Part 2 of An interview with Niki Sullivan, The Cricket Who Retired, recorded at the Buddy Holly Memorial Festival at Iowa’s Surf Ballroom, site of Buddy Holly’s last performance. Sullivan discussed the origins of The Crickets’ band name, which was NOT inspired by an insect chirping in their rehearsal room, as depicted in The Buddy Holly Story movie. Sullivan explains the band chose its name from an encyclopedia entry on insects that evoke romantic music. Later, Smith and Sullivan discussed Buddy Holly’s enduring legacy and impact on music, with Smith providing historical context and insights into Holly’s early success, while Sullivan shared personal anecdotes, highlighting his guitar playing in recordings and the band’s historic performance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Both emphasized that despite his brief career, Holly had a giant influence on subsequent generations.
Outline
Buddy Holly’s legacy with original band members.
- Bob Smith interviews Niki Sullivan, a guitarist for Buddy Holly’s original band, about his experiences with the rock and roll legend.
- Buddy Holly was inspired to record after hearing the song “Party Doll” by Buddy Knox and went to Clovis, NM to speak with producer Norman Petty about recording.
- The band selected its name “The Crickets” when Jerry Allison found the term in an encyclopedia referring to “an insect that makes music by rubbing its legs together.”
- The name stuck — despite initial ridicule. “Everybody sorta laughed at us,” Sullivan remembered.
- The band did NOT choose the name because a cricket was chirping during a rehearsal (as depicted in The Buddy Holly Story move. (“No. That’s show biz,” laughed Sullivan.)
- Sullivan reports at one point band members considered “The Beetles” for a name – but rejected it because Jerry Allison said, “that’s a black bug that you step on, so we don’t want to use that.”
Buddy Holly and the Crickets’ history and legacy.
- Buddy Holly was inspired to record after hearing the song “Party Doll” by Buddy Knox, so he went to Clovis, NM to speak with its producer Norman Petty about recording.
- Buddy Holly and Jerry Allison wrote “That’ll Be the Day” and “Peggy Sue,” but producer Norman Petty’s name was added to the credits – a common practice in those days.
- Holly’s musicianship and studio work were highlighted, with a focus on his ability to create tightly put-together recordings.
- The Crickets’ 1957 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show was heard, with Niki Sullivan recalling the experience vividly.
Other Buddy Holly Trivia.
- Sullivan eventually quit The Crickets for financial and personal reasons.
- He explains why he and others (Sonny Curtis, Bob Montgomery, Don Guess, and Larry Welborn) were excluded from The Buddy Holly Story film script.
Attempt at a solo career, praise for the Buddy Holly film.
- Sullivan shared his later struggles with stage fright and how he overcame it with the help of fellow musician Glenn Campbell.
- After finding success with the group Soul Incorporated, Sullivan left the music industry, citing the importance of balance in his life.
- He became a salesmen for the Sony electronics corporation.
- Sullivan praised actor Gary Busey’s portrayal of Holly, describing a scene where Busey mimics a habit of Holly’s that only someone who knew him would notice.
- This illustrated the level of detail Busey brought to the role.
Buddy Holly’s life and legacy with bandmates.
- Smith described Niki Sullivan, then in his 40s, looking like Holly as he performed.
- We hear audio of Sullivan in performance at the Surf Ballroom.
- Though he lost interest within a year or two of his involvement, Sullivan’s guitar playing was an integral part of Holly’s early success.
- He performed on 27 of 32 songs that Buddy Holly recorded over his brief career.
- Sullivan was 42 years old the day we talked to him. He died in 2004 at the age of 66.
- Eight years later, in 2012, Niki Sullivan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Crickets.
Bob Smith 0:00
Today on the off ramp testimony from a man who was there, when a rock and roll legend began,
Niki Sullivan 0:06
We had to come up with a name so Jerry pulled out an encyclopedia, we came upon the name Cricket, a – an insect romantically referred to as making music by rubbing its legs together. So that the connotation of music and Cricket just tied so we stuck with it. And we used it, and quite frankly, everybody sort of laughed at us.
Bob Smith 0:28
That’s Niki Sullivan, one of Buddy Holly’s original Crickets, and this is Part Two of Buddy Holly Remembered.
