There have been several books written about Buddy Holly since his rescue from obscurity thanks to the 1977 biopic starring Gary Busey. Fans of Buddy Holly are in pretty solid agreement that John Goldrosen's biography is the best. It was the second biography of Buddy published. My entrance to rockabilly fandom was in the late 1970s shortly before the publication of the second edition of Goldrosen's book, entitled "The Buddy Holly Story". This second edition has a lot more in it than the first. Nikki Sullivan, rhythm guitarist in the Crickets, had not yet been interviewed when the first edition was published. He is quoted throughout much of the second edition. His recollection of those years was very sharp and he was an articulate man. I've met him personally and found this to be true. Bill Griggs and the Buddy Holly Memorial Society make up a new chapter. The aforementioned biopic was out by then and also warranted a chapter. Since then the book was revised further with the addition of very helpful appendices. And it has been translated into German.
But my interest here is the first edition, entitled "Buddy Holly, His Life and Music" published in 1975 by the Bowling Green (Ohio) University Popular Press. I never had a copy until a few days before writing this. An autographed copy came up cheap on Amazon and I now finally have added it to my collection. When we attended the Buddy Holly Memorial Society convention in Lubbock, TX, in 1982, one of the other fans there had a copy of this first edition in hardback. They said the hard cover edition had a very small print run. But I am happy to have the paper cover edition.
Pictured here are, left to right, top:
"Buddy Holly, His Life and Music", 1975
same title, British edition, 1975
bottom:
"The Buddy Holly Story", 1979
"Remembering Buddy, the Definitive Biography of Buddy Holly", 1987, which has remained in print. This is the one to get if you have none.
