Timeline: 1958
 

January 2 Norman Petty signs a contract for Buddy Holly and The Crickets to perform on tour and in radio promotions in Australia, beginning January 30.

January 3 The New Musical Express features an article stating that Buddy is fast gaining recognition as a solo artist while continuing to work with The Crickets, and that one of the group's ambitions is to set up a music publishing house.

January 6 Decca releases the Buddy Holly single Love Me/You Are My One Desire.

January 8 (through January 24) Buddy Holly and The Crickets join America's Greatest Teenage Recording Stars tour in Charlotte, North Carolina. Other artists on the tour include the Everly Brothers, Paul Anka, Eddie Cochran, The Rays, Danny and The Juniors, Jimmy Rodgers Snow, Margie Rayburn, the Hollywood Flames, Shepherd Sisters, the Mello-Kings, the Tuneweavers, Billy Brown, Al Jones, and Jimmy Edwards.

January 25 Bob Thiele of Coral presents Buddy Holly and Norman Petty with the gold record for Peggy Sue. Rave On and That's My Desire are recorded at Bell Sound Studios in New York.

January 26 Buddy Holly and The Crickets perform Oh Boy on The Ed Sullivan Show in New York City.

January 27 Buddy Holly and The Crickets and Norman Petty fly from New York to Honolulu. The same evening, they perform two shows with Jerry Lee Lewis, Paul Anka, and Jodie Sands.

January 28-29 Buddy Holly and The Crickets travel from Hawaii to Sydney, Australia for a six-day tour. Others on the tour include Jerry Lee Lewis, Paul Anka, and Jodie Sands. Variety runs an article about the Honolulu show under the headline: "Rock n' Roll Reaches Hawaii & Makes Good", and describes "turn-away crowds".

January 31 In Newcastle, Australia, Pat Barton, a local deejay, interviews Buddy. During the interview, Buddy denies that The Crickets, or any group, will fill Elvis Presley's shoes while he is in the Army.

February 1 A review of the Newcastle performance appears in the local newspaper under the headline, "Rock Show Quiet", an apparent comparative reference to the wild audience behavior at the Little Richard concert the year before.

February 4 A review in the Courier-Mall newspaper of Brisbane, Australia, describes The Big Show as "frenzied vocal showmanship over a steadily slugging rhythm...heard by groups of enthusiastic teenagers squealing and screaming like 50 untrained fife bands".

February 5 Coral releases Buddy's single I'm Gonna Love You Too/Listen To Me. A review of The Big Show appears in the Melbourne Herald with the headline, "Stadium Shook to Big Show" and names Buddy Holly as the "undoubted star" with his "clever display of guitar technique".

February 9 Buddy Holly and The Crickets return to Hawaii after the Australian tour and perform at Scofield Barracks.

February 12 Well...All Right recorded in Clovis. Brunswick releases The Crickets' single Maybe Baby/Tell Me How.

February 13 Think It Over and Fool's Paradise are recorded in Clovis.

February 15  J.I. records Real Wild Child and Oh You Beautiful Doll. The song is released under J.I.'s middle name Ivan.

February 20 (through February25) Buddy Holly and The Crickets join The Big Gold Records Stars tour (informally known as The Florida Tour). The tour also stars the Everly Brothers, Bill Haley and The Comets, Jerry Lee Lewis, and The Royalteens. Tour stops in Florida include Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, Miami, and Fort Lauderdale. Coral releases the album, Buddy Holly, which includes the songs: I'm Gonna Love You Too, Peggy Sue, Look At Me, Listen To Me, Valley Of Tears, Ready Teddy, Everyday, Mailman Bring Me No More Blues, Words Of Love, (You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care, Rave On, and Little Baby.

February 28 Coral in England releases Listen To Me/I'm Gonna Love You Too, and Maybe Baby/Tell Me How. Buddy Holly and The Crickets and Norman and Vi Petty arrive in London to begin the 25-day tour of the United Kingdom. London, Hampshire, Yorkshire, Manchester, Leicester, and Liverpool are among the tour stops. On the day of their arrival, Buddy Holly and The Crickets lip-synch That'll Be The Day on Cool For Cats on AR-TV Independent Television. Afterward, they attend a press reception and a photography shoot at Whisky-A-Go-Go in Soho, London.

March 8 Bill Haden's review of the performances of Buddy Holly and The Crickets at the Trocadero in London appears in Melody Maker under the headline, "4,500 Disc Fans Pack Troc -- Despite Elvis," referring to a large crowd appearing at the concert despite an Elvis Presley movie playing at a theater across the street.

