The Crickets

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The Crickets were the backing band formed by singer/songwriter Buddy Holly in the 1950s.

Many believe that The Crickets chose their name while listening to a playback of "I'm Gonna Love You Too." A cricket was chirping in a garage that contained a speaker used for an echo effect, and could be heard at the end of the song. While this event did happen, and Holly's manager and owner of the studio decided to keep the chirping in the record, this is in no way tied to the origin of the band's name. In real life, they chose the name due to the similarlity of the name of the current-popular band Bill Haley & His Comets, and they wanted a name that would sound catchy to the audience. It should be worth noting that they almost chose the name: The Beatles, which John Lennon later named his band in homage to Holly and the Crickets.

The band personnel were drummer Jerry Allison, bassist Joe B. Mauldin, and rhythm guitarist Niki Sullivan. Sullivan dropped out within less than two years of touring and recording. He wasn't comfortable with the amount of traveling and to a lesser extent, he didn't fit in with Jerry and Joe. For the same reason, Jerry and Joe were not backing Holly after he moved to NYC. The big move was the real reason why the Crickets broke up, but Holly was not daunted by the breakup; he gained a new back-up band with Tommy Allsup and Waylon Jennings on the tour shortly after the Crickets folded. But after about 4 months, due to fans' mail and the band feeling nostalgic, a reunion was planned to start with all the original Crickets after Holly's winter tour through the northern mid-west was completed. It was on that tour that Holly was killed in a plane crash.

[edit] The Crickets after Holly

The Crickets (Jerry Allison and Joe B. Mauldin) continued to record on their own with guitarist Sonny Curtis and vocalist Earl Sinks. Remnants was released in 1973 with band members Allison, Curtis, Albert Lee, Ric Grech, Steve Krikorian (later known as Tonio K), Carol Montgomery, and Nick VanMaarth. In 1988, The Crickets (Allison, Mauldin, and Gordon Payne) received a good amount of airplay with their single "T-Shirt," produced by lifelong Holly fan and former Beatle, Paul McCartney. The Crickets had previously covered three Beatles songs.

In The Buddy Holly Story, the story of the band was altered drastically. Due to the Crickets selling the rights to another studio, their film counterparts' names were changed for legal reasons. In addition, there are only two Crickets--a bass player clearly being Mauldin and a drummer modeled on Allison, and the character of Sullivan and his quitting the band is omitted entirely. The real Crickets were outraged on being portrayed as racists, as well as the latter scene in which they appear at Holly's door wanting to reunite. In reality, they had discussed with Holly, shortly before his death, about going on a reunion tour.

Allison and Mauldin later retained the rights to the story, still hoping for a real Buddy Holly biopic to come out someday.

[edit] Discography

• In Style With the Crickets (1960)
• Bobby Vee Meets the Crickets (1962)
• Something Old, Something New (1963)
• California Sun (1964)
• Rock Reflections (1971)
• Remnants (1973)
• Bubblegum, Pop, Ballads & Boogie (1973)
• Long Way from Lubbock (1975) (With Albert Lee).
• Back in Style (1975)
• T Shirt (1989)
• Cover to Cover (1995)
• The Original (1996)
• Rockin (2000)
• Too Much Monday Morning
• Crickets & Their Buddies (2004)
• About Time Too (With Mike Berry)

[edit] Notes