Jerry Allison, drummer of the Crickets, Buddy Holly’s band, has died

Jerry Ivan Allisondrummer known worldwide for his work with Buddy Holly and cricketshe died on Monday 22 August at the age of 82.

Buddy Holly’s official Facebook page announced it this way: “Our deepest condolences to the community and friends of Jerry ‘JI’ Allison, drummer of the Crickets, one of Buddy’s closest friendsand inspiration for drummers for decades, who passed away today at the age of 82. “

And he continued: “Jerry Allison was a musician ahead of his time. and, no doubt, his energy, ideas and exceptional skills contributed to the success of Crickets and rock n ‘roll. Buddy is often recognized as a different singer, but “JI” (by Jerry Ivan) was the one who wrote and inspired many of the songs that would become timeless classics “.

Friends in life and collaborators in music

Born in 1939, Allison began collaborating with Buddy Holly in the mid-1950s. The musicians began working as a duo, but in 1957 bassist Joe B. Mauldin and guitarist Niki Sullivan joined them, forming The Crickets. one of the pioneer bands of American rock and roll.

In November 1957 they released their first album, The “chirping” crickets.. the simple That will be the daywritten by Buddy Holly and Jerry Allison, it has become in the first success of the group.

With Holy there was a particular circumstance: he had two different record dealsone as a soloist and one with the Crickets.

But “JI” Allison participated with material for both contractsif she contributed to Buddy Holly’s 1958 solo album. Allison played drums on all of the songs on the LP and is also listed as a co-author on two of the tracks: watch me Y Peggy Suethe latter of which became a universal rock and roll classic, also performed by the Beatles themselves.

Displacement and death of the leader

When Holly moved to New York in 1958, Allison and the rest of the Crickets chose to stay at her home in Lubbock, Texas. A year later, Holly would have died in a plane crash.

The Crickets continued to record and tourreleasing a total of 13 studio albums between 1960 and 2005, with Allison playing drums on all of them.

Jerry Allison has also worked with other artists, such as Eric Clapton (on the guitarist’s 1970 album of the same name) e Paul McCartneywho produced, played the piano and sang as choruses in the single T-shirt Grillo in 1988.

Jerry Ivan Allison f.was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Crickets in 2012.

A tribute to Holly and the crickets

To reveal the importance of Buddy Holly and The Crickets, it is worth mentioning that, in 2011, a large selection of musicians released an album in their honor, called Rave about Buddy Holly,

From Sir Paul McCartney to Cee Lo, the rapper of the moment, including the legendary Lou Reed, Julian Casablancas of the Strokes, Patti Smith or My Morning Jacket, as well as a long list of artists.

The tribute disc was accompanied by a backroom DVD featuring the recordings of each of the participating artists, all supervised by Randall Poster.

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