''Life'' generally refers to three American magazines:

A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. ''Time'' founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name.

A weekly news magazine launched by Luce in 1936, with a strong emphasis on photojournalism. ''Life'' was published until 1972; as an intermittent "special" until 1978; and as a monthly from 1978 to 2000.

A weekly newspaper supplement published by Time Inc. from 2004 to 2007 and included in some American newspapers.

The ''Life'' founded in 1883 was similar to ''Puck'' and was published for 53 years as a general-interest light entertainment magazine, heavy on illustrations, jokes and social commentary. It featured some of the greatest writers, editors and cartoonists of its era, including Charles Dana Gibson, Norman Rockwell and Harry Oliver. During its later years, this magazine offered brief capsule reviews (similar to those in ''The New Yorker'') of plays and movies currently running in New York City, but with the innovative touch of a colored typographic bullet appended to each review, resembling a traffic light: green for a positive review, red for a negative one, amber for mixed notices.

The Luce ''Life'' was the first all-photographic American news magazine, and it dominated the market for more than 40 years. The magazine sold more than 13.5 million copies a week at one point and was so popular that President Harry S. Truman, Sir Winston Churchill and General Douglas MacArthur all serialized their memoirs in its pages.

Perhaps one of the best-known pictures printed in the magazine was Alfred Eisenstaedt’s photograph of a nurse in a sailor’s arms, snapped on August 27, 1945, as they celebrated VJ Day in New York City. The magazine's place in the history of photojournalism is considered its most important contribution to publishing. Luce purchased the rights to the name from the publishers of the first ''Life'' but sold its subscription list and features to another magazine; there was no editorial continuity between the two publications.

''Life'' was wildly successful for two generations before its prestige was diminished by economics and changing tastes. Since 1972, ''Life'' has twice ceased publication and resumed in a different form, before ceasing once again with the issue dated April 20, 2007. The brand name continues on the Internet and in occasional special issues.

Early history

''Life'' was born January 4, 1883, in a New York City artist's studio at 1155 Broadway as a partnership between John Ames Mitchell and Andrew Miller. Mitchell would hold a seventy-five percent interest in the magazine with the remainder by Miller. Both men would retain their holdings until their deaths. . Miller served as Secretary-Treasurer of the magazine and was very successful managing the business side of the operation. Mitchell, a 37-year old illustrator who used a $10,000 inheritance to invest in the weekly magazine, served as its publisher. Mitchell created the first ''Life'' nameplate with cupids as mascots; he later drew its masthead of a knight leveling his lance at the posterior of a fleeing devil. Mitchell took advantage of a revolutionary new printing process using zinc-coated plates, which improved the reproduction of his illustrations and artwork. This edge helped because ''Life'' faced stiff competition from the bestselling humor magazines ''Judge'' and ''Puck'', which were already established and successful. Edward Sandford Martin was brought on as ''Life’s'' first literary editor; the recent Harvard graduate was a founder of the ''Harvard Lampoon.''

The motto of the first issue of ''Life'' was, “While there’s Life, there's hope.” The new magazine set forth its principles and policies to its readers: “We wish to have some fun in this paper... We shall try to domesticate as much as possible of the casual cheerfulness that is drifting about in an unfriendly world... We shall have something to say about religion, about politics, fashion, society, literature, the stage, the stock exchange, and the police station, and we will speak out what is in our mind as fairly, as truthfully, and as decently as we know how.”

The magazine was a success and soon attracted the industry’s leading contributors. Among the most important was Charles Dana Gibson. Three years after the magazine was founded, the Massachusetts native sold ''Life'' his first contribution for $4: a dog outside his kennel howling at the moon. Encouraged by a publisher who was also an artist, Gibson was joined in ''Life’s'' early days by such well-known illustrators as Palmer Cox (creator of the Brownie), A. B. Frost, Oliver Herford, and E. W. Kemble. ''Life'' attracted an impressive literary roster too: John Kendrick Bangs, James Whitcomb Riley, and Brander Matthews all wrote for the magazine at the turn of the century.

However, ''Life'' also had its dark side. Mitchell was sometimes accused of outright anti-Semitism. When the magazine blamed the theatrical team of Klaw & Erlanger for Chicago’s grisly Iroquois Theater Fire in 1903, a national uproar ensued. ''Life''’s drama critic, James Stetson Metcalfe, was barred from the 47 Manhattan theatres controlled by the so-called Theatrical Syndicate. His magazine hit back with terrible cartoons of grotesque Jews with enormous noses.

''Life'' became a place that discovered new talent; this was particularly true among illustrators. In 1908 Robert Ripley published his first cartoon in ''Life'', 20 years before his ''Believe It or Not!'' fame. Norman Rockwell’s first cover for ''Life'', "Tain’t You", was published May 10, 1917. Rockwell's paintings were featured on ''Life''’s cover 28 times between 1917 and 1924. Rea Irvin, the first art director of ''The New Yorker'' and creator of Eustace Tilley, got his start drawing covers for ''Life''.

Just as pictures would later become ''Life’s'' most compelling feature, Charles Dana Gibson dreamed up its most celebrated figure. His creation, the Gibson Girl, was a tall, regal beauty. After her early ''Life'' appearances in the 1890s, the Gibson Girl became the nation’s feminine ideal. The Gibson Girl was a publishing sensation and earned a place in fashion history.

This version of ''Life'' took sides in politics and international affairs, and published fiery pro-American editorials. Mitchell and Gibson were incensed when Germany attacked Belgium; in 1914 they undertook a campaign to push America into the war. Mitchell’s seven years spent at Paris art schools made him partial to the French; there wasn’t a shred of unbiased coverage of the war. Gibson drew the Kaiser as a bloody madman, insulting Uncle Sam, sneering at crippled soldiers, and even shooting Red Cross nurses. Mitchell lived just long enough to see ''Life’s'' crusade result in the U. S. declaration of war in 1917.

Following Mitchell’s death in 1918, Gibson bought the magazine for $1 million. But the world was a different place for Gibson’s publication. It was not the Gay Nineties where family-style humor prevailed and the chaste Gibson Girls wore floor-length dresses. World War I had spurred changing tastes among the magazine-reading public. ''Life''’s brand of fun, clean, cultivated, humor began to pale before the new variety: crude, sexy, and cynical. ''Life'' struggled to compete on newsstands with such risqué rivals.

thumbnail|150px|left|1922 cover, "The Flapper" by F. X. Leyendecker In 1920 Gibson tapped former ''Vanity Fair'' staffer Robert E. Sherwood to be editor. A World War I veteran and member of the Algonquin Round Table, Sherwood tried to inject sophisticated humor onto the pages. ''Life'' published Ivy League jokes, cartoons, flapper sayings and all-burlesque issues. Beginning in 1920 ''Life'' undertook a crusade against Prohibition. It also tapped the humorous writings of Frank Sullivan, Robert Benchley, Dorothy Parker, Franklin P. Adams and Corey Ford. Among the illustrators and cartoonists were Ralph Barton, Percy Crosby, Don Herold, Ellison Hoover, H. T. Webster, Art Young and John Held Jr.

Despite such all-star talents on staff, ''Life'' had passed its prime, and was sliding toward financial ruin. ''The New Yorker'', debuting in February 1925, copied many of the features and styles of ''Life''; it even raided its editorial and art departments. Another blow to ''Life''’s circulation came from raunchy humor periodicals such as ''Ballyhoo'' and ''Hooey'', which ran what can be termed outhouse gags. ''Esquire'' joined ''Life''’s competitors in 1933. A little more than three years after purchasing ''Life'', Gibson quit and turned the decaying property over to Publisher Clair Maxwell and Treasurer Henry Richter. Gibson retired to Maine to paint and lost active interest in the magazine, which he left deeply in the red.

''Life'' had 250,000 readers in 1920[source?]. But as the Jazz Age rolled into the Great Depression, the magazine lost money and subscribers. By the time Maxwell and Editor George Eggleston took over, ''Life'' had switched from publishing weekly to monthly. The two men went to work revamping its editorial style to meet the times, and in the process it did win new readers. ''Life'' struggled to make a profit in the 1930s when Henry Luce pursued purchasing it.

Announcing the death of ''Life,'' Maxwell declared: “We cannot claim, like Mr. Gene Tunney, that we resigned our championship undefeated in our prime. But at least we hope to retire gracefully from a world still friendly.”

For ''Life''’s final issue in its original format, 80 year-old Edward Sandford Martin was recalled from editorial retirement to compose its obituary. He wrote, “That Life should be passing into the hands of new owners and directors is of the liveliest interest to the sole survivor of the little group that saw it born in January 1883... As for me, I wish it all good fortune; grace, mercy and peace and usefulness to a distracted world that does not know which way to turn nor what will happen to it next. A wonderful time for a new voice to make a noise that needs to be heard!”

