18 AMERICAN BLUES THEATER It remains one of rock and roll's most enduring tragedies: February 3, 1959, the day that Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson and pilot Roger Peterson, died when their Minnesota-bound plane crashed in a snowy field in Iowa. The three had played the night before at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, as part of the “Winter Dance Party" tour. They were taking the four-seat plane to their next show because of mechanical problems with their bus during the bitter-cold Midwestern tour. All the stars had scored hits on the charts, and Valens' "La Bamba" remains a classic to this day. But perhaps it's the loss of the 22-year-old songwriting genius Buddy Holly that still lingers the longest. And, no one feels that loss more than the "widowed bride" that Don McLean referred to years later in his anthem, "American Pie". Maria Elena Holly lives in Dallas and has spent much of the past five decades overseeing her husband's posthumous career. Now in her 70s, she is vibrant, colorful and filled with vivid memories of their brief time together. "My life turned around when that young man came through those doors." She was referring to the day in 1958 when Buddy Holly came into the office where she worked at Peer-Southern Music Publishers in New York. "I didn't even know who he was, even though I was sending the records to the radio station to play Buddy Holly. But I had never seen him. It was a mutual admiration society right away. I just fell, like boom," she said with a laugh, adding that "he fell the same way." Buddy asked her to dinner, but the company's policy did not allow staff to date the artists. "I'll change that," Buddy told Maria, and apparently he did, because they went out to dinner that night. "I had never had a date in my life," Maria said. "I was concentrating on my own career, I wanted to be on Broadway and I was involved in many things at that time. I didn't have time for boyfriends, but I couldn't help it with this one." During the dinner, Buddy briefly left the table. "Buddy comes back with his hands behind his back, and sat down," she recalled. "He brought out a red rose and said 'Will you marry me?' I had gotten the idea from my aunt that most musicians were not all there, crazy, and I thought 'Uh-oh my aunt was right. This guy's not well, he just met me and here we go, now he's asking me to marry me.'" She countered by saying "Do you want to get married now or after dinner?" As she recalls the story, "Buddy said, 'No, I'm not kidding.' I said, 'Well, in that case you have to come over to my house and talk to my aunt about it.'" She thought her aunt, who worked as an executive at the same publishing company, would shoot the idea down, but Buddy charmed her as well. Soon after, the couple got married in Buddy's hometown of Lubbock, Texas. Maria went on the road combining the role of manager and roadie when her husband was making various appearances. She said that he was electrifying in concert. However, racism was a significant problem on the road at the time and Maria said that she and Buddy sometimes would have to get out of the tour bus and buy food for black entertainers they were with who could not get served in some public restaurants. "Buddy did not like that," she said. "I come from an island (Puerto Rico) where we see no color and Buddy believed that we are all the same human beings. Thank God everything has changed for the best since then." She then recalled the famous story that's documented in the film "The Buddy Holly Story" in which Holly and his band the Crickets were mistakenly booked into the famed Apollo Theater in New York because the person in charge of hiring thought the Crickets were a black act. "When they came to talk to the man in charge of the Apollo, he said 'What can I help you with?' They said 'We're booked here for tonight.' He said, 'No. What's the name of the group?' They said 'Buddy Holly and the Crickets.' The man said 'Oh my God, we thought you were black.' Buddy said 'We have the contract, we signed it and I'm going to appear.' The man said 'Be my guest.' Buddy came on-stage and said to the audience, 'I know there are some differences between us, but I don't see it, and I hope that you like my music.' And then he went ahead and started playing and that place went bananas." INTERVIEW WITH MARIA ELENA HOLLY By Ray Kelly Originally published February 1, 2009 "February made me shiver with every paper I'd deliver bad news on the doorstep I couldn't take one more step I can't remember if I cried when I read about his widowed bride but something touched me deep inside the day the music died.” —–"American Pie" by Don McLean