A teenage country fan who fused blues and pop into a string of hits that changed the sound of the late 1950s.
For the full picture, start with 'That'll Be the Day' and 'Everyday.' They show how he could be both urgent and gentle, sometimes in the same three minutes.
He gave rock and roll a new shape, mixing Hank Williams' country with Muddy Waters' blues into something lean and direct. That sound is all over 'That'll Be the Day' and 'Peggy Sue', songs that turned a hiccup and a drawl into a signature. It's a short catalog, but it's hard to find a guitar band from the 1960s on that doesn't owe him something.
He started playing as a teenager around Lubbock, Texas. By 1955 he'd formed the Crickets, and a year later 'That'll Be the Day' was a number one. He was only 22 when he died in 1959.
Keep it compact: a lyric you come back to, a live memory, or the part of the catalog you would point someone toward first.
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