The photojournalism magazine

In 1936 publisher Henry Luce paid $92,000 to the owners of ''Life'' magazine because he sought the name for Time Inc. Wanting only the old ''Life''’s name in the sale, Time Inc. sold ''Life''’s subscription list, features, and goodwill to ''Judge''. Convinced that pictures could tell a story instead of just illustrating text, Luce launched ''Life'' on November 23, 1936. The third magazine published by Luce, after ''Time'' in 1923 and ''Fortune'' in 1930, ''Life'' gave birth to the photo magazine in the U.S., giving as much space and importance to pictures as to words. The first issue of ''Life'', which sold for ten cents (approximately USD $1.48 in 2007, see Cost of Living Calculator) featured five pages of Alfred Eisenstaedt’s pictures.

When the first issue of ''Life'' magazine appeared on the newsstands, the U.S. was in the midst of the Great Depression and the world was headed toward war. Adolf Hitler was firmly in power in Germany. In Spain, General Francisco Franco’s rebel army was at the gates of Madrid; German Luftwaffe pilots and bomber crews, calling themselves the Condor Legion, were honing their skills as Franco’s air arm. Italy under Benito Mussolini annexed Ethiopia. Luce ignored tense world affairs when the new ''Life'' was unveiled: the first issue depicted the Fort Peck Dam in Montana photographed by Margaret Bourke-White. The format of ''Life'' in 1936 was an instant classic: the text was condensed into captions for 50 pages of pictures. The magazine was printed on heavily coated paper that cost readers only a dime. The magazine’s circulation skyrocketed beyond the company’s predictions, going from 380,000 copies of the first issue to more than one million a week four months later. It spawned many imitators, such as ''Look'', which was founded just a year later in 1937, and folded in 1971.

''Life'' got its own building at 19 West 31st Street, a Beaux-Arts architecture jewel built in 1894 and considered of "outstanding significance" by the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission. Later it moved editorial offices to 9 Rockefeller Plaza.

Success

Luce pulled a stringer for ''Time'', Edward K. Thompson, to become assistant picture editor in 1937. From 1949–1961 he was the managing editor and editor in chief, until his retirement in 1970. His influence was significant during the magazine’s heyday - roughly from 1936 until the mid-1960s. Thompson was known for the free rein he gave his editors, particularly a “trio of formidable and colorful women: Sally Kirkland, fashion editor; Mary Letherbee, movie editor; and Mary Hamman, modern living editor."

The magazine became archly conservative, and attacked organized labor and trade unions. In August 1942, writing of labor unrest, ''Life'' concluded: "The morale situation is perhaps the worst in the U. S. …It is time for the rest of the country to sit up and take notice. For Detroit can either blow up Hitler or it can blow up the U. S." Detroit’s Mayor Edward J. Jeffries was outraged: "I'll match Detroit's patriotism against any other city's in the country. The whole story in ''Life'' is scurrilous. …I’d just call it a yellow magazine and let it go at that." Martin R. Bradley, a U. S. Collector of Customs, was ordered to tear out of the August 17 issue five pages containing an article captioned "Detroit is Dynamite" before permitting copies of the magazine to cross the international border to Canada.

When the U. S. entered the war in 1941, so did ''Life''. By 1944 not all of ''Time'' and ''Life'''s forty war correspondents were men; six were newswomen: Mary Welsh Hemingway, Margaret Bourke-White, Lael Tucker, Peggy Durdin, Shelley Smith Mydans, Annalee Jacoby, and Jacqueline Saix, an Englishwoman whose name is usually omitted (she and Welsh are the only women listed in Time's publisher's letter, May 8, 1944, as being part of the magazine's team) reported on the war for the company.

''Life'' was pro-American and backed the war effort each week. In July 1942, ''Life'' launched its first art contest for soldiers and drew more than 1,500 entries, submitted by all ranks. Judges sorted out the best and awarded $1,000 in prizes. ''Life'' picked sixteen for reproduction in the magazine. Washington’s National Gallery agreed to put 117 on exhibition that summer. ''Life'', in its patriotism, also supported the military's efforts to document the war with artists. When Congress forbid the Military from using government money to fund artists in the field, ''Life'' privatized much of the programs hiring some of the same artists who were fired by the Military. Many works created by the ''Life'' artists were turned over to the DOD and its art programs, such as the United States Army Art Program, on December 7, 1960.

The magazine employed the distinguished war photographer Robert Capa. A veteran of ''Collier's'' magazine, Capa was among the first wave of the D-Day invasion in Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944. A notorious controversy at the ''Life'' photography darkroom ensued after a mishap ruined dozens of Capa's photos that were taken during the beach landing; the magazine claimed in its captions that the photos were fuzzy because Capa's hands were shaking. He denied it; he later poked fun at ''Life'' by titling his memoir ''Slightly Out of Focus''. In 1954, Capa was killed while working for the magazine while covering the First Indochina War after stepping on a landmine. LIFE photographer Bob Landry also went in with the first wave at D-Day, "but ''all'' of Landry's film was lost, and his shoes to boot."

Each week during World War II the magazine brought the war home to Americans; it had photographers in all theaters of war, from the Pacific to Europe. The magazine was so iconic that it was imitated in enemy propaganda using contrasting images of ''Life'' and ''Death''.

In May 1950 the council of ministers in Cairo banned ''Life'' from Egypt, forever. All issues on sale were confiscated. No reason was given, but Egyptian officials expressed indignation over the April 10, 1950, story about King Farouk of Egypt, entitled the "Problem King of Egypt". The government considered it insulting to the country.

''Life'' in the 1950s earned a measure of respect by commissioning work from top authors. After ''Life'''s publication in 1952 of Ernest Hemingway's ''The Old Man and the Sea'', the magazine contracted with the author for a 4,000-word piece on bullfighting. Hemingway sent the editors a 10,000-word article, following his last visit to Spain in 1959 to cover a series of contests between two top matadors. The article was republished in 1985 as the novella ''The Dangerous Summer''.

In February 1953, just a few weeks after leaving office, President Harry S. Truman announced that ''Life'' magazine would handle all rights to his memoirs. Truman said it was his belief that by 1954 he would be able to speak more fully on subjects pertaining to the role his administration played in world affairs. Truman observed that ''Life'' editors had presented other memoirs with great dignity; he added that ''Life'' also made the best offer.

Dorothy Dandridge was the first African American woman to appear on the cover of the magazine in November 1954.

In 1957, R. Gordon Wasson, the vice president of J.P.Morgan, published an article in Life extolling the virtues of magic mushrooms. This prompted Albert Hoffman to isolate psilocybin in 1958 for distribution by Sandoz alongside LSD in the U.S., further raising interest in LSD in the mass media. Following Wasson's report, Timothy Leary visited Mexico to experience the mushrooms.

''Life's'' motto became, "To see Life; see the world." In the post-war years it published some of the most memorable images of events in the United States and the world. It also produced many popular science serials such as ''The World We Live In'' and ''The Epic of Man'' in the early 1950s. The magazine continued to showcase the work of notable illustrators, including Alton S. Tobey, whose many contributions included the cover for a 1958 series of articles on the history of the Russian Revolution.

The magazine was losing readers as the 1950s drew to a close. In May 1959 it announced plans to reduce its regular newsstand price to 19 cents a copy from 25 cents. With the increase in television sales and viewership, interest in news magazines was waning. ''Life'' would need to reinvent itself.

The Sixties and the end of an era

In the 1960s the magazine was filled with color photos of movie stars, President John F. Kennedy and his family, the war in Vietnam, and the Apollo program. Typical of the magazine’s editorial focus was a long 1964 feature on actress Elizabeth Taylor and her relationship to actor Richard Burton. Reporter Richard Meryman Jr. traveled with Taylor to New York, California, and Paris. ''Life'' ran a 6,000-word first-person article on the screen star. “I’m not a ‘sex queen’ or a ‘sex symbol,’ “ Taylor said. “I don’t think I want to be one. Sex symbol kind of suggests bathrooms in hotels or something. I do know I’m a movie star and I like being a woman, and I think sex is absolutely gorgeous. But as far as a sex goddess, I don’t worry myself that way... Richard is a very sexy man. He’s got that sort of jungle essence that one can sense... When we look at each other, it’s like our eyes have fingers and they grab ahold... I think I ended up being the scarlet woman because of my rather puritanical up bringing and beliefs. I couldn’t just have a romance. It had to be a marriage.”

In the 1960s, the magazine’s photographs featured those by Gordon Parks. “The camera is my weapon against the things I dislike about the universe and how I show the beautiful things about the universe,” Parks recalled in 2000. “I didn’t care about Life magazine. I cared about the people,” he said.

