Nominated by
Akira:
Buddy Holly
Discog (whilst alive):
The "Chirping" Crickets - 1957
Buddy Holly - 1958
That'll Be The Day - 1958
Buddy Holly was a major influence on rock and roll, being one of the first main artists to perform,write and produce, he also set the benchmark for your bog-standard rock band, this includes a bass, two guitars and someone on drums.
His music was fresh at the time and highly influential to upcoming artists at the time, whilst often being pure and simple and free from the bells and whistles that would soon follow within the rock and roll world.
Despite not being an obvious sex symbol like Elvis, today would call him geek-chic (blech), his music reached out to his fans and his clean cut image appealed to women all over.
Many big names of the 60's cite Buddy Holly as a huge influence on their own career and music, included are The Beatles who covered his stuff in their early years, The Rolling Stones, one of their first major hits was a cover of Not Fade Away, and Bob Dylan, who had seen Buddy play live just two days before his death.
Not many people had such a profound effect on a genre as Buddy did with Rock and Roll, and yet his career only lasted 18 months.