March 11 Following a performance in Birmingham, a review reads: "Buddy Holly, leader of the group, is a studious-looking young man who totes his electric guitar like a sawn-off shot-gun and carries around a giant-sized amplifier which even made the Town Hall organ pipes flinch. Mr. Holly is 70 per cent of the act. He plays and sings with brash exuberance, and adds a few Presley-like wiggles which had the teenage audience squealing with delight. The rest of the group consists of a bass player whose ability was lost in the noise and a drummer who plays with sledge-hammer precision."

March 14 Buddy Holly and The Crickets perform Maybe Baby, which is broadcast live over the BBC's Off The Record TV show, and I'm Gonna Love You Too for a promotional advertisement for the show. During one of the group's evening performances at the Granada Theatre in Woolwich, London, Mick Jagger is reportedly among the members of the audience.

March 25 Before the second show scheduled in Hammersmith, London, the last performance of the English tour, Joe B. Mauldin knocks the caps off of Buddy's two front teeth during a scuffle. Buddy repairs the damage with chewing gum and performs the second show with the gum spread over his front teeth.

March 27 (through May 10) Buddy Holly and the Crickets join Alan Freed's Big Beat Show in Brooklyn, New York. The hectic 44-day tour includes up to three shows per performance date. Other artists on the tour include Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Frankie Lymon, Danny and The Juniors, The Diamonds, "Screamin'" Jay Hawkins, Billie and Lillie, The Chantels, Larry Williams, Billy Velours, The Shirelles, The Twin Tones, and The Alan Freed Orchestra with Sam "The Man" Taylor.

April 14 Decca releases the album, That'll Be The Day, with the songs: You Are My One Desire, Blue Days Black Nights, Modern Don Juan, Rock Around With Ollie Vee, Ting-A-Ling, Girl On My Mind, That'll Be The Day, Love Me, I'm Changing All Those Changes, Don't Come Back Knockin' and Midnight Shift.

April 20 Coral releases the Buddy Holly single Rave On/Take Your Time.

May 3 During shows for the Big Beat tour at the Boston Arena, a Navy sailor is stabbed, others are injured, and arrests are made outside of the concert hall. Alan Freed, the tour's promoter, is charged with inciting a riot, but the charges are later dropped. The incident, which becomes know as the "Boston riot", results in the cancellation of scheduled shows in Troy, New York; Providence, Rhode Island; New Haven, Connecticut; and Newark, New Jersey.

May 27 Buddy Holly and The Crickets record It's So Easy, and Lonesome Tears in Clovis. They are joined by Tommy Allsup on lead guitar. The next day, Heartbeat is recorded, and Allsup again plays lead guitar while another session musician, George Atwood, plays bass. Brunswick releases the single Think It Over/Fool's Paradise.

June 9 (through June 18) Buddy Holly, Joe B. Mauldin, and Norman Petty fly to Los Angeles for a promotional tour, and are photographed at Southern Music Publishing in Hollywood. In San Francisco, Buddy is interviewed on the Ted Randal Show at KPIX television. As Mauldin and Petty return to Lubbock, Buddy flies to New York City where he meets Maria Elena Santiago at Peer Southern Music. He proposes marriage the first day they meet, and they are wed within two months.

June 19 Buddy records Early In The Morning and Now We're One at Pythian Temple in New York City.

June 23 Decca releases the Buddy Holly single, Girl On My Mind/Ting-A-Ling from the Decca album That'll Be The Day.

July 4 (through July 13) Buddy Holly and The Crickets, accompanied by Tommy Allsup and his dance band, perform for the Summer Dance Party tour. Venues include stops in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

July 5 Coral releases The Crickets' single, Think It Over/Fool's Paradise.

July 8 During a performance at Electric Park in Waterloo, Iowa, a photographer asks Buddy to remove his glasses for a picture. Buddy replies: "I never have pictures made without my glasses."

July 18 An article by Keith Goodwin in England's New Musical Express is headlined: "Buddy Holly Is Getting Into The Presley-Donegan-Boone Disc Class," and focuses on Buddy's consistency in generating excitement on records and in personal appearances, a trait which the article claims gives him an edge over his recording contemporaries.

July 21-22  J.I. Allison and Peggy Sue Gerron apply for a marriage license from the county courthouse in Lubbock. They are married the next day in Honey Grove, Texas.

August 8 Coral in England releases the Buddy Holly single Early In The Morning/Now We're One. The New Musical Express reports that The Crickets are on the brink of becoming the only recording group with its first four releases placed in Britain's Top Ten Best Sellers list. These songs include That'll Be The Day, Oh Boy, Maybe Baby, and Think It Over.

August 11 Lubbock property records list "Charles Buddy Holley" in an agreement with his father, L.O. Holley, for a six-room, four-bath, brick-veneer house to be built on Buddy's property in Bobalet Heights.