On March 25, 1966, ''Life'' had the drug LSD, which was still not criminalized, as its cover story.

In March 1967 ''Life'' won the 1967 National Magazine Award, chosen by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. The prestigious award paid tribute to the stunning photos coming out of the war in Southeast Asia, such as Henri Huet’s riveting series of a wounded medic that were published in January 1966. Increasingly, the photos that ''Life'' was printing of the war in Vietnam were searing images of death and loss. However, despite the accolades the magazine continued to win, and publishing American’s mission to the moon in 1969, circulation was lagging. It was announced in January 1971 that ''Life'' would reduce its circulation from 8.5 million to 7 million in an effort to offset shrinking advertising revenues. Exactly one year later, ''Life'' cut its circulation from 7 million to 5.5 million beginning with the January 14, 1972, issue, publisher Gary Valk announced. ''Life'' was reportedly not losing money, but its costs were rising faster than its profits. ''Life'' lost credibility with many readers when it supported Clifford Irving, whose fraudulent autobiography of Howard Hughes was revealed as a hoax in January 1972. The magazine had purchased serialization rights to Irving's manuscript.

Industry figures showed that some 96 percent of ''Life's'' circulation went to mail subscribers, with only 4 percent coming from the more profitable newsstand sales. Valk was at the helm as publisher when hundreds lost their jobs. The end came when the weekly ''Life'' magazine shut down on December 8, 1972.

From 1972 to 1978, Time Inc. published ten ''Life Special Reports'' on such themes as “The Spirit of Israel”, “Remarkable American Women” and “The Year in Pictures”. With a minimum of promotion, those issues sold between 500,000 and 1 million copies at cover prices of up to $2.

As a monthly (1978–2000)

In 1978, ''Life'' re-emerged as a monthly, and with this resurrection came a new, modified logo. Although still the familiar red rectangle with the white type, the new version was larger, and the lettering was closer together and the box surrounding it was smaller. (This "new" larger logo would be used on every issue until July 1993.)

''Life'' continued for the next 22 years as a moderately successful general interest news features magazine. In 1986, it decided to mark its 50th anniversary under the Time Inc. umbrella with a special issue showing every ''Life'' cover starting from 1936, which of course included the issues that were published during the six-year hiatus in the 1970s. The circulation in this era hovered around the 1.5 million-circulation mark. The cover price in 1986 was $2.50. The publisher at the time was Charles Whittingham; the editor was Philip Kunhardt. ''Life'' also got to go back to war in 1991, and it did so just like in the 1940s. Four issues of this weekly ''Life in Time of War'' were published during the first Gulf War.

Hard times came to the magazine once again, and in February 1993 ''Life'' announced the magazine would be printed on smaller pages starting with its July issue. This issue would also mark the return of the original ''Life'' logo.

Also at this time, ''Life'' slashed advertising prices 35 percent in a bid to make the monthly publication more appealing to advertisers. The magazine reduced its circulation guarantee for advertisers by 12 percent in July 1993 to 1.5 million copies from the current 1.7 million. The publishers in this era were Nora McAniff and Edward McCarrick; Daniel Okrent was the editor. ''Life'' for the first time was the same trim size as its longtime Time Inc. sister publication, ''Fortune''.

The magazine was back in the national consciousness upon the death in August 1995 of Alfred Eisenstaedt, the ''Life'' photographer whose pictures constitute some of the most enduring images of the 20th century. Eisenstaedt’s photographs of the famous and infamous — Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, Marilyn Monroe, Ernest Hemingway, the Kennedys, Sophia Loren — won him worldwide renown and 87 ''Life'' covers.

In 1999 the magazine was suffering financially, but still made news by compiling lists to round out the 20th Century. ''Life'' editors ranked its 100 Most Important Events of the Millennium. This list has been criticized for being overly focused on Western achievements. The Chinese, for example, had invented type four centuries before Gutenberg, but with thousands of ideograms, found its use impractical. ''Life'' also published a list of the 100 Most Important People of the Millennium. This list, too, was criticized for focusing on the West. Also, Thomas Edison's number one ranking was challenged since there were others whose inventions (the combustion engine, the automobile, electricity-making machines, for example) had greater impact than Edison's. The top 100 most important people list was further criticized for mixing world-famous names, such as Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Louis Pasteur, and Leonardo da Vinci, with numerous Americans largely unknown outside of the United States (18 Americans compared to 13 Italians and French, 12 English).

It appeared that the money-losing magazine was just hanging on to make it into the 21st century, and it almost did. In March 2000, Time Inc. announced it would cease regular publication of ''Life'' with the May issue, seven months before the century's end. “It’s a sad day for us here,” Don Logan, chairman and chief executive of Time Inc., told CNNfn.com. “It was still in the black,” he said, noting that ''Life'' was increasingly spending more to maintain its monthly circulation level of approximately 1.5 million. “Life was a general interest magazine and since its reincarnation, it had always struggled to find its identity, to find its position in the marketplace,” Logan said. The magazine also farewelled its core subject: in 1936 its first issue featured a baby named George Story with the headline "Life Begins" and over the years it updated its readers about the course of his life as he married, had children and pursued a career as a journalist. When Time announced its closure in March, George soon then died from heart failure on June 4, 2000. The final issue of ''Life'' was appropriately titled "A Life Ends".

For ''Life'' subscribers, remaining subscriptions were honored with other Time Inc. magazines, such as ''Time''. And in January 2001, these subscribers received a special, ''Life''-sized format of "The Year in Pictures" edition of ''Time'' magazine, which was in reality a ''Life'' issue disguised under a ''Time'' logo on the front. (Newsstand copies of this edition were actually published under the ''Life'' imprint.)

While citing poor advertising sales and a rough climate for selling magazine subscriptions, Time Inc. executives said a key reason for closing the title in 2000 was to divert resources to the company’s other magazine launches that year, such as ''Real Simple''. Later that year, its parent company, Time Warner, struck a deal with the Tribune Company for Times Mirror magazines that included ''Golf, Ski, Skiing, Field & Stream'', and ''Yachting''. ''Life'' was not around when AOL and Time Warner announced their $183 billion merger, the largest corporate merger in history, which was finalized in January 2001.

''Life'' was absent from the U.S. market for only a few months, when it began publishing special newsstand "megazine" issues on topics such as 9/11 and the Holy Land in 2001. These issues, which were printed on thicker paper, were more like softcover books than magazines.

As a newspaper supplement (2004–07)

Beginning in October 2004, it was revived for a second time. ''Life'' resumed weekly publication as a free supplement to U.S. newspapers. ''Life'' went into competition for the first time with the two industry heavyweights, ''Parade'' and ''USA Weekend''. At its launch, it was distributed with more than 60 newspapers with a combined circulation of approximately 12 million. Among the newspapers to carry ''Life'': the ''Washington Post'', ''New York Daily News'', ''Los Angeles Times'', ''Chicago Tribune'', ''Denver Post'', and ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch''. Time Inc. made deals with several major newspaper publishers to carry the ''Life'' supplement, including Knight Ridder and the McClatchy Company.

This version of ''Life'' retained its trademark logo but sported a new cover motto, “America’s Weekend Magazine.” It measured 9½ x 11½ inches and was printed on glossy paper in full-color. On September 15, 2006, ''Life'' was just 20 pages. The editorial content contained one full-page photo, of actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and one three-page, seven-photo essay, of Kaiju Big Battel.

This era of ''Life'' lasted less than three years. On March 26, 2007, Time Inc. announced that it would fold the magazine as of April 20, 2007, although it would keep the web site.

Partnership with Google

On November 18, 2008, Google began hosting an archive of the magazine's photographs, as part of a joint effort with ''Life''. Many images in this archive were never published in the magazine. The archive is accessible through Google image search (see LIFE photo archive hosted by Google). Also, the full archive of the issues of the main run (1936–1972) is available through Google Book Search (see Google Books).

Online Presence

LIFE.com launched March 31, 2009. The site, a joint venture between Getty Images and Life magazine, offers millions of photographs from their combined collections. LIFE.com also maintains Tumblr and Twitter accounts.

