buddy holly plane crash

PICTURES and posters on the walls of Martin Williams’ Bedworth office are a testimony to “the day the music died.”

It was exactly 50 years ago today, on February 3, 1959, that music legend Buddy Holly was killed in a plane crash after a show at Clear Lake, Iowa that took the lives of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens -- an occasion immortalized in Don McLean's 'American Pie' as "the day the music died." However, for Holly's widow, Maria Elena, he has never been far from her side. She has spent the past half century keeping his music and legacy alive.

Martin visited the scene two years ago and brought back many mementos, including photographs, press cuttings and autographs.
Best known for hits including 'That'll Be the Day,' 'Peggy Sue,' 'Maybe Baby' and 'Rave On,' Holly is one of rock 'n' roll's true pioneers, creating a larger, lasting body of work in two years than most artists build during a lifetime. Holly's music, alone and with the Crickets, is plumbed in two new compilations: the 60-cut 'Memorial Collection' and the 59-selection 'Down the Line: The Rarities,' both of which contain previously unreleased material.

To commemorate the tragic anniversary, Maria Holly will be in Clear Lake, Iowa, at the Surf Ballroom & Museum, the site of Holly's last show, for a Feb. 2 concert organized by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She talked with Spinner about her brief yet magical time with Holly, new directions he was exploring musically and culturally, and her enduring love for him in the years after his death.
“I’ve been a Buddy Holly fan since childhood. His music has always had a special appeal to me and it has become a bit of an obsession,” said Martin, who is a partner in a law practice in Bedworth.

“The trip to the States to see where he was brought up, where he sang and where he died was a incredible experence.

"It was paid for by my family as a 60th birthday present. I travelled on my own for three weeks of sheer Buddy Holly nostalgia.”

Martin, who lives in, Styvechale Avenue, Earlsdon, Coventry with his wife Jane and two grown-up sons, went to Buddy’s birthplace in Lubbock, Texas, saw his school and visited the singer’s gravestone in the city churchyard.

“I flew on to Clear Lake to see the Surf Ballroom, where Buddy and the others performed on the night of the crash, in the Winter Dance Party show.

“The place is amazing. It has been kept exactly as it was 50 years ago and has become something of a shrine.

"The theatre still stages concerts, including one as a tribute to Buddy on February 3 every year.”

Martin then drove eight miles out of town to find the field where the plane came down.

“There is a fans’ memorial there. It was quite moving to stand on the very spot where one of the true greats of rock’n’roll died. ”

The front page of the Mason City Globe-Gazette had a front page story about the crash and Martin visited the newspaper office to buy a replica copy and the accompanying photographs.

“My next journey was to Clovis, a town in New Mexico, about 100 miles from Lubock, where Buddy recorded some of his early songs, with a producer called Norman Petty,” said Martin.

“The studios have also been kept as they were in the 50s. You have to book a visit and this guy let me in to have a look around.

"I sat at Petty’s control desk and listened as one of the original tapes was played over the original speakers. That was a very special moment.”

Martin finished his holiday with a trip to the site of the old Pythian Temple in New York where Buddy recorded some of his later material.

He said “While I was there I met a guitarist who had played backing on That’ll Be the Day and a photographer who took pictures of Buddy’s last tour.