Charles Hardin Holley
If James Brown was the godfather of soul, and Elvis Presley was known as the king of rock ‘n’ roll than Charles Hardin Holley better known as Buddy Holly should be the father of rock ‘n’ roll. Although rock dates back years before Buddy it never really took off like it did after his release of “That’ll Be the Day” in May 1957.
Although his career only lasted a few years until his untimely death Feb 3, 1959, those few years were all he needed to create the standard for which bands would follow to this date, a band that used two guitars, a bass, and a set of drums. Buddy Holly wrote, arranged, recorded, and performed his own songs, no artist prior to him ever acted as their own producer, but he did.
He was a roll model even when it came to his choice of instruments, he was one of the first to try a new style electric guitar, the Fender Stratocaster, he made it popular to such artists as George Harrison, Jeff Beck, and Eric Clapton.
Buddy Holly brought to the front the rythym guitar rather than it being just a background instrument, he was a first when it came to using the treble strings for lead guitar. If he had lived some say he could have easily been the king of rock ‘n’ roll. He was an influence to many groups to come but none bigger than The Beatles. To me it’s like a relay race with Buddy Holly starting the race and The Beatles finishing it.