Contributors

Well-known contributors since 1936 have included:

Andreas Feininger (photojournalist)

Berry Berenson (photojournalist)

Margaret Bourke-White (photojournalist)

Larry Burrows (photojournalist)

Robert Capa (photojournalist)

Brad Darrach (film critic)

Wheeler Winston Dixon (film critic)

Alfred Eisenstaedt (photojournalist)

Bill Eppridge (photojournalist)

Clay Felker (sportswriter, founder of ''New York Magazine)

Ron Galella, (photojournalist)

Bob Gomel (photojournalist)

Allan Grant (photojournalist)

Philippe Halsman (photographer)

Dora Jane Hamblin (correspondent)

Dirck Halstead (photojournalist)

Mary Hamman (modern living editor)

Bernard Hoffman (photojournalist)

Henri Huet (photojournalist)

Sally Kirkland (fashion editor)

Will Lang Jr. (Bureau Head / Chief Regional Bureau Director)

Dorothea Lange

Mary Leatherbee (movie editor)

Henry Luce (publisher, editor-in-chief, 1936–1964)

Hansel Mieth (photojournalist)

Lee Miller (photojournalist)

Gjon Mili (photojournalist)

Ralph Morse (photojournalist)

Carl Mydans (photojournalist)

Gordon Parks (photojournalist)

John Phillips (photojournalist)

Paul Schutzer (photojournalist)

Mark Shaw (photographer)

Art Shay (photojournalist)

George Silk (photojournalist)

W. Eugene Smith (photojournalist)

David Snell writer and cartoonist

Peter Stackpole (photojournalist)

Edward Steichen (portrait photographer)

Pete Souza (photojournalist)

Karina Taira (fashion photographer)

Edward K. Thompson (managing editor 1949–1961; editor in chief 1961–1970)

Thomas Thompson (novelist)

John Vachon (photojournalist)

Jeff Vespa (photojournalist and editor at large)

James Watters (film critic)

André Weinfeld (portrait photographer)

James M. Whitmore (photojournalist)

Tony Zappone (photojournalist, Europe edition)

John G. Zimmerman (photojournalist)

See also

List of defunct American periodicals

References

External links

Life.com official site

Full ''Life'' magazine issues from 1936 thru 1972

Le magazine ''Life'', la chronique de l'Amérique

''Life'' photo archive hosted by Google

''Life'' covers at CoverBrowser

Magazine Data File: ''Life'' (1883)

Online archive of the covers from LIFE, the humor magazine (1883–1936)

Index to ''Life'' Issues with Swing Dance Content

The Year 1947 in ''Life'' Magazine

LIFE Magazine Covers Timeline

Photo of a young girl yawning at former President George W. Bush that was included their "2009 Pictures of the Year"

Category:American news magazines Category:American weekly magazines Category:Defunct magazines of the United States Category:Photojournalism publications Category:Publications established in 1936 Category:Weekly magazines Category:Worth Bingham Prize recipients

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Coordinates	16°51′30″N94°23′30″N
Name	Bill Haley
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	William John Clifton Haley
Alias	Jack Haley, Johnny Clifton
Birth date	July 06, 1925
Died	February 09, 1981, Harlingen Texas
Origin	Highland Park, Michigan, United States
Genre	Rock and roll, country, rockabilly
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, bandleader
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, slap bass
Years active	1946–1980
Label	Cowboy, Atlantic, Keystone, Center, Holiday, Essex, Decca, Warner Bros. Records, Orfeón, Dimsa, Newtown, Guest Star, Logo, APT, Gone, United Artists, Roulette, Sonet, Buddah, Antic, Arzee
Associated acts	Bill Haley & His Comets, The Down Homers }}

William John Clifton "Bill" Haley (; July 6, 1925 – February 9, 1981) was one of the first American rock and roll musicians. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and their hit song "Rock Around the Clock".

Biography

Early life and career

Bill Haley was born in Highland Park, Michigan as William John Clifton Haley. Because of the effects of the Great Depression on the Detroit area, his father moved the family to Boothwyn, Pennsylvania, near the town of Chester, when Bill was seven years old. Haley's father William Albert Haley was from Kentucky and played the banjo and mandolin, his mother Maude Green originally from Ulverston in England was a technically accomplished keyboardist with classical training. Haley told the story that when he made a simulated guitar out of cardboard, his parents bought him a real one.

The anonymous sleeve notes accompanying the 1956 Decca album "Rock Around The Clock" describe Haley's early life and career thus: "Bill got his first professional job at the age of 13, playing and entertaining at an auction for the fee of $1 a night. Very soon after this he formed a group of equally enthusiastic youngsters and managed to get quite a few local bookings for his band."

The sleeve notes continue: "When Bill Haley was fifteen [c.1940] he left home with his guitar and very little else and set out on the hard road to fame and fortune. The next few years, continuing this story in a fairy-tale manner, were hard and poverty stricken, but cramful of useful experience. Apart from learning how to exist on one meal a day and other artistic exercises, he worked at an open-air park show, sang and yodelled with any band that would have him and worked with a traveling medicine show. Eventually he got a job with a popular group known as the "Down Homers" while they were in Hartford, Connecticut. Soon after this he decided, as all successful people must decide at some time or another, to be his own boss again - and he has been that ever since.’ [Note: these notes fail to account for his early band, known as the Four Aces of Western Swing. They later changed their name to avoid confusion with the pop vocal group the Four Aces. During the 1940s Haley was considered one of the top cowboy yodelers in America as "Silver Yodeling Bill Haley".]

The sleeve notes conclude: "For six years Bill Haley was a musical director of Radio Station WPWA in Chester, Pennsylvania, and led his own band all through this period. It was then known as Bill Haley's Saddlemen, indicating their definite leaning toward the tough Western style. They continued playing in clubs as well as over the radio around Philadelphia, and in 1951 made their first recordings."

Bill Haley & His Comets

During the Labor Day weekend in 1952, The Saddlemen were renamed Bill Haley with Haley's Comets (inspired by a popular mispronunciation of Halley's Comet), and in 1953, Haley's recording of "Crazy Man, Crazy" (co-written by Haley and his bass player, Marshall Lytle although Lytle would not receive credit until 2001) became the first rock and roll song to hit the American charts, peaking at no.15 on Billboard and no.11 on Cash Box. Soon after, the band's name was revised to Bill Haley & His Comets.

In 1953, a song called "Rock Around the Clock" was written for Haley. He was unable to record it until April 12, 1954. Initially, it was relatively unsuccessful, staying at the charts for only one week, but Haley soon scored a major worldwide hit with a cover version of Big Joe Turner's "Shake, Rattle and Roll", which went on to sell a million copies and became the first ever rock 'n' roll song to enter British singles charts in December 1954 and became a Gold Record. He retained elements of the original, but threw some country music aspects in to the song (specifically, Western Swing) and cleaned up the lyrics. Haley and his band were important in launching the music known as "Rock and Roll" to a wider, mostly white audience after years of it being considered an underground genre. When "Rock Around the Clock" appeared behind the opening credits of the 1955 film ''Blackboard Jungle'' starring Glenn Ford, it soared to the top of the American ''Billboard'' chart for eight weeks. The single is commonly used as a convenient line of demarcation between the "rock era" and the music industry that preceded it; ''Billboard'' separated its statistical tabulations into 1890-1954 and 1955–present. After the record rose to number one, Haley was quickly given the title "Father of Rock and Roll," by the media, and by teenagers that had come to embrace the new style of music.

"Rock Around the Clock" was the first record ever to sell over one million copies in both Britain and Germany and, in 1957, Haley became the first major American rock singer to tour Europe. Haley continued to score hits throughout the 1950s such as "See You Later, Alligator" and he starred in the first rock and roll musical movies ''Rock Around the Clock'' and ''Don't Knock the Rock'', both in 1956. Haley was soon eclipsed in the United States by the younger, sexier Elvis, but continued to enjoy great popularity in Latin America, Europe, and Australia through the 1960s.

Death and legacy

A self-admitted alcoholic (as indicated in a 1974 radio interview for the BBC), Haley fought a battle with alcohol into the 1970s. Nonetheless, he and his band continued to be a popular touring act, enjoying a career resurgence in the late 1960s with the Rock and roll revival movement and the signing of a lucrative record deal with the European Sonet Records label. After performing for Queen Elizabeth II at a command performance in 1979, Haley made his final performances in South Africa in May and June 1980. Prior to the South African tour, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and a planned tour of Germany in the fall of 1980 was canceled.

The October 25, 1980 edition of the German paper ''Bild'' reported that Haley had a brain tumor. It quoted British manager Patrick Maylan as saying that Haley "had taken a fit and went over the seat. He didn't recognize anyone anymore" after being taken to his home in Beverly Hills. It also reported that a doctor at the clinic where Haley had been taken said, "The tumor can't be operated on anymore."

"The Berliner Zeitung" reported a few days later that Haley had collapsed after a performance in Texas and been taken to the hospital in his home town of Harlingen, Texas.

Despite his ill health, Haley began compiling notes for possible use as a basis for either a biographical film based on his life, or a published autobiography (accounts differ), and there were plans for him to record an album in Memphis, Tennessee, when the brain tumor began affecting his behavior and he went back to his home in Harlingen, Texas, where he died early in the morning of February 9, 1981.

