Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story himself having to pursue a solo career. Buddy joins "The Winter Dance Party" of 1959, a bus tour through the Midwest quenching the teenage thirst for the "new music called Rock 'n' Roll" The tour is hard work, the weather conditions appalling and the performers are alternating between sleeping in the luggage racks and dropping into hospital to be treated for frostbite. The story ends on February 3, 1959, after a rocking concert with the "Big Bopper" J.P. Richardson and Ritchie Valens at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. Buddy makes the fateful decision to break his promise to
The Buddy Holly Story the ill-fated "Three-Sided Coin", in which he played Crickets drummer Jerry Allison. The film was cancelled by 20th Century Fox due to pressure from Fred Bauer and his company, who had made deals with the Holly estate. The screenplay of "Three-Sided Coin" (by Allison and Tom Drake) revealed many personal details about Holly, and Busey picked up more during off-set conversations with Allison. While the story follows Buddy Holly from age 19 to 22 (1956 to February 1959), Busey was 33 when he played the role. Charles Martin Smith auditioned for the role of Buddy, but since Busey already had