(CelebrityAccess) – Jerry “JI” Allison, the drummer for Buddy Holly and the Crickets (The Crickets) who had greatly influenced the sound of Buddy Holly, died Monday (August 22). Allison was the last surviving member of the original group. He was 82.
His death was confirmed by an announcement on the official Buddy Holly Facebook page.
Jerry Ivan Allison was born in Hillsboro, Texas, on August 31, 1939. He had been playing drums with other local outfits when Holly put the Crickets together in 1957. Producer Norman Petty cut the group on such now-cornerstone tracks as “That’ll Be the Day” (co-written by Allison, Holly, and Petty). The song eventually hit No. 1 on Billboard Top 100. They never had another No. 1 hit.
There were a string of successful singles such as “Not Fade Away,” “Think It Over,” and “Maybe Baby.” Some of the recordings were issued under the name The Crickets, while others were credited solely to Holly, although the members of the Crickets were involved. “Peggy Sue,” on which Allison was credited as a co-writer and was named after his girlfriend at the time and future wife, Peggy Sue Gerron, reached No. 3 as a solo single for Holly.
In 1958, Holly moved to New York and was on tour in the Midwest in early 1959 (with future country giant Waylon Jennings in his backup group) when the plane crashed. Holly died on February 3, 1959, at age 22, in a famous plane crash that also took the lives of young rockers Ritchie Valens and JP “The Big Bopper” Richardson.
The Crickets continued, backing the Everly Brothers, Bobby Vee, and others in the studio. As the years rolled on, Allison became a session player, recording with Eddie Cochran, Paul McCartney, and more.
Allison remained with the Crickets—who influenced the Beatles and countless other rock groups—throughout the group’s lifetime. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 and Nashville’s Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2007. It was Allison who announced the group’s final dissolution in 2016.
Cricket bassist Joe B. Mauldin Jr. died in 2015, and rhythm guitarist Niki Sullivan, who left the group after its first year together, died in 2004.
Jerry Allison has left the building. For what I’m into, this is the greatest drumming ever televised. ❤️ https://t.co/IYu5mPV5c7
— Jon Wurster (@jonwurster) August 22, 2022