Martha, Bill's widow, who was with him in these troubling times, denies he had a brain tumor as does his old, very close friend, Hugh McCallum. Martha and friends related that Bill did not want to go on the road any more and that ticket sales for that planned tour of Germany in the fall of 1980 were slow. According to McCallum, "It's my unproven gut feeling that that [the brain tumor] was said to curtail talks about the tour and play the sympathy card."

It was obvious that his drinking problem was getting worse. According to Martha, by this time she and Bill fought all the time and she told him to stop drinking or move out so he moved out into a room in their pool house. Martha still took care of him and sometimes he would come in the house to eat, but he ate very little. "There were days we never saw him," said his daughter Martha Maria.

In addition to the drinking problems, it had become obvious that he also was having serious mental problems; Martha Maria said that, "It was like sometimes he was drunk even when he wasn't drinking." After he'd been jailed by the Harlingen Police, Martha had the judge put Haley in the hospital where he was seen by a psychiatrist who said Bill's brain was overproducing a chemical, like adrenaline. The doctor prescribed a medication to stop the overproduction but said Bill would have to stop drinking. Martha said, "This is pointless." She took him home, however, fed him and gave him his first dose. As soon as he felt better, he went back out to his room in the pool house and the downward spiral continued until his death.

Haley's death certificate listed "Natural causes: Most likely heart attack" as the 'Immediate Cause' of death. The next lines, 'Due to, or as a consequence Of" were blank.

Haley made a succession of bizarre, mostly monologue late-night phone calls to friends and relatives in which he seemed incoherently drunk or ill. Haley's first wife has been quoted as saying, "He would call and ramble and dwell on the past, his mind was really warped." A belligerent phone call to a business associate was taped and gives evidence of Haley's troubled state of mind.

Media reports immediately following his death indicated Haley displayed deranged and erratic behavior in his final weeks, although beyond a biography of Haley by John Swenson, released a year later, which described Haley painting the windows of his home black, there is little information extant about Haley's final days.

Haley was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Songwriters Tom Russell and Dave Alvin addressed Haley's demise in musical terms with "Haley's Comet" on Alvin's 1991 album ''Blue Blvd.'' Dwight Yoakam sang backup on the tribute.

Haley's original Comets still tour the world. They released a concert DVD in 2004 on Hydra Records, played the Viper Room in West Hollywood in 2005, and performed at Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater in Branson, Missouri in 2006-07.

In March 2007, the Original Comets pre-opened the Bill Haley Museum in Munich, Germany. On October 27, 2007, ex-Comets guitar player Bill Turner opened the Bill Haley Museum for the public.

Asteroid

:''Main article - 79896 Billhaley''

In February 2006, the International Astronomical Union announced the naming of asteroid 79896 Billhaley to mark the 25th anniversary of Bill Haley's death.

Children

Married three times, Bill Haley had at least eight children. John W. Haley, his eldest son, wrote ''Sound and Glory'', a biography of Haley, while his youngest daughter, Gina Haley, is a professional musician based in Texas. Scott Haley is an athlete, while Haley's youngest son, Pedro Haley, is also a musician.

He also had a daughter, Martha Maria, from his last marriage with Martha Velasco.

Bill Haley Jr. (Haley's second son and first with Joan Barbara "Cuppy" Haley-Hahn) publishes a regional business magazine in Southeastern Pennsylvania (''Route 422 Business Advisor''). He sings and plays guitar with a band called "Lager Rhythms," and appeared with the "Original Comets" at the Bubba Mac Shack in Somers Point, New Jersey, in 2004 and 2005, and at the Twin Bar re-dedication ceremony in Gloucester City, New Jersey, in 2007. He is currently writing a biography about his father, concentrating on the years 1949-61.

Biographies

In 1980, Haley began working on an autobiography entitled ''The Life and Times of Bill Haley'' but died after completing only 100 pages. The work is registered with the U.S. Copyright Office but has yet to be released to the public.

In 1982, John Swenson wrote ''Bill Haley: The Daddy of Rock and Roll'' (published in the UK under the title, ''Bill Haley'').

In 1990, Haley's eldest son, John W. Haley, along with John von Hoëlle wrote ''Sound and Glory'', a biography focusing mostly on Haley's early life and peak career years. This book is out of print.

A German-language biography was published soon after Haley's death, written by Peter Cornelsen and Harald D. Kain.

A book on the history of Haley's most famous recording, ''Rock Around the Clock: The Record That Started the Rock Revolution'' by Jim Dawson was published in June 2005.

Film portrayals

Unlike his contemporaries, Bill Haley has rarely been portrayed on screen. Following the success of ''The Buddy Holly Story'' in 1978, Haley expressed interest in having his life story committed to film, but this never came to fruition. In the 1980s and early 1990s, numerous media reports emerged that plans were underway to do a biopic based upon Haley's life, with Beau Bridges, Jeff Bridges and John Ritter all at one point being mentioned as actors in line to play Haley (according to ''Goldmine Magazine'', Ritter attempted to buy the film rights to ''Sound and Glory'').

Bill Haley has also been portrayed - not always in a positive light - in several "period" films:

John Paramor in ''Shout! The Story of Johnny O'Keefe'' (1985)

Michael Daingerfield in ''Mr. Rock 'n' Roll: The Alan Freed Story'' (1999)

Dicky Barrett (of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones) in ''Shake, Rattle and Roll: An American Love Story'' (also 1999)

In March 2005, the British network Sky TV reported that Tom Hanks was planning to produce a biopic on the life of Bill Haley, with production tentatively scheduled to begin in 2006. However this rumor was quickly debunked by Hanks.

Discography

Prior to the formation of Bill Haley and the Saddlemen, which later became The Comets, Haley released several singles with other groups. Dates are approximate due to lack of documentation.

As Bill Haley and the Four Aces of Western Swing

1948

Too Many Parties and Too Many Pals (vocal by Tex King)/Four Leaf Clover Blues (Cowboy CR1201)

1949

Tennessee Border/Candy Kisses (Cowboy CR1202)

As Johnny Clifton and His String Band

1950

Stand Up and Be Counted/Loveless Blues (Center C102)

Many Haley discographies list two 1946 recordings by the Down Homers released on the Vogue Records label as featuring Haley. Haley historian Chris Gardner, as well as surviving members of the group, have confirmed that the two singles: "Out Where the West Winds Blow"/"Who's Gonna Kiss You When I'm Gone" (Vogue R736) and "Boogie Woogie Yodel"/"Baby I Found Out All About You" (Vogue R786) do not feature Haley. However, the tracks were nonetheless included in the compilation box set ''Rock 'n' Roll Arrives'' released by Bear Family Records in 2006.

:''See the discography section of Bill Haley & His Comets for a list of the singles and album releases made by Haley with the Saddlemen and the Comets from 1950 onwards.''

Unreleased recordings

Bill Haley recorded prolifically during the 1940s, often at the radio stations where he worked, or in formal studio settings. Virtually none of these recordings was ever released. Liner notes for a 2003 CD release by Hydra Records entitled ''Bill Haley and Friends Vol. 2: The Legendary Cowboy Recordings'' reveal that several additional Cowboy label single releases were planned for the Four Aces, but this never occurred.

A number of previously unreleased Haley country-western recordings from the 1946-1950 period began to emerge near the end of Haley's life, some of which were released by the Arzee label, with titles such as "Yodel Your Blues Away" and "Rose of My Heart." Still more demos, alternate takes, and wholly unheard-before recordings have been released since Haley's death. Notable examples of such releases include the albums ''Golden Country Origins'' by Grassroots Records of Australia and ''Hillbilly Haley'' by the British label, Rollercoaster, as well as the aforementioned German release by Hydra Records. In 2006, Bear Family Records of Germany released what is considered to be the most comprehensive (yet still incomplete) collection of Haley's 1946-1950 recordings as part of its Haley box set ''Rock n' Roll Arrives''.

Compositions

Bill Haley's compositions included "Four Leaf Clover Blues", "Crazy Man, Crazy", "What'Cha Gonna Do", "Fractured", "Live It Up", "Farewell, So Long, Goodbye", "Real Rock Drive", "Rocking Chair on the Moon", "Sundown Boogie", "Birth Of The Boogie", "Two Hound Dogs", "Rock-A-Beatin' Boogie", "Hot Dog Buddy Buddy", "R-O-C-K", "Rudy's Rock", "Calling All Comets", "Tonight's the Night", "Hook, Line and Sinker", "Sway with Me", "Paper Boy (On Main Street U.S.A.)", "Skinny Minnie", "B.B. Betty", "Eloise", "Whoa Mabel!", "Vive la Rock and Roll", "So Right Toight", "Football Rock and Roll", and "Chick Safari". He also wrote or co-wrote songs for other artists such as "Calypso Rock" for Dave Day and The Red Coats on Kapp in 1956, "A.B.C. Rock" and "Rocky the Rockin' Rabbit" for Sally Starr on Arcade, and "(Ya Gotta) Sing For The Ladies" and "Butterfly Love" for Ginger Shannon and Johnny Montana in 1960 on Arcade as well as the unissued "I'm Shook" in 1958.

