Buddy Holly: A Biography

by Ellis Amburn

Overview

The definitive biography on Buddy Holly.

Ellis Amburn presents the most comprehensive biography ever written about the legendary figure Buddy Holly, a young man who transformed the course of American music with his shocking blend of country, western, and rhythm 'n' blues.

Having devoted the last five years of his life to this work—crisscrossing the rural paths of the United States from Texas to Iowa to Minnesota—Amburn portrays Holly as a mythic antihero, whose rebellious, dramatic life was a reaction against the constricting values of America in the 1950s, when his music was regarded as the work of the devil. From his wild days as a juvenile delinquent, to his first romances, to his early associations with then virtually unknown singers like Elvis Presley and Waylon Jennings, Holly emerges as a deeply tortured, driven individual and a brilliantly talented young man in a hurry to make it as a star. And like many stars, Buddy Holly's would ultimately be tragic and bittersweet.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781635768374
Publisher:	Diversion Publishing
Publication date:	06/06/2023
Sold by:	OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED - EBKS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	807
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Ellis Amburn worked as a reporter-researcher at Newsweek before becoming a book editor at Putnam, where he edited John le Carré and Jack Kerouac. Amburn was also an editor-in-chief at Delacorte and William Morrow. He worked as a ghostwriter with Priscilla Presley, Shelley Winters, Zsa Zsa Gabor, and Sammy Davis, Jr. He wrote several biographies including Buddy Holly: A Biography, Dark Star: The Roy Orbison Story, The Sexiest Man Alive: A Biography of Warren Beatty, Subterranean Kerouac, and Pearl: The Obsessions and Passions of Janis Joplin. He died after a long illness on August 18, 2018 at the age of 85.

Editorial Reviews

Some dead celebrities pass beyond "legendary" status to become objects of downright cultish obsession. Buddy Holly, the skinny young Texan with horn-rims, is one such, and Amburn's biography will please true believers who tend to think Holly began the process by which the Beatles and their ilk transformed rock from kids' music into art. Amburn finds deep significance in the minutiae of Holly's life and career, and his prose bogs down periodically as Holly's old associates chew past events to dust. Yet from all this sedulous examination and reexamination, tidbits not aired in other sources emerge; for instance, Little Richard's assessment of Holly's genitalia, which may reveal more about Richard than Holly, contributes to Holly's "legend" just as the Plaster Casters' immortalization of Jimi Hendrix did to his. Occasionally, the book seems diffuse; subjects are minutely examined, then abruptly dropped. Still, this comprehensive look at one of the most influential early rockers deserves its place in most pop-music collections, all the more so because of its impeccable references, detailed bibliography, and discography.

Mike Tribby