Suppose Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper never boarded that small plane during a frigid, black, snowy night on Feb. 3, 1959.
What if they lived?
Johnny Wild and the Delights may have the answer. The group – with a couple of guest singers – will perform, “The Day the Music Lives Dance Party” on Feb. 3 at Katie Belle’s. Music starts at 6:30 p.m.
Andy Matchett (Johnny Wild) will appear as Holly, along with Brian Padilla-Irizarry as Valens and Thom Mesrobian as J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson.
Don McLean added to the legend of Holly, 22, Valens, 17 and the Bopper, 28, with the song, “The Day the Music Died.” It all happened after a concert in Clear Lake, Iowa, on Feb 3, 1959, when a small plane crashed into a cornfield, killing the three singers and the pilot.
The tragedy went beyond personal loss for their families. Rock and roll went into a tailspin, and never seemed to recover until the Beatles and English acts came along in 1964.
Such bands as the Beatles and Rolling Stones revered Holly’s music and recorded his songs such as “Words of Love” and “Not Fade Away.” Valens, only 17, left behind a couple of classics, “Donna” and “La Bamba.” The Bopper made one of the all-time great novelty hits, “Chantilly Lace.”
Had they lived, Matchett believes Holly would have made an even greater impact on music.
“The songs Buddy was recording at the time of his death were getting more sophisticated,” Matchett said. “He was using inventive chord structure and melody. There was more orchestration.”
An example is “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore,” written by Paul Anka, who had toured with Holly and was a friend. The song was Holly’s last American hit, released in 1959.
“Buddy asked me to write a song,” Anka said last year, during a performance in The Villages. He added that Holly was an amazing talent who was maturing as an artist and singer.
Here’s Holly singing one of his hits:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfu_gfPBPWc
Matchett cited another later Holly song, “True Love Ways” as an example of Holly’s musical growth.
Holly was also changing in other ways.
“In Buddy’s early days, he looked kind of nerdy, and I can identify with that, because as a kid I was kind of nerdy,” Matchett said with a laugh. “Buddy wore big black glasses and was kind of skinny. But when you see him in later pictures, he wore sunglasses. And he was working out, and looked bigger and stronger.
“Buddy was changing in many ways. I think he wanted to be like Elvis — more a sex symbol.”
Matchett, 37, is an expert on Holly. He is an actor and playwright who was once cast as Buddy in a national tour of the BuddyHolly Story.
“There was always something special about Buddy’s music,” Matchett said. “It was the start of rock and roll and Buddy was the Yin to Elvis,” Yang said. Buddy was only 22 when he died, but you had the sense that musically, physically and personally, Buddy really grew up.”
Ritchie Valens never had that chance.
“But Ritchie was way ahead of his time,” Matchett said. He mentioned a song Valens recorded called “Framed.”
“It’s a real blues number with a heavy blues feel, not a pop sound at all,” Matchett said. “I think that’s where Ritchie was going. He was combining Latin music with African-American R&B.
“Ritchie, I think, was the first Latin performer who took the Latin beat to rock and roll. Years later, Carlos Santana would take it further, and I think that’s the direction Ritchie might have gone.”
Here’s a video Valens singing another song, with his vocal “La Bamba” inserted:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKX5neksd9A
Chris Montez, who had hits in the ‘60s with songs such as “Let’s Dance,” talked about Valens when Montez played The Villages.”
Montez was in high school in California, when Valens played at a record hop. “I had to see him,” Montez told me. “He was the only Mexican rock and roll singer. He inspired me. I wanted to be like Ritchie Valens. I played all his guitar riffs.”
The show was sold out and Montez had to stand in the back of the room. “All of a sudden I turn around and I’m standing next to Ritchie Valens,” Montez told me. “I couldn’t believe it. I told him I wanted to be a singer. Ritchie smiled at me. He said, ‘good luck with your singing career.’ He was my idol. Three months later, he was dead.
“I’ll never forget Ritchie. He was a kind and gentle soul. He was nice to me, a kid he never saw before. I remember that moment and I always try to be nice to people.”
J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson was best known as a rock disc jockey in Texas. Then “Chantilly Lace” became a Top 10 hit the Bopper found himself on tour with Holly and Valens.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b-by5e4saI
“The Bopper has a very evocative sound on ‘Chantilly Lace,’” Matchett said. “The song’s a lot of fun and it still holds up.”
Matchett hopes that he, his band and the other performers can do justice to legacies of Holly, Valens and the Bopper.
“This isn’t just another Vegas lounge show, we’re trying to make authentic music that reflects what they were all about,” he said.
Like Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, the goal, Matchett said, is to create, “gritty rock and roll.”
And that’s the kind of music that never dies.