Quotations

''NME'' - October 1955

''NME'' - January 1957

References

Other sources

Jim Dawson, ''Rock Around the Clock: The Record That Started the Rock Revolution!'' (San Francisco: Backbeat Books, 2005)

John W. Haley and John von Hoëlle, ''Sound and Glory'' (Wilmington, DE: Dyne-American, 1990)

John Swenson, ''Bill Haley'' (London: W.H. Allen, 1982)

External links

Melody Manor (Bill Haley's house) Google Map

Answers

The Bill Haley & His Comets Story (German)

Category:1925 births Category:1981 deaths Category:People from Highland Park, Michigan Category:Bill Haley & His Comets members Category:American radio personalities Category:American rock singers Category:Bandleaders Category:Musicians from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Category:People from Delaware County, Pennsylvania Category:People from Harlingen, Texas Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees‎ Category:Rockabilly Hall of Fame inductees Category:American bandleaders Category:Decca Records artists Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics Category:Songwriters from Michigan

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Coordinates	16°51′30″N94°23′30″N
name	Buddy Holly
background	solo_singer
birth name	Charles Hardin Holley
born	September 07, 1936Lubbock, Texas, U.S.
died	February 03, 1959Grant Township, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, U.S.
instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano, fiddle, violin
genre	Rock and roll, pop rock, rockabilly
occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician
years active	1956–1959
label	Decca, Brunswick, Coral
associated acts	The CricketsThe Picks
notable instruments	Fender Stratocaster }}

Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959) known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll. Although his success lasted only a year and a half before his death in an airplane crash, Holly is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most influential creative force in early rock and roll." His works and innovations inspired and influenced contemporary and later musicians, notably The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and Eric Clapton, and exerted a profound influence on popular music. Holly was among the first group of inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked Holly #13 among "The Fifty Greatest Artists of All Time".

Biography

Early life

Charles Hardin Holley was born on September 7, 1936, in Lubbock, Texas, U.S.A. to Lawrence Odell and Ella Pauline (Drake) Holley. Holly was always called "Buddy" by his family. Older brothers Travis and Larry taught their sibling to play a variety of instruments, including the guitar, four-string banjo and lap steel guitar. At the age of five, his young voice and exuberance won him a talent contest singing a then-popular song, "Have You Ever Gone Sailing (Down the River of Memories)." In 1949, still retaining his soprano, he recorded a bluesy solo rendering of Hank Snow's "My Two Timin' Woman" on a wire recorder borrowed by a friend who worked in a music shop.

In 1952, he met Bob Montgomery at Hutchinson Junior High School. They shared an interest in music, and teamed up as "Buddy and Bob". Initially influenced by bluegrass, they sang harmony duets at local clubs and high school talent shows. The duo performed on a local radio station KDAV Sunday broadcast that made them a top local act. Hutchinson Junior High School now has a mural honoring Holly, and Lubbock High School, where he sang in the school choir, also honors the late musician.

The Crickets

Holly saw Elvis Presley sing in Lubbock in 1955, and began to incorporate a rockabilly style, similar to that of Chuck Berry, which had a strong rhythm acoustic and slap bass. On October 15, 1955, Holly, along with Bob Montgomery and Larry Welborn, opened the bill for Presley in Lubbock, catching the eye of a Nashville talent scout. Holly's transition to rock continued when he opened for Bill Haley & His Comets at a local show organized by Eddie Crandall, the manager for Marty Robbins.

Following this performance, Decca Records signed him to a contract in February 1956, misspelling his name as "Holly". He thereafter adopted the misspelled name for his professional career. Holly formed his own band, later to be called The Crickets, consisting of Holly (lead guitar and vocals), Niki Sullivan (guitar), Joe B. Mauldin (bass), and Jerry Allison (drums). They went to Nashville for three recording sessions with producer Owen Bradley. However, he chafed under a restrictive atmosphere that allowed him little input. Among the tracks he recorded was an early version of "That'll Be The Day", which took its title from a line that John Wayne's character says repeatedly in the 1956 film ''The Searchers''. (This initial version of the song played more slowly and about half an octave higher than the later hit version.) Decca released two singles, "Blue Days, Black Nights" and "Modern Don Juan", that failed to make an impression. On January 22, 1957, Decca informed Holly his contract would not be renewed, insisting, however, that he could not record the same songs for anyone else for five years.

Holly then hired Norman Petty as manager, and the band began recording at Petty's studios in Clovis, New Mexico. Petty contacted music publishers and labels, and Brunswick Records, a subsidiary of Decca, signed the Crickets on March 19, 1957. Holly signed as a solo artist with another Decca subsidiary, Coral Records. This put him in the unusual position of having two recording contracts at the same time.

On May 27, 1957, "That'll Be The Day" was released as a single, credited to the Crickets to try to bypass Decca's claimed legal rights. When the song became a hit, Decca decided not to press its claim. "That'll Be the Day" topped the US "Best Sellers in Stores" chart on September 23, and was the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in November. The Crickets performed "That'll Be the Day" and "Peggy Sue" on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' on December 1. They also sang "Peggy Sue" on ''The Arthur Murray Party'' on December 29 and were given a polite introduction by Kathryn Murray. The kinescopes of these programs are the only record of their 1957 television appearances.

Holly helped win over an all-black audience to rock and roll/rockabilly when the Crickets were booked at New York's Apollo Theater for August 16–22, 1957. Unlike the immediate acceptance shown in the 1978 movie ''The Buddy Holly Story'', it actually took several performances for the audience to warm up to him. In August 1957, the Crickets were the only white performers on a national tour including black neighborhood theaters.

As Holly was signed both as a solo artist and a member of the Crickets, two debut albums were released: ''The "Chirping" Crickets'' on November 27, 1957 and ''Buddy Holly'' on February 20, 1958. His singles "Peggy Sue" and "Oh Boy!", with backing vocals later dubbed on by The Picks, reached the top ten of United States and United Kingdom charts. Buddy Holly and the Crickets toured Australia in January 1958 and the UK in March. Their third and final album, ''That'll Be the Day'', was put together from early recordings and was released in April.

In the liner notes to ''Buddy Holly: The Definitive Collection'', Billy Altman notes that "Peggy Sue" was originally written as "Cindy Lou," but Holly later changed it prior to recording as a tip of the hat to Crickets drummer Jerry Allison's girlfriend (and future wife), Peggy Sue Gerron.

Holly wrote the song "True Love Ways" about his relationship with his wife, Maria Elena. It was recorded in her presence on October 21, 1958 at Decca's Pythian Temple, with Dick Jacob, Coral-Brunswick's new head of Artists and Repertoire, serving as both producer and conductor of the 18-piece orchestra, which included members of the New York Symphony Orchestra, NBC Television's house orchestra and Abraham "Boomie" Richman, formerly of Benny Goodman's band.

Holly in New York

The ambitious Holly became increasingly interested in the New York music/recording/publishing scene, while his band mates wanted to go back home to Lubbock. As a result, the group split up in late 1958. The Hollys settled in Greenwich Village, New York, in the new Brevoort apartment block at Ninth Street and Fifth Avenue. Here he recorded the series of acoustic songs, including "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" and "What to Do," known as the "Apartment Tapes," which were released after his death.

The Hollys frequented many of New York's music venues, including The Village Gate, Blue Note, Village Vanguard, and Johnny Johnson's. Maria Elena reported Buddy was keen to learn finger-style flamenco guitar, and would often visit her aunt's home to play the piano there. He wanted to develop collaborations between soul singers and rock 'n' roll, hoping to make an album with Ray Charles and gospel legend Mahalia Jackson. He also had ambitions to work in film, like Elvis Presley and Eddie Cochran, and registered for acting classes with Lee Strasburg's Actors' Studio, where the likes of Marlon Brando and James Dean had trained.

According to Billy Altman's liner notes to the Geffen/Universal compilation, ''Buddy Holly: The Definitive Collection'', in addition to "True Love Ways", during the October 1958 sessions at Decca's Pythian Temple, Holly also recorded two other songs, "I Guess It Doesn't Matter Anymore" and "Raining In My Heart". The songs were firsts for Holly, not only in the use of orchestral backing players, but also the tracks were his first stereo recordings. They were also to be his last formal recording studio recording sessions.

