Music history of the United States in the 1970s most successful singer-songwriter artists were Jackson Browne, Eric Carmen, Jim Croce, John Denver, Steve Goodman, Arlo Guthrie, Joel, Dave Mason, Don McLean, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Taylor and Neil Young. Some artists — including King, Kris Kristofferson and Gordon Lightfoot — had previously been primarily songwriters but began releasing albums and songs of their own. King's album "Tapestry" became one of the top-selling albums of the decade, and the song "It's Too Late" became one of the 1970s biggest songs. McLean's 1971 song "American Pie," inspired by the death of Buddy Holly, became one of popular music's most-recognized songs of
The Buddy Holly Story star who was killed in a plane crash in 1959." Gene Siskel gave the film four stars out of four and wrote, "In a year in which we are inundated with films featuring rock music, 'The Buddy Holly Story' probably will turn out to be the best. That is because of Busey's galvanizing performance." Charles Champlin of the "Los Angeles Times" wrote, "The heart and soul and power of 'The Buddy Holly Story' is the uncanny, marrow-deep, robust, exhilarating, likable, superlative, overwhelmingly convincing portrayal by Gary Busey ... For once there is no lip-synching to someone else's voice, no feigning