August 15 Buddy and Maria Elena Santiago are married at the Holley home in Lubbock. Parents L.O. and Ella Holley, brothers Larry and Travis, sister Patricia and the spouses of his brothers and sister are in attendance along with J.I. and Peggy Sue Allison and Joe B. Mauldin. Buddy's record, Now We're One, is played at the ceremony. The Hollys and the Allisons honeymoon for two weeks in Acapulco, Mexico.

August 17 The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal features an article under the headline, "Rock-a-billy Holding Own Among Music Followers", with the subhead, "Lubbock Youths Share In Spotlight". The article focuses on local talent Buddy Holly and The Chirpin' Crickets, Sonny Curtis, Terry Nolan, Niki Sullivan, and Jerry Clement and The Jokers. The article indicates that these performers represent "the new type of rhythm and song". A Lubbock record store owner is quoted as saying, "Lubbock can actually be considered the capital of the rock-a-billy type of music".

September 10 A session for Waylon Jennings is produced by Buddy for his newly founded company, Prism Records. The recording session in Clovis produces Jole Blon and When Sin Stops, with Buddy on rhythm guitar, George Atwood on bass, Bo Clark on drums, and King Curtis on saxophone. Buddy Holly and The Crickets record Reminiscing and Come Back Baby with King Curtis on saxophone.

September 12 Brunswick releases The Crickets' single It's So Easy/Lonesome Tears, and Ivan's Real Wild Child/Oh You Beautiful Doll.

September 30 Phil Everly and Buddy co-produce a recording session for Lou Giordano at the Beltone Studios in New York City. Giordano sings Buddy's composition Stay Close To Me and Don't Cha Know. Buddy plays guitar on both of the songs and accompanies Everly in the falsetto backup chorus on Don't Cha Know.

October 2 Buddy appears on the Alan Freed Dance Party show on WNEW-TV in New York City where he lip-synchs It's So Easy and is interviewed before a live audience by Freed.

October 3 (through October 19) Buddy Holly and The Crickets head for the Biggest Show of Stars for 1958 Fall Edition. Tommy Allsup also accompanies the group as guitarist, and The Roses provide backup vocals. Other artists on the tour include Dion and The Belmonts, Jimmy Clanton, Frankie Avalon, Clyde McPhatter, Bobby Darin, Jack Scott, The Coasters, Bobby Freeman, The Danleers, The Olympics, The Elegants, and Little Anthony & The Imperials. Tour stops are scheduled in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina, Virginia and Canada.

October 21 Buddy Holly records the "string session" at Pythian Temple in New York City producing True Love Ways, It Doesn't Matter Anymore, Raining In My Heart, and Moondreams. Paul Anka, who wrote It Doesn't Matter Anymore, is present along with J.I. Allison and Joe B. Mauldin.

October 28 Buddy Holly and The Crickets appear on Dick Clark's American Bandstand on WFIL-TV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Introducing Buddy, Clark calls him, "...a man who creates songs, performs them, and has a great deal to do with the activities of our music world, and he's still a very young man and a successful one at that." Buddy lip-synchs Heartbeat and It's So Easy.

November 3 Buddy ends his business partnership with Norman Petty. J.I. Allison and Joe B. Mauldin decide to remain under Petty's management.

November 5 Coral releases the Buddy Holly single Heartbeat/Well...All Right.

November 21 Coral in England releases the Buddy Holly single Heartbeat/Well...All Right.

December 3 (through December 17) On an Ampex tape recorder, Buddy records That's What They Say, What To Do, Peggy Sue Got Married, That Makes It Tough, Crying, Waiting, Hoping and Learning The Game in his Greenwich Village apartment.

December 11 In a letter to his parents, Buddy relates: "I've been writing a few songs. Some of them are fairly good. The best one to date is a 'top secret' one titled Peggy Sue Got Married. Please don't mention it to anyone either. I want it to be a complete surprise."

December 14 Buddy writes to Terry Noland in Lubbock that he has written a couple of tunes that he thinks might be good for Noland to record, which he hopes to have arranged by Jesse Stone, Ray Charles' arranger. He also writes: "I'm leaving on tour Jan. 23rd so I hope you'll be here then as I would like to be at your next session. However that tour doesn't last but 3 weeks and I'll be back in New York by the middle of February."

December 25 Buddy and Maria Elena spend Christmas with Buddy's family in Lubbock.

December 27 While at KLLL radio station in Lubbock, Buddy is prompted by a bet to write a song in less than 30 minutes. Buddy composes You're The One, which is recorded on the station's acetate machine. Buddy sings and plays guitar, while Waylon Jennings and Ray "Slim" Corbin, the station's deejays, provide percussion with hand-claps.

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