Holly was still having trouble getting his royalties from Petty, so he hired the noted lawyer Harold Orenstein at the recommendation of his friends the Everly Brothers, who had engaged Orenstein following disputes with their own manager, Wesley Rose. Yet, with the money still being withheld by Petty and with rent due, Buddy was forced to go back on the road.

Death

Holly was offered a spot in the Winter Dance Party, a three-week tour across the Midwest opening on January 23, 1959, by the GAC agency, with other notable performers such as Dion and the Belmonts, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. He assembled a backing band consisting of Tommy Allsup (guitar), Waylon Jennings (bass) and Carl Bunch (drums), and billed as The Crickets.

The tour turned out to be a miserable ordeal for the performers, who had to endure long overnight travel in a bus plagued with a faulty heating system in temperatures. The bus also broke down several times between stops.

Following a performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, on February 2, 1959, Holly chartered a small airplane to take him to the next stop on the tour. He, Valens, Richardson and the pilot were killed en route to Moorhead, Minnesota, when their plane crashed soon after taking off from nearby Mason City in the early morning hours of February 3. Bandmate Waylon Jennings had given up his seat on the plane, causing Holly to jokingly tell Jennings, "I hope your ol' bus freezes up!" Jennings shot back facetiously, "Well, I hope your ol' plane crashes!" It was a statement that would haunt Jennings for decades.

Holly's funeral was held on February 7, 1959, at the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Lubbock. The service was officiated by Ben D. Johnson, who had presided at the Hollys' wedding just months earlier. The pallbearers were Jerry Allison, Joe B. Mauldin, Niki Sullivan, Bob Montgomery, Sonny Curtis and Phil Everly. Waylon Jennings was unable to attend due to his commitment to the still-touring Winter Dance Party. The body was interred in the City of Lubbock Cemetery in the eastern part of the city. Holly's headstone carries the correct spelling of his surname (Holley) and a carving of his Fender Stratocaster guitar.

Holly's pregnant wife, a widow after barely six months of marriage, miscarried soon after, ending that part of the Holly family tree. The miscarriage was reportedly due to “psychological trauma”. Because of this incident, authorities found it necessary, in the months following, to implement a policy against announcing victims’ names until after families had first been informed.María Elena Holly did not attend the funeral, and has never visited the gravesite. She later told the ''Avalanche-Journal'':

In a way, I blame myself. I was not feeling well when he left. I was two weeks pregnant, and I wanted Buddy to stay with me, but he had scheduled that tour. It was the only time I wasn't with him. And I blame myself because I know that, if only I had gone along, Buddy never would have gotten into that airplane.

The first song to commemorate the musicians was “Three Stars” by Eddie Cochran. This song was recorded just a single day after the disaster occurred. Years later, in 1971, Don McLean released his single, "American Pie”, to commemorate Buddy Holly’s death and further accentuate the loss of the United States’ innocence. Don McLean’s song began the reference to the tragedy as "The Day the Music Died".

Influence

Holly set the template for the standard rock and roll band: two guitars, bass, and drums. He was also one of the first in the genre to write, produce, and perform his own songs.

Holly managed to bridge the racial divide that marked music in America. Along with Elvis and others, Holly made rock and roll, with its roots in rockabilly country music and blues-inspired rhythm and blues music, more popular among a broad white audience. From listening to their recordings, one had difficulty determining if the Crickets, the name of Buddy's band, were white or black singers. Holly indeed sometimes played with black musicians Little Richard and Chuck Berry. The Crickets were only the second white rock group to tour Great Britain. Holly's essential eyeglasses encouraged other musicians, such as John Lennon, also to wear their glasses during performances.

In his biography of rock legend Elton John, Phillip Norman recounted that by his early teens, John (then known as Reg Dwight) was wearing glasses "not because he needed them, but in homage to Buddy Holly." After wearing glasses for a while, his eyes became adjusted to the lenses, and at that point he really did need glasses, which would years later establish John as one of the most famous "four-eyes" in rock and roll, though Holly is considered the first.

Contrary to popular belief, teenagers John Lennon and Paul McCartney did not attend a Holly concert, although they watched his television appearance on ''Sunday Night at the London Palladium''; Tony Bramwell, a school friend of McCartney and George Harrison, did. Bramwell met Holly, and freely shared his records with all three. Ian Whitcomb said "Buddy Holly and the Crickets had the most influence on the Beatles." Lennon and McCartney later cited Holly as a primary influence. (Their band's name, The Beatles, was chosen partly in homage to Holly's Crickets.) The Beatles did a cover version of "Words of Love" that was a close reproduction of Holly's version, released on late 1964's ''Beatles for Sale'' (in the U.S., in June 1965 on ''Beatles VI''). During the January 1969 sessions for the ''Let It Be'' album, the Beatles played a slow impromptu version of "Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues" — although not written by Holly, it was popularized by him — with Lennon mimicking Holly's vocal style; the recording was eventually released in the mid-1990s on ''Anthology 3''. In addition, John Lennon recorded a cover version of "Peggy Sue" on his 1975 album ''Rock 'n' Roll''. McCartney owns the publishing rights to Holly's song catalogue.

A 17-year-old Bob Dylan attended the January 31, 1959, show, two nights before Holly's death. Dylan referred to this in his 1998 Grammy acceptance speech for his ''Time out of Mind'' being named Album of the Year:

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Keith Richards attended one of Holly's performances, where he heard "Not Fade Away" for the first time. The Rolling Stones had an early hit covering the song.

The launch of Bobby Vee's successful musical career resulted from Holly's death, when he was selected to replace Holly on the tour that continued after the plane crash. Holly's profound influence on Vee's singing style can be heard in such songs as "Rubber Ball" and "Run to Him."

Holly influenced many other singers during and after a career that lasted barely two years. Keith Richards once said Holly had "an influence on everybody." In an August 24, 1978 ''Rolling Stone'' interview, Bruce Springsteen told Dave Marsh, "I play Buddy Holly every night before I go on; that keeps me honest."

The Grateful Dead performed "Not Fade Away" 530 times over the course of their career, making it their seventh most-performed song. The song also appears on eight of their official live recording releases.

Various rock and roll histories have asserted the singing group The Hollies were named in homage to Buddy Holly. According to the band's website, although the group admired Holly (and years later produced an album covering some of his songs), their name was inspired primarily by the sprigs of holly in evidence around Christmas of 1962.

Don McLean's popular 1971 ballad "American Pie" is inspired by Holly and the day of the plane crash. The ''American Pie'' album is dedicated to Holly.

Weezer's single, "Buddy Holly", released on September 7, 1994 (Holly's 58th birthday), references Holly.

The Dixie Chicks reference Holly in the song "Lubbock or Leave It" (on the Grammy-winning ''Taking the Long Way''); during the middle eight, lead singer Natalie Maines, also a Lubbock native, compares his legacy with her infamously outspoken behavior after seeing his statue: "I hear they hate me now, just like they hated you / maybe when I'm dead and gone, I'm gonna get a statue too".

Discography

Buddy Holly released only three albums in his lifetime. Nonetheless, he recorded so prolifically that Coral Records was able to release brand-new albums and singles for 10 years after his death, although the technical quality was very mixed, some being studio quality and others home recordings.

Buddy Holly continued to be promoted and sold as an "active" artist, and his records had a loyal following, especially in Europe. The demand for unissued Holly material was so great that Norman Petty resorted to overdubbing whatever he could find: alternate takes of studio recordings, originally rejected masters, "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" and the other five 1959 tracks (adding new surf-guitar arrangements), and even Holly's amateur demos from 1954 (where the low-fidelity vocals are often muffled behind the new orchestrations). The last new Buddy Holly album was ''Giant'' (featuring the single "Love Is Strange"), issued in 1969. Between the 1959–60 Jack Hansen overdubs, the 1960s Norman Petty overdubs, various alternate takes, and Holly's undubbed originals, collectors can often choose from multiple versions of the same song. There are also many different versions of Holly's "Greatest Hits" as well as covers/compilation albums of Buddy's songs performed by various artists. One such album has been announced recently at an event at P.J. Clarke's in New York. Listen to Me: Buddy Holly is being produced by Peter Asher and includes contributions from Stevie Nicks, The Fray, Cobra Starship, Jeff Lynne, Train's Pat Monahan, Patrick Stump, Jackson Browne, Chris Isaak, Natalie Merchant, Imelda May, Ringo Starr, Lyle Lovett, Zooey Deschanel, Brian Wilson and more.

