*Includes pictures *Includes some of Buddy Holly's quotes *Includes footnotes and a bibliography for further reading “If anyone asks you what kind of music you play, tell him 'pop.' Don't tell him 'rock'n'roll' or they won't even let you in the hotel.” – Buddy Holly At the time of Buddy Holly’s birth in 1936, in Lubbock Texas, rock music and its various hybrid genres were in early infancy. Signs of rock’s future magnitude would soon be seen in the sexual charisma of the young Elvis Presley, the rhythm and passion of Chuck Berry, the riveting musical dialogues of Little Richard, and the raw virtuosity of Jerry Lee Lewis. Even then, however, no one yet knew what a rock star really was, and who could become one. Viewed in that light, observers of the time must have thought it fantastical that a nerdy boy-next-door, wearing bow ties and thick, dark horn-rimmed glasses, would consider such a climb into the rarified air of the traditionally-accepted stage performer, with a charisma not to be found in daily life. The fact that Holly stuck to his guns and persevered would actually come to make him an important pillar of rock music’s origins. His visual appearance and easy, unassuming style struck a sympathetic note with the “everyman” audience, and his brilliant, albeit brief, career demonstrated that there was a flip side to the “suave and sexy” style of Elvis and his early rock contemporaries. Despite his lack of overt sex appeal in the traditional sense, the quirky Holly, who spent only 21 months in the public eye, was nevertheless “a good student, possessed of infectious personal charm.” For young men around the world who shared Holly’s “nerdiness,” and women who were of a mind to take a break from being seduced from the stage to focus their attention on the “good boy,” he was “hard not to like, with his goofy charisma, innovative vocal style, and very catchy tune.”