Buddy Holly and his band The Crickets are regarded as some of the pioneers of rock as Holly was among the first to write his own material. He was also the first artist to utilize double-tracking, a then-new studio technique. Classic songs by Holly and the Crickets include "That'll Be the Day," "Peggy Sue," "Maybe Baby," and "Oh Boy." Holly's musical career lasted only two years as the singer's life was tragically cut short from a fatal plane crash that also killed fellow '50s rock stars The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens. Holly and the Crickets were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
Bill Haley and His Comets were the band behind the classic song "Rock Around the Clock," a rock 'n' roll anthem that remained No. 1 on the record charts for eight weeks and sold 25 million copies worldwide. The song is regarded as having brought rock 'n' roll music, at that time an underground movement, to the mainstream, according to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Haley has been called "the father of rock 'n' roll" and "rock 'n' roll's first star." Haley and his Comets were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
The Everly Brothers, or Phil and Don Everly, used the Appalachian folk, bluegrass and country music from their Kentucky boyhood as inspiration for their "richly harmonized" form of rock, according to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Classic songs include "Bye Bye Love," "Wake Up Little Susie," "All I Have to Do is Dream," and "Poor Jenny." The brothers' close-harmony singing is regarded as having influenced The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, The Hollies and The Byrds. The Everly Brothers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
Dion DiMucci is a singer from the Bronx, New York, who later became known as Dion. He formed a singing group with his childhood friends and named the band after the Bronx's Belmont Avenue. Influences included the doo-wop sounds of the Bronx and the rock 'n' roll music of Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley, Elvis Presley and Fats Domino. Classic songs include "I Wonder Why," "A Teenager in Love," "The Wanderer" and "Runaround Sue." Dion declined an invitation on the same plane that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper. Dion and the Belmonts were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.