Rave On: The Biography of Buddy Holly

There is a lot to learn about Buddy in the book. Glad i purchased, because I loved his music , but sad that he seemed to let people control his money. Died broke.

Where do I begin when it comes to Buddy Holly? A day doesn't go by that I don't think of what might have been. I now have three books about him: "The Buddy Holly Story" by Jerry Goldrosen, "Buddy Holly, a biography by Ellis A burn and now "Rave On: The Biography Of Buddy Holly" by Phillip Norman. Reading these books has made me wonder "what if?" Buddy Holly hadn't have gone on "The Winter Dance Party" tour in 1959? How different would popular music had been in the early 1960's and afterward? That we'll never know is fact. But judging from the music that Buddy left us in the brief time he was alive, it would have been more than for just songs played on oldies stations. He should be celebrated for the music that he left us. Buddy didn't like to be controlled and that was a huge reason why he died...someone who was big in his life wanted control over him. I'm not going to spoil it for you. Read "Rave On" for yourself and find out who.

I really enjoyed this book. I was tempted to email the author and thank him. He did a great job and, clearly, conducted extensive research on a topic that is 70 years old. In the book's Prologue, the author's stated goal was to provide information the reader had never encountered prior. He did this in spades. I've spent a great deal of time reading about Buddy Holly. The level of detail about his life and death in this book is simply stunning! What a great experience. Thank you, Philip Norman (author).

I can't get over how objective this book is. Norman does a great job of presenting information and letting you use the facts to draw your conclusions. I have a new, deep found respect for Buddy Holly after reading this book. He was a complex person with many layers, and this book does a great job of scaffolding and building those layers to help the reader to understand from childhood to that tragic night in February. A must-read if you're wanting to learn more about Buddy Holly.

I was transfixed by Buddy Holly's music while in high school, about 1960. I never get tried of his stuff and have amassed a collection of everything he ever recorded. This biography reads much like a novel, the story is so compelling and Philip Norman's writing style is so wonderful! (Despite its numerous typos.) Really nice to get a Brit's take on being introduced to his music - before the Beatles - about the same time I was first listening. A great companion to the previous and more pictorial "Remembering Buddy" bio by John Goldrosen. As a former graphic designer, I loved the book jacket too!

Very happy with the book "Rave On...the Buddy Hollywood story. A page turner for sure. Bought back memories of the sad news of the day 'the music died' and all the possible great music that could have been...not only from Buddy but Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper. A wonderful but sad story. Thank you

I was really looking forward to reading this book. Unfortunately, the author makes it PAINFUL to get thru. Unbelievably wordy. Pages and pages of descriptive text regarding directions around Holly’s town. I’ve never skimmed a book in my life. But I found myself skipping paragraph after paragraph of absolute nonsense. It reads like a high school essay with a minimum word limit. Page 33 before anything even related to Holly is mentioned. It reminds me of the time I took my blind friend out on the town and had to describe everything I saw in detail. Terrible writer.

I'm not such a fan of Buddy Holly that I think he was the father, or King, or founder of Rock n Roll, but his music and business practices were certainly innovative for the time. (I wonder how his life and career would have developed had he lived) That said, I definitely recommend this book. It was very descriptive and entertaining to read. This book should have been the source material for the bio-pic that was made several years back! It's hard to imagine how frantic his life must have been during the last two years of his life, and as I got closer and closer to the last page--knowing how it's going to turn out--I found myself reading faster and faster, wishing this story had a different ending.

This is an excellent book, detailing the life of Buddy Holly, and his music. The book was well researched and I did not feel that any aspects were over emphasised or given flowery details. I would recommend this book for any fan of Buddy Holly, as an excellent collectors item. Also for anybody new to Buddy Holly, of a younger age, who would be given an insight into how important this icon's input and influence on rock'n roll was. I feel that he may have been over shadowed by Elvis at the time, in respect of the media. However, this book brings home just how great and influential this man's music was, and if you look into the catalogues of The Beatles, Stones and The Hollies, et al, one would realise just how influential he was, maybe in a quieter way than Elvis, but equally if not more brilliant.

I recently wanted to re-read this superb biography, and discovered to my chagrin that my original copy was nowhere to be found, so I replaced it with a new paperback. It has lived up magnificently to my recollection; a book that is detailed, researched with scholarly care, insightful, honest, and most beautifully written.Philip Norman does not attempt to achieve a sterile and artificial detachment in telling his story: he was and is a committed fan. He does not hide his admiration for Buddy Holly as a musician and a person, nor his aversion to Holly's creepy manager, Norman Petty, but he is nevertheless scrupulously fair and balanced in his judgements. It is always possible to distinguish between objective facts and personal opinions. I come to this story as a contemporary of its subject and his biographer, and a fan, and the author's account of the growing impact of the music during 1957 and 1958, and the shock of February 3, 1959 mirrors my own memories with uncanny precision. The limited sources of information, the thrill of buying and playing those first 78 rpm singles, the slightly baffling notes on the sleeve of the first LP...The book is about much more than Buddy's music and the man himself. It is also about 1950s British society seen through the eyes of those of us who were adolescents at the time, about American society of the same period (the brief insights into racial segregation are chilling), about the development of the popular music that became one of the defining artistic achievements of the 20th century, and about the rapidly changing and evolving music business of the post-War era. It is, in short, an exquisitely accurate slice of socio-cultural history. It is a definitive biography, not only of the bespectacled young man from Lubbock, Texas, who streaked across the firmament of popular music like a comet, and in less than two years set his mark on all the music that followed, but also of each and every one of us who breathlessly tracked that spectacular rise and the abrupt and final fall, and will never forget him.One suggestion: nearly twenty years after its publication in 1996, surely this standard work deserves a new edition, with better-reproduced photographs, and with an updated introduction or appendix to bring some details up to date.

Disappointed with this purchase.Book was well worn, pages yellow & smelled of cigarettes.Didnt want it in my house.

Great book adding more information to the legend that is Buddy Holly.

Would recommend