Film and musical depictions

Holly's life story inspired a Hollywood biographical film, ''The Buddy Holly Story''. Star Gary Busey received a nomination for Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Holly. The movie was widely criticized by the rock community and Holly's friends and family for its inaccuracies. This led Paul McCartney to produce and host his own documentary about Holly in 1985, titled ''The Real Buddy Holly Story''. This video includes interviews with Keith Richards, Phil and Don Everly, Sonny Curtis, Jerry Allison, Holly's family, and McCartney himself, among others.

In 1987, Marshall Crenshaw portrayed Buddy Holly in the movie ''La Bamba''. He is featured performing at the Surf Ballroom and boarding the doomed airplane with Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper. Crenshaw's version of "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" is featured on the ''La Bamba'' original motion picture soundtrack.

''Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story'', the Jukebox Musical depicting his life, is credited as being the first of its kind, spawning a breed of jukebox shows, including the likes of 'Mamma Mia'' and 'We Will Rock You''. "Buddy", as it is abbreviated on occasion, is still running in the UK after 22 years, with a UK tour that went out in February 2011.

There are also a number of acts both in the USA (Johnny Rogers, John Mueller) and UK (Marc Robinson, Spencer J etc.) who specialise in bringing the songs of Buddy Holly to life at events across the continents. The best of these present Holly's work with great respect for the man and his life's work.

Personal life

In June 1958, he met Maria Elena Santiago, who worked as a receptionist for Murray Deutch, an executive for New York publisher Peer-Southern Music. Holly managed to have Santiago invited to a luncheon at Howard Johnson's, thanks to Deutch's secretary, Jo Harper. He asked her to have dinner with him that night at P. J. Clarke's. Holly proposed marriage to her on their very first date. "While we were having dinner, he got up and came back with his hands behind his back. He brought out a red rose and said, 'This is for you. Would you marry me?'" He went to her guardian's house the next morning to get her approval. Santiago at first thought he was kidding, but they married in Lubbock on August 15, 1958, less than two months later. "I'd never had a boyfriend in my life. I'd never been on a date before. But when I saw Buddy, it was like magic. We had something special: love at first sight," she told the ''Lubbock Avalanche-Journal'' on what would have been their 50th wedding anniversary. The newlyweds honeymooned in Acapulco.

Maria Elena traveled on tours, doing everything from the laundry to equipment setup to ensuring the group got paid. Although Holly had already begun to become disillusioned with Norman Petty before meeting his bride, it was through Maria Elena and her aunt Provi, who was the head of Latin American music at Peer-Southern, that he began to fully realize what was going on with his manager, who was paying the band's royalties into his own company's account. Many fans became aware of his marriage only after his death.

Lubbock

Holly was based in Lubbock as his career took off between 1956 and 1958. Lubbock has a Walk of Fame with, as its centerpiece, a statue, created by sculptor Grant Speed in 1980, of Holly playing his Fender guitar. Other memorials to Buddy Holly include a street named in his honor and The Buddy Holly Center, which contains a museum of Holly memorabilia as well as a Fine Arts Gallery. In 2010, Grant Speed's statue was taken down for refurbishment, and construction began on a new Walk of Fame. On May 9, 2011, the City of Lubbock held a ribbon cutting ceremony for The Buddy and Maria Elena Holly Plaza, the new home of the statue and the Walk of Fame. The Plaza is within walking distance of the museum.

References

Further reading

Amburn, Ellis (1996). ''Buddy Holly: A Biography''. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0312145576.

Bustard, Anne (2005). ''Buddy: The Story of Buddy Holly''. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1422393024.

Dawson, Jim; Leigh, Spencer (1996). ''Memories of Buddy Holly''. Big Nickel Publications. ISBN 978-0936433202.

Gerron, Peggy Sue (2008). ''Whatever Happened to Peggy Sue?''. Togi Entertainment. ISBN 978-0980008500.

Goldrosen, John; Beecher, John (1996). ''Remembering Buddy: The Definitive Biography''. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80715-7.

Goldrosen, John (1975). ''Buddy Holly: His Life and Music''. Popular Press. ISBN 0859470180

Gribbin, John (2009). ''Not Fade Away: The Life and Music of Buddy Holly''. London: Icon Books. ISBN 978-1848310346

Dave Laing, Professor. ''Buddy Holly (Icons of Pop Music)''. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-22168-4.

Lehmer, Larry (1997). ''The Day the Music Died: The Last Tour of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens''. Schirmer Trade Books. ISBN 0028647416 or 978-0028647418.

Mann, Alan (1996). ''The A-Z of Buddy Holly''. Aurum Press (2nd edition). ISBN 1854104330 or 978-1854104335.

McFadden, Hugh (2005). ''Elegy for Charles Hardin Holley'', in ''Elegies & Epiphanies''. Belfast: Lagan Press.

Norman, Philip (1996). ''Rave On: The Biography of Buddy Holly''. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0684800829 or 978-0684800820.

Peer, Elizabeth and Ralph II (1972). ''Buddy Holly: A Biography in Words, Photographs and Music'' Australia: Peer International. ASIN B000W24DZO.

Peters, Richard (1990). ''The Legend That Is Buddy Holly''. Barnes & Noble Books. ISBN 0285630059 or 978-0285630055.

Rabin, Stanton (2009). ''OH BOY! The Life and Music of Rock 'n' Roll Pioneer Buddy Holly''. Van Winkle Publishing (Kindle). ASIN B0010QBLLG.

Tobler, John (1979). ''The Buddy Holly Story''. Beaufort Books.

^ VH1's Behind the Music "The Day the Music Died" interview with Waylon Jennings

External links

Buddy Holly And The Crickets.com

Buddy Holly Lives.info

Listen to Me: Buddy Holly - Songmasters

peermusic presents Maria Elena: My Life with Buddy

Buddy Holly - sessions and cover songs

Telegraph article on the last songs written by Buddy Holly

'The Day the Music Died' at The Death of Rock: The Archive

''Buddy Holly is Alive and Well On Ganymede

Category:1936 births Category:1959 deaths Category:Accidental deaths in Iowa Category:American rock guitarists Category:American rock singers Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in 1959 Category:Baptists from the United States Category:American people of English descent Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Lubbock High School alumni Category:Musicians from Texas Category:People from Lubbock, Texas Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Rockabilly Hall of Fame inductees Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:The Crickets members Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United States Category:Coral Records artists Category:Decca Records artists

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Andrés Cepeda (born July 7, 1973, is a popular Colombian singer and songwriter. He was born in Bogotá, the youngest of five children. He displayed an inclination towards music from an early age, studying piano since the age of 5. He composed his first piece at the age of 12. His musical career began as the lead voice of Poligamia, a latin rock-pop group which he founded with some friends during his adolescence. After Poligamia was disbanded, Cepeda continued with his musical career as a soloist, finding success in different musical genres such as bolero and balada, among other romantic genres. His album ''El carpintero'' achieved quadruple-platinum sales in Colombia.

Discography

With Poligamia

Una canción (1993)

Vueltas y Vueltas (1995)

Promotal 500 m.g (1996)

Buenas Gracias Muchas Noches (1998) - Farewell Concert

Desvanecer

Mi generacion

Beverly Hills

Solo Work

Albums

Sé morir (1999)

::Se morir ::Ya no eres tú ::Embrujo ::Me voy ::Pecado mortal ::Un poco más ::Día gris ::Ciertas cosas ::A donde va ::Ojos extraños

El carpintero (2001)

::El Carpintero del Amor ::Tengo ganas ::Alma ::Me lleva tiempo ::El tren ::Sabrá Dios ::Mi inspiración ::El guitarro ::Palabras ::Amor gitano ::Viento ::Hasta que venga la mañana

Siempre queda una cancion (2002)

::Ciertas cosas ::Sabrá Dios ::Fue solo amor* ::Luna llena ::Me lleva tiempo ::Me voy ::Embrujo ::Alma ::Se morir ::Palabras ::El carpintero del amor ::Desvanecer ::Tengo ganas ::Mi generación ::Amor gitano ::El Equeko ::No voy a dejarte ir ::Piel canela

Cancion rota (2003)

::Mientras más pasaba el tiempo ::Canción rota ::Entrégame las alas ::Armadillo ::Y si la ves ::Simple ::Emborráchame de amor ::Yo me acuerdo de tí ::Carmelina ::Tu amigo ::Lo que he dejado atrás ::Si no lo sabes tumbar ::Como tus amores

Para Amarte Mejor (2006)

::Para amarte mejor ::Me esta tallando ::No tiene sentido ::Voy a extrañarte ::pronostico ::antes que te vayas ::si fueras mi enemigo ::las 40

Pop Latino (2007)

Día tras día (2009)

::Pronostico...

References

Category:Colombian songwriters Category:1973 births Category:Living people Category:People from Bogotá Category:Spanish-language singers Category:Colombian singers Category:Colombian male singers Category:Colombian rock singers

es:Andrés Cepeda