I drove a few miles today to see the matinee performance of Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story which has been on in  the West End of London and toured regularly ever since in Britain.

What a vibrant show this is – and the music !!  We were all up dancing in the aisles at the end !!

The Buddy Holly Story follows the tragically short life of Buddy Holly from his first recording contract through to his move to New York and concludes with his fatal tour of Midwest America with Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper when – on 3 February 1959 he was tragically killed aged just 22.

The musical shows Buddy as he sings his way from the recording studio in Nashville, Tennessee to Harlem’s Apollo Theatre, culminating in a live rock’n’roll extravaganza at the ‘Winter Dance Party’ finale and features some of Buddy Holly’s greatest hits including That’ll Be The Day, Peggy Sue, Oh Boy, Rave On, Heartbeat, Raining In My Heart and many more…

One interesting snippet – Buddy and his friends went to see The Searchers (1956) starring John Wayne.

Several times throughout the film, John Wayne says “That’ll be the day”. This repeated phrase stuck with Buddy Holly and he wrote the song that would become his first Number One hit.

Interesting also that the famous British Group of the Sixties ‘The Searchers’ took their name from this film – so not just a classic film, which it is, but also an influence on the future of pop music in more ways than one.

I just had to include the picture ABOVE – in one of the most touching scenes in the film John Wayne embraces his sister in law as he leaves on his long quest  – an unspoken gesture of  warmth and love for each another.

No words are needed here. Beautifully played by the actors -particularly Ward Bond who is just finishing his coffee as he notices but he just carries on and  averts his  eyes from the scene