The Crickets

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The Crickets
Origin	Texas, United States
Years active	1950s - 1980s
Associated acts	Buddy Holly
Members
Jerry Allison Joe B. Mauldin Niki Sullivan
Former members
Albert Lee Bobby Durham Dean Barlow Glen Hardin Jerry Naylor

The Crickets were a rock band from Lubbock, Texas, formed by singer/songwriter Buddy Holly in the 1950s.

Legend has it 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.^{[citation needed]} While this event did occur, and studio owner Norman Petty decided to keep the chirping in the record, this is in no way tied to the origin of the band's name.^[1] In reality, they chose the name due to its similarity to that of the current-popular band Bill Haley & His Comets, and they wanted a name that would sound catchy to the audience. It is worth noting that they almost chose the name "Beetles".^[2] (Years later, John Lennon named his band The Beatles partly in homage to Holly and the Crickets.^[3]

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. The big move was the real reason that 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. After about four months, a reunion was planned to start with all the original Crickets after Holly's winter tour through the northern Midwest was completed. It was on that tour that Holly was killed in a plane crash. The Crickets went on performing after Holly's death and were featured as the house band in the 1965 film The Girls on the Beach with Leslie Gore and The Beach Boys.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

Allison and Mauldin are still touring with Sonny Curtis on vocals and guitar.^[4]