IT WAS FIFTY YEARS AGO TODAY...

February 3, 1959, Clear Lake, Iowa.

Buddy Holly, the 22-year-old singer/songwriter from Lubbock, Texas, died in a snow-covered farmer's field, in a freezing cold night. The light aircraft he had chartered with up-and-coming teen sensation Ritchie Valens, 17, and chart-friendly disc jockey J.P. 'The Big Bopper' Richardson, 28, crashed, killing all on board.

There's strong arguments that of the three, Ritchie Valens, with Tex-Mex flavoured hits like La Bamba and Donna under his young belt, would have left a bigger mark in rock & roll's history.

Others contest that The Big Bopper, known for novelty hits like Chantilly Lace, would have retired to the shadows in the role of behind-the-scenes innovator; producing radical ideas such as his 1958 suggestion that jukeboxes should have a visual counterpart; showing what he termed 'music videos' of bands performing their latest hit single.

But a simple listen to any record from his all-too-small catalogue shows why his light, of the three, is seen to have been snuffed out much, much too soon.

In a chart career lasting just eighteen months, it's no exaggeration to say that Charles Hardin 'Buddy' Holley (the 'e' being dropped from the surname later), changed the face and trajectory of modern music.

True, in rock & roll, Elvis, Jerry Lee and their contemporaries were steaming ahead; blues music was enjoying a second-birth with Chicago-based artists like Sonny Boy Williamson and Muddy Waters, and jazz wallowed in unchartered waters with the visionary works of John Coltrane and Miles Davis.

But more than a casual listen will show the listener that Buddy Holly was the first to go some way to making the gaps between the three that little bit closer. That he was doing it instinctively and successfully at the age of 20 is almost too remarkable to comprehend.

And his influence is heard in and felt by more than a few of the biggest names in the music world. For a start, he was the first songwriter to strap on a guitar and sing the songs himself. Stick the rock-solid rhythm section of The Crickets, and you've got the prototype setup for a million bands that followed; from the big names of the 60s, to their proteges today.

Hits like 'Peggy Sue', 'That'll Be The Day' and 'True Love Ways' are just the tip of the ice-berg. In fact, depending on how dig you want to deep, they're just a bit of snow on top of the ice-berg. You haven't neccessarily found the actual ice yet. There's an early echo of punk rock in Buddy at his rawest on songs like 'Rock Around With Ollie Vee', and songs like 'Early in the Morning' managed to fuse gospel into the already potent mix of rhythm and blues, rock & roll, and pop. Elsewhere, legendary sax player King Curtis helps create a soulful groove to Buddy's sound on 'Reminiscing'.

The Beatles loved them so much, they took their name from word-play based on The Crickets' name. Bob Dylan cited his spirit as the influence for his Grammy Award-winning 1997 album, Time Out of Mind. Bands as distant in both times and style such as Led Zepplin and Oasis have doffed their hats at the legacy Buddy left.

By the time of his death, as the incredible 'Apartment Tapes' bootleg proves (recorded just days before his death, they provided the template for many of his posthumous releases), Buddy was already moving on, taking music somewhere else; somewhere that needs to heard to be believed. Those handful of acoustic songs fall into an area that still sound new, and defy categorisation.

September 3 will see the arrival of a long-overdue DVD charting the life of Buddy Holly, along with 2-cd 'Best Of' compilation and 'Rarities' cd. But it's on the sprawling 'Complete...' 10-cd set bootleg provided by Purple Chick (google it) that really deserves an official release.

Here's a couple of clips of the man himself.

Writing about Buddy Holly got me thinking. Ultimately, the date of his death is just another mark of the calendar of music's checkered history.

Here's a look back at what was going on this week over the years:

February 1:

--It's reported that Indiana Governor Matthew Walsh has attempted to ban "Louie Louie" with radio stations in the state, 1964
--Elvis Presley arranges for his daughter, Lisa Marie, to meet her favorite singer-- Elton John, for her seventh birthday, 1975
--Gladys Knight & the Pips leave Motown Records (and its Soul label) for Buddah Records, 1973
--The Bob Dylan film, "Renoldo And Clara" premieres in 1978
--Frank and Nancy Sinatra record "Something Stupid", 1967

February 2:

--RCA releases the first 45 RPM records (seven 45's in various genres, including the original "That's All Right Mama" by Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup), 1949
--The Beatles begin their first British tour, supporting Helen Shapiro, 1963
Freddy Fender gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, 1999
--Two members of the Robins break away from the group and sign with Atlantic Records as the Coasters, 1956
--"The Midnight Special" premieres on NBC-TV, 1973

February 3:

--Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper die in a plane crash Clear Lake, Iowa, 1959
--British producer Joe Meek ("Telstar", "Have I The Right" and more) shoots his landlady, then himself, to death, 1967
--Producer Phil Spector is arrested for allegedly shooting a woman to death in his Alhambra, California home, 2003
--Wayne Fontana is arrested for "arson with intent to injure" after setting the car of a bailiff on fire in Glossop, England (he eventually spends five months in jail), 2007

February 4:

--John Lennon and Yoko Ono separate (for about a year), 1974
--Frankie Avalon and Jimmy Clanton are hired to take over headlining the Winter Dance Party after Buddy Holly's death, 1959
--Johnny Burnette undergoes an emergency appendectomy in Hollywood (forcing him to cancel a tour of England), 1961
--Karen Carpenter dies of a heart attack brought on by anorexia nervosa, 1983

February 5:

--5,000 fans greet Bill Haley's train as he arrives in London for his first British tour, 1957
--Elton John and Stevie Wonder play for U.S. President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the White House, 1998
--Chuck Berry leads an all-star band on "American Bandstand's 25th Anniversary Special" on ABC-TV, 1977

February 6:

--Elvis Presley's father, Vernon is released from prison after serving eight months for altering a check, 1939
--Paul McCartney performs at halftime of Superbowl XXXIX in Jacksonville, Florida, 2005
--The Rolling Stones perform a free concert in Los Angeles to draw attention to global warming, 2003
--George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr begin recording the John Lennon tribute "All Those Years Ago", 1981
--Brian Wilson marries his second wife, Melinda, 1995

February 7:

--A thousand people (including Phil Everly) show up for Buddy Holly's funeral in Lubbock, Texas and Ritchie Valens is laid to rest in San Fernando, California, 1959
--The Beatles arrive at Kennedy Airport in New York for their first American tour, 1964
--A bill is sponsored to make "Tutti Frutti" the official Georgia state song (it fails), 1989
--The Rolling Stones' "Shine A Light" documentary premieres at the Berlin Film Featival, 2008