfaces scratches on sides.   Framed to an overall size of 33½x23¾.