Not Fade Away - the Life and Music of Buddy Holly

THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF
BUDDY HOLLY
John Gribbin

PUBLICATION DATE: 3 February 2009

50th anniversary of buddy holly's Death

£12.99 ● Hardback ● ISBN 978-1-84831-034-6

'Buddy Holly and The Crickets had an electrifying effect on us as young lads in Liverpool ... things would definitely not have been the same without his huge talent. Love ya' Buddy!' Paul McCartney

On 3 February 1959, Buddy Holly was killed when the plane he was travelling on crashed. He was 22 years old.

Although this was less than two years after Holly's first hit record, Don McLean described this as 'the day the music died.' But Sonny Curtis, Holly's friend and musical colleague, told us that the music didn't die, because 'Buddy Holly lives every time you play rock'n'roll.'

NOT FADE AWAY is the unique and personal biography of Buddy Holly, compiled by the popular science writer, John Gribbin in his first ever non-science title. NOT FADE AWAY not only uniquely charts a full and detailed account of every Holly recording session for the first time ever, but it also reveals information about a lost single, recorded in the weeks before Holly's untimely death and lost to the public until now, when the author and a musician friend experimented with recording technology and sped up the single to hear how Holly wanted it to sound.

Fifty years after Holly's death, his lasting influence on pop is clear, with a musical based on his life set to run for longer than Holly was actually alive. The Beatles chose That'll Be the Day by Buddy's group The Crickets as their first attempt at recording, as well taking inspiration for their own name.

John Gribbin, an ardent fan since he was 12 years old, presents this labour of love written in the spirit of Sonny Curtis' lyric as a celebration of Holly's brief life and as an introduction for those not around in 1959, to the man and his astonishing musical legacy.

JOHN GRIBBIN, described by The Sunday Times as the 'master of popular science writing', trained as an astrophysicist at Cambridge before becoming a full-time science writer. He has worked for Nature, and the New Scientist and has contributed to The Times and The Guardian. His numerous books include In Search of Schrödinger's Cat and The Universe: A Biography. NOT FADE AWAY is his first ever non-science title. He currently lives in Sussex.

Monday 2 February 2009

50 years to the day . . .

A CELEBRATION OF
BUDDY HOLLY'S FINAL CONCERT

· John Gribbin reads highlights from NOT FADE AWAY
· GlassonWhite accompany with excerpts of
Buddy Holly's music

When: Tickets £7.00 (advance booking advisable)
Doors 7.00pm
Show 8.00pm

Where: THE LATEST MUSIC BAR
14 - 17 Manchester Street BRIGHTON BN2 1TF
Tel: 01273 687 171
www.thelatest.co.uk/musicbar (100 yards from Brighton Pier)