Jerry Allison, an architect of rock drumming who played and co-wrote songs with childhood friend Buddy Holly and whose future wife inspired the classic "Peggy Sue," has died. He was 82 and was the last surviving original member of the Crickets, the band that backed Holly, the AP reports. Born in Hillsboro, Texas, Allison met Holly in junior high, and they started playing together in roller rinks and the Cotton Club in Lubbock in the early 1950s, predating the rise of rock music. The two wrote numerous hits together as teenagers, including "That'll Be the Day," inspired by a line from John Wayne in the classic Western the Searchers.
The Crickets, who also included Joe B. Mauldin and Niki Sullivan, broke through in 1957 with "That'll Be the Day," followed by "Maybe Baby," "Oh, Boy!" and other singles. Allison’s teenage girlfriend (Peggy Sue Gerron, whom he later married) was the namesake for "Peggy Sue," which features Allison playing one of rock's most celebrated drum parts—a rolling pattern called paradiddles. Holly followed with "Peggy Sue Got Married," later the title of a Francis Coppola film starring Kathleen Turner as a woman who travels back in time.
The Crickets’ sound was often stripped down to rock 'n' roll basics: guitars, bass, and drums behind Holly’s "hiccupping" vocals. But they also experimented in the studio with multi-tracking and overdubbing and inspired generations of musicians, including the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. One band, the Hollies, named itself after Holly. Allison's innovative work is also apparent on "Everyday," as he ditches the drums and keeps time by slapping his knees. On “Well... All Right,” Allison is drumming just on the cymbals.
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But as its fame grew, the band stayed behind in Texas, while Holly moved to New York. In February 1959, Holly was killed at the age of 22 in a plane accident along with fellow musicians Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson, also known at the Big Bopper. The tragedy inspired Don McLean’s 1972 hit "American Pie." After Holly’s death, the Crickets continued as a band to tour and record together for decades, backing the Everly Brothers and touring with Waylon Jennings. They became well-respected session players. The Crickets were voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, while Holly was inducted in 1986. Sullivan died in 2004 and Mauldin in 2014. Allison and Gerron eventually divorced. Gerron died in 2018.
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