NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — 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.
His death was confirmed Wednesday by a spokesperson for Gold Mountain Entertainment, which manages Holly’s one-time backing band The Crickets, of which Allison was the last surviving original member. Further details of his death were not immediately available.
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 “Oh, Boy!”, “Maybe Baby,” 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.