Click for Video Preview BUDDY
THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY Resonates
with Southeast Texas, Home of The Big Bopper
(ORANGE, TX) BUDDY THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY will play the Lutcher Theater for 2 performances February 23-24,
2015. For residents of Southeast
Texas, this poignant musical story resonates perhaps more so than with others. Also
on board the plane that crashed and killed the up and coming rock star Buddy
Holly, on February 3, 1959, was Beaumont, Texas resident Jiles Perry
Richardson, Jr. better known as The Big Bopper.
Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr. (October 24, 1930 – February
3, 1959), The Big Bopper (called ‘Jape’ by friends) was a disc jockey who
parlayed a big voice and exuberant personality into a career as an early rock
and roll star. He is best known for his hit song ‘Chantilly Lace’.
He
was born in Sabine Pass, Texas, the oldest son of Jiles Perry, Sr. and Elise
(Stalsby) Richardson. His father was an oil field worker and driller. He had
two younger brothers, Cecil and James. Within a short time the family moved to
Beaumont, Texas. He graduated from Beaumont High School in 1947 and was a
member of the ‘Royal Purple’ football team, wearing number 85 as a defensive
lineman.
Richardson
later studied law at Lamar College, and was a member of the band and chorus.
During this time he worked part time at KTRM Radio. On April 18, 1952,
Richardson married Adrianne Joy Fryou from Montegut, Louisiana, and by 1955 he
had joined the United States Army, where he spent two years as a radar
instructor at Fort Bliss. Upon his discharge, he began working at KTRM Radio,
where he held down the ‘Dishwashers’ Serenade’ shift from 11am to 12.30pm,
Monday through Friday.
One
of the sponsors wanted Richardson for a new time slot and suggested a gimmick
for the show. Richardson noticed all the college kids doing a dance called The
Bop, so he decided to become known as ‘The Big Bopper’. He kicked off a new
radio show from 3-6pm and soon The Big Bopper became the station's program
director. In May of 1957, Jape Richardson broke the record for continuous
on-the-air broadcasting by eight minutes. He went a total of five days, two
hours and eight minutes, playing 1,821 records and taking showers during
five-minute newscasts. During the marathon, he lost 35 pounds (16 kg). KTRM
paid Richardson $746.50 for his overtime and he quickly hit the sack for 20
hours.
Around
this time, Richardson – who played guitar – started writing more songs. George
Jones later recorded Richardson’s ‘White Lightning’, which became his first #1
country hit in 1959 (#73 on the pop charts). Richardson also wrote ‘Running
Bear’ for his friend from Port Arthur, Texas, Johnny Preston. Inspiration for
the song came from Richardson’s childhood memory of the Sabine River, where he
heard stories about Indian tribes. Jape sang background on ‘Running Bear’ but
it wasn't released until September 1959, after his death. Within several months
it went to #1.
The
man who launched Richardson as a recording artist was Harold ‘Pappy’ Dailey
from Houston. Dailey was promotion director for Mercury and Starday Records and
signed Richardson to Mercury. Richardson’s first single ‘Beggar To A King’ had
a country flavor, but failed to gain any chart action. He soon cut ‘Chantilly
Lace’ as ‘The Big Bopper’ for Pappy Dailey’s D label. Mercury bought the recording
and released it during the summer of 1958. It reached 16 on the pop charts and
spent 22 weeks on the national Top 40.
With
the success of ‘Chantilly Lace’, Richardson took some time off from KTRM Radio
and joined Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Ritchie Valens, and Dion & the
Belmonts for a ‘Winter Dance Party’ tour. On February 2, 1959, Buddy Holly
chartered a Beechcraft Bonanza to take him and his new Crickets band (Tommy
Allsup and Waylon Jennings) to Fargo, North Dakota. Richardson came down with the
flu and didn’t feel comfortable on the bus, so Waylon gave his plane seat to
him. Valens had never flown on a small plane and requested Allsup’s seat. They
flipped a coin and Valens called heads and won the toss.
In
the early morning of February 3, following a February 2 performance at the Surf
Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, the small four-passenger Beechcraft Bonanza took
off into a blinding snow storm and crashed into Albert Juhl’s cornfield several
miles after takeoff at 1.05am. The crash killed Holly, Valens, Richardson and
pilot Roger Peterson. This event would become known as “The Day the Music
Died”.
At
the time of his death, Richardson, 28, left behind his wife Adrianne Joy,
four-year-old Debra Joy, and a baby son who was born after his death, Jay P.
Richardson. Richardson had been building a recording studio in his home in
Beaumont, Texas, before that last tour and was also planning to invest in the
ownership of a radio station. In addition, he had written 20 new songs with
plans to record by himself and with other artists. Richardson was a well-loved
figure who was known to care deeply about his family.
In
1988, Ken Paquette, a Wisconsin fan of the ’50s era, erected a stainless steel
monument depicting a steel guitar and a set of three records bearing the names
of each of the three performers. It is located on private farmland, about one
quarter mile west of the intersection of 315th Street and Gull Avenue,
approximately eight miles north of Clear Lake. He also created a similar
stainless steel monument to the three musicians near the Riverside Ballroom in
Green Bay, Wisconsin. That memorial was unveiled on July 17, 2003.
The
Big Bopper is fondly remembered not only for his distinctive singing and
songwriting, but also as a humorist who combined the best elements of country,
R&B and rock 'n' roll.
BUDDY THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY, tells the true story of a
young boy who through his short yet spectacular career, shot to stardom in the
1950s. The show is set in an America of great political and cultural change,
and works as a showcase for the music genre that sparked the American youth
movement – effectively ‘the invention of the teenager’.
“BUDDY” features the
classic songs “That’ll be the Day,” “Peggy Sue,” “Oh Boy,” “Everyday,” “ Not
Fade Away,” “Heartbeat,” “True Love Ways,” “Rave On,” The Big Bopper’s
“Chantilly Lace,” Ritchie Valens’ “LaBamba,” and many More!
Tickets for BUDDY
THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY range from $45-$65 and are available at www.lutcher.org or by calling the Lutcher Box
Office at 409-886-5535.
This show is
sponsored locally by Tommy and Kathy
Gunn.
The Frances Ann
Lutcher Theater for the Performing Arts is located at 707 Main, Orange, Texas.
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