Results tagged “50th ANNIVERSARY OF BUDDY HOLLY'S DEATH” from Birmingham Mail - Mega Movies

Almost 50 years to the day after Buddy Holly was killed in a plane crash, Graham Young talks to four people who saw him play Birmingham Town Hall - and details next week's movie biopic. If you saw him play in Birmingham - or anywhere else for that matter - feel free to contribute your memories on the link below.

DES O'CONNOR will never forget Buddy Holly - because he was the compere of his tour across Britain.
That was 31 gigs in 33 days, including Birmingham Town Hall.
For Des, that amount of work was a chance to buy his own car... and to see at first hand just how the boy from Texas was reinventing popular music.
"When the tour reached London, the boys were clowning around in the dressing room beforehand and bass player Joe Mauldin knocked out a couple of caps off Buddy's front teeth," says Des.
"It was like 'we're on in 20 minutes' so I suggested to Buddy that he might get some chewing gum to fix them back in!
"Another favourite memory, from Harrogate, was that I had to go into his bedroom one morning to try to get him up.
"I pulled him by the feet and he said to me: 'Don't do that, I'm tall enough as it is!'."
Des, billed on the tour as 'the comedian with the modern style' says the tour was special because of the way he could see the whole business changing at that point.
"I'd never seen amps before so it was sensational, so exciting to see the beginning of something new.
"A few of the songs that later became world-famous were born on those bus trips.
"At the shows, I would be the comedian doing bits and pieces before they went on.
"I'd also give Buddy a few gags and his southern drawl would make them funny.
"In return, he'd teach me a few things about the guitar.
"He was a very nice man and I feel privileged to have worked with him.
"I think he enjoyed playing in England and we took him to the Austin Healey factory where he saw the two-tone, drop-head sports car and said: 'I'll have two of them'. I don't know if he ever did get them home."
It's become a cliche that people know where they were when Kennedy was assassinated, but how did Des learn about the then 22-year-old Buddy's demise in a plane crash at Clear Lake, Iowa, on February 3, 1959?
"I was working in Manchester when I heard it on the news," says Des, now 77.
"It was barely a year after the tour, and it was a real shock.
"Buddy was such a young kid and so advanced in the way that he was recording, writing and singing songs which had such strong melodies.
"The lyrics didn't mean that much, but they had a different twist."

THEATRE

THE Buddy Holly Story is back at the Birmingham Hippodrome from Monday 16 to Saturday, February 21.
To date, the show has been seen by more than 20 million people in more than 16,000 performances worldwide and features hits like Peggy Sue, That'll Be The Day, Not Fade Away, Oh Boy, Maybe Baby, Rave On and Raining In My Heart.
Tickets are on sale at the Birmingham Hippodrome on 0844 338 5000 or online at www.birminghamhippodrome.com. Group Sales 0844 338 7000. (Calls cost from 5p per min; 6% transaction charge, 3% online). Tickets are priced: £12.50-£30. Performance times: Eves 7.30pm; Wed mat 2pm; Sat mat 2.30pm.

Click on the link below to read all about our readers' memories of seeing Buddy Holly play the Town Hall, how much your old records might be worth. Plus, details of the radio and TV programmes coming up in the days ahead about the life and death of the star.