If your younger then 60, skip this

[bobtailnag]

Was Buddy Holly and the Crickets really the first white band to play at the Apollo Theater?

[1hooper]

Early White performers.

One rock and roll fan site, without citing its source, claims that on August 16, 1957, White performer Buddy Holly played the Apollo. Conversely, The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture claims white (Caucasian) rockabilly artist Dale Hawkins "performed at the Apollo Theater in New York City two weeks before the reputed first white artists, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, arrived on the scene." Hawkins himself claimed in 1998, without specifying a performance date, "I was the first white artist to play the Apollo Theater." Another Caucasian performer Jo-Ann Campbell claims she performed November 30, 1956, and the week of May 3, 1957. A fan site claims that Caucasian performer Jimmy Cavallo and the House Rockers performed there in December 1956, in support of the movie Rock, Rock, Rock. A poster for Alan Freed's Rock 'N Roll Halloween Party on October 29, 1955, lists and shows a picture of white female rockabilly artist Lillian Briggs as one of the performers at Freed's Apollo Theater event, and it's possible other white artists may have performed at the Apollo before her. Photo evidence has recently been discovered that Charlie Barnet and his band performed at the Apollo sometime between late August and October, 1952.

[spanky]

Buddy Holly is from Lubbock, 120 miles south of here. A fantastic statue stands in front of the Buddy Holly Museum.