Buddy Holly Gravesite

Buddy Holly is buried in the City of Lubbock Cemetery at 2011 East 31st Street, on the eastern edge of Lubbock, Texas. He was laid to rest here on 7 February 1959, four days after the plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, that killed him, Ritchie Valens, J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, and pilot Roger Peterson. He was 22 years old.

The gravestone is custom-made, decorated with a carved electric guitar and musical notes. The inscription reads: "In Loving Memory of Our Own Buddy Holley. September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959." The family spelling — Holley, without the 'e' — is used on the stone. The misspelling on his first recording contract had stuck, but his family never adopted it. His parents, Lawrence and Ella Holley, are buried beside him.

Visitors regularly leave guitar picks, flowers, coins, and handwritten notes at the grave. The cemetery is the third largest in Texas, with over 60,000 graves spread across flat, sun-baked ground — but Holly's plot is well signposted and easy to find. From the entrance, turn right and drive about 150 feet; a sign points to the grave on the left.

Holly's career lasted barely eighteen months — from his first recordings with the Crickets in early 1957 to his death in February 1959. In that time, he wrote or co-wrote "That'll Be the Day," "Peggy Sue," "Not Fade Away," "Everyday," "Rave On," and "True Love Ways," among others. He pioneered the standard rock band format of two guitars, bass, and drums, and was one of the first artists to overdub and experiment in the studio. He was 22 when he died — younger than most people who visit his grave.

The gravesite is part of a cluster of Buddy Holly landmarks in Lubbock, including the Buddy Holly Center on Crickets Avenue and his childhood home on 39th Street. Together they form a pilgrimage route through the flat Texas city that shaped one of rock 'n' roll's founding figures.