The Glory Days of Rock 'N Roll - Eddie Cochran

Raymond Edward "Eddie" Cochran (October 2, 1938–April 17, 1960) was an American rock and roll musician and an important influence on popular music during the late 1950s, early 1960s, and beyond.Cochran was born in Albert Lea, Minnesota, as Ray Edward Cochran.[1] He took music lessons in school, but quit the band to play drums. Also, rather than taking piano lessons, he began learning guitar, playing the country music he heard on the radio. In 1955, Cochran's family moved to Bell Gardens, California. As his guitar playing improved, he formed a band with two friends from his junior high school. During a show featuring many performers at an American Legion hall, he met Hank Cochran (later a country music songwriter). Although they were not related, they began performing together and recorded as The Cochran Brothers. Eddie Cochran also worked as a session musician, and began writing songs, making a "demo" with Jerry Capehart, his future manager. In 1956, Boris Petroff asked Cochran if he would appear in the musical comedy film The Girl Can't Help It. He agreed and sang a song called "Twenty Flight Rock" in the movie. In 1957, Cochran starred in his second film, "Untamed Youth" and also had his first hit, "Sittin' in the Balcony," one of the few songs he recorded that was written by another songwriter (John D. Loudermilk). ("Twenty Flight Rock" was written by AMI staff writer Ned (Nelda) Fairchild. AMI granted Cochran a co-writer credit, but no royalties, a common arrangement by which publishers move songs from demos to commercial recordings.
However, his most famous hit, "Summertime Blues" (co-written with Jerry Capehart), was an important influence on music in the late 1950s, both lyrically and musically. (The song, released on Liberty recording #55144, charted #8 on August 25, 1958.) Cochran's brief career included only a few more hits, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin' Else", "My Way", "Weekend", "Nervous Breakdown", and his posthumous UK number one hit "Three Steps to Heaven."

On Saturday, April 16, 1960, at about 11:50 p.m., while on tour in the United Kingdom, 21-year-old Cochran died in a traffic accident in a taxi (a Ford Consul, [reg. no. RBO 869], not, as widely quoted a London Hackney carriage) traveling through Chippenham, Wiltshire, England on the A4. The taxi crashed into a lamp post on Rowden Hill, where a plaque now commemorates the event (no other car was involved). He was taken to St. Martin's Hospital, Bath, but died at 4:10 p.m. the following day. Songwriter Sharon Sheeley (Cochran's fiancée) and singer Gene Vincent survived the crash.

Gene Vincent

Gene Vincent, real name Vincent Eugene Craddock, (February 11, 1935 - October 12, 1971) was an American rock'n'roll pioneer musician, best known for his hit "Be-Bop-A-Lula".His parents, Ezekiah Jackson and Mary Louise Craddock, were shop owners in Norfolk, Virginia. He grew up in Virginia under the influence of country, rhythm and blues and gospel music. He received his first guitar as a gift from a friend at the age of 12.
In 1952, Gene left school and joined the Navy. In 1955 he was stationed in Korea. In July 1955, whilst in Norfolk, he was involved in a severe motorcycle accident that shattered his left leg. He refused to have it amputated, the leg was saved, but left him with a permanent limp and considerable chronic pain for the rest of his life.

Buddy Holly

Charles Hardin "Buddy" Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959)[1] was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll. The change of spelling of "Holley" to "Holly" came about because of an error in a contract he was asked to sign, listing him as Buddy Holly. That spelling was then adopted for his professional career.
Although his success lasted only a year and a half before his death in an airplane crash, Holly is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most influential creative force in early rock and roll." His works and innovations were copied by his contemporaries and later musicians, notably The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, and exerted a profound influence on popular music. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Holly #13 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Bobby Vee

Bobby Vee (born Robert Thomas Velline, April 30, 1943, Fargo, North Dakota, United States) is an American pop music singer. According to Billboard magazine Vee has had 34 Hot 100 chart hits, 10 of which hit the Top 20.
Vee's 1961 summer release "Take Good Care of My Baby" went to No.1 on the Billboard U.S. listings and number 3 in the UK Singles Chart.[1] Known primarily as a performer of Brill Building pop material, he went on to record a string of international hits in the 1960s, including "Devil or Angel", "Rubber Ball" (1961), "More Than I Can Say" (1961), "Run To Him" (1961), "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" (1963), and "Come Back When You Grow Up". When Vee recorded "Come Back When You Grow Up" in 1967, he was joined by a band called 'The Strangers'.
His first single was "Suzie Baby", an original song penned by Vee which nodded towards Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue" for the Minneapolis-based Soma Records in 1959; it drew enough attention and chart action to be purchased by Liberty Records, which signed him to their label in early 1960. His follow-up single, a cover of Adam Faith's UK Number 1 "What Do You Want?" charted in the lower reaches of Billboard in early 1960; however, it was his fourth recording, a revival of The Clovers' doo-wop ballad "Devil or Angel", that brought him into the big time with U.S. buyers. His next single, "Rubber Ball", was the record that made him an international star. Source : Wikipedia