Welcome to the Off Ramp with Bob Smith. Today we begin part two of our Buddy Holly Remembered special. Buddy Holly, a 22 year old singer songwriter, had already inspired legions of would be rock and rollers around the world, including theBeatles and The Rolling Stones in England, when he died in February of 1959, sixty years ago. He died when his plane crashed just outside of Clear Lake Iowa, after a performance at the Surf Ballroom. On the 20th anniversary of Holly’s death, a new tradition began at the Ssurf. Today it’s called The Winter Dance Party, the name of the original tour that brought Buddy to Iowa 60 years ago. The second year of that event, I met and spoke with Niki Sullivan, one of Buddy Holly’s original guitarists. A reminder, this is a special put together in 1980, about musicians who had a connection with Buddy Holly. Many have died since that time, and those still alive are well into their 70s or mid 80s. But when this feature first aired, they were just entering middle age, as you’ll hear in our next segment.
You find them almost everywhere. By now they’re mostly middle aged men. They’ve become doctors and teachers and businessmen. Almost every profession has the when you see them in the yard with the kids or shoveling snow they seem like any other middle aged men, but there is something different about them. Back in their use, they wielded the guitars and played the keyboards and pounded the drums in the first wave of rock’n’roll groups in the 1950s. But for one reason or another, they’ve almost all settled down by now. They’re married. They have homes and families, even grandchildren. And Niki Sullivan is one of them:
Niki Sullivan 2:53
I don’t choose to be back in the music scene. It’s a good business but it’s I don’t want to work that are men I’m lazy
Bob Smith 3:00
Niki Sullivan is special because he was an original member of the great Buddy Holly’s band The Crickets
Music 3:09
when you say goodbye today, when you make me cry
Bob Smith 3:22
We recently spoke with Niki Sullivan at the Buddy Holly Memorial celebration in February in Clear Lake Iowa where Buddy played his final concert in 1959. Sullivan told us how the Crickets chose their name back in 1956. And it wasn’t because of an insect chirping in their practice room – like the Buddy Holly Story movie explained it.
Niki Sullivan 3:42
No.That’s that’s showbiz. The truth, the truth. We were at Jerry Allison’s home, in thebedroom practicing, rehearsing. And we had to come up with a name. So Jerry pulled out an encyclopedia. And the most common usage at the time for names for groups was an insect, bugs or something to this nature. So we turned to a page in the encyclopedia that listed different insects. And the ones that we liked in the beginning had already been used. So we came upon the name cricket. And if I’m quoting from memory now, an insect romantically referred to as making music by rubbing its legs together. So the connotation of music and Cricket just tied so we stuck with it. And we used it. And quite frankly, everybody sort of laughed at us.
Bob Smith 4:38
The fear of being laughed at had already led the band to reject one insect name.
Niki Sullivan 4:42
We chose. We at one point, we chose the word beetle, without changing the present usage, but Jerry said no, that’s a black bug that you would step on and we don’t want to use that.
Bob Smith 5:09
Sullivan said that the Crickets were inspired to record when they heard the song Party Doll. It was done by Buddy Knox, a Texas college student who recorded the song at a little Clovis, New Mexico studio run by producer Norman Petty. That piqued Buddy Holly’s interest and Holly went to club is to speak with Petty.
Niki Sullivan 5:26
Buddy went before the Crickets had formed. But he had gone over in late 56 and had spoken with Norman and Norman liked what he heard and advised Buddy to get a group together. While we had already been working together without Joe B. Joe B. Mauldin had not come to the group yet. Larry Wilbourn was our bass player. So we went back obviously in February and recorded. I understand four songs. I only remember doing two, but I’m told that we did four songs. And the rest was history. Thank goodness.
Bob Smith 6:08
The Crickets first big hit was That’ll Be The Day, in 1957. It was released on the Brunswick label. At the same time, Buddy Holly was recording and releasing softer ballads like Peggy Sue and Every Day as a solo artist on the Coral label. It was all a part of Norman Petty’s sharp business sense. Sometimes, however, his business ideas were questionable, such as putting his name on the records as co-composer even though he didn’t tell write the songs.
Niki Sullivan 6:34
In the beginning, however, That’ll Be The Day and Peggy Sue were written solely by Jerry Allison and Buddy Holly. However, if you look at the records for credits, you’ll see that there are – is – another name added, and I don’t mean to disparage Mr. Petty he’s a genius. Anybody that can do what he did, to take a bunch of kids out of West Texas – not just us but, Buddy Knox and The Rhythm Orchids, The Fireballs, The String Alongs – the list is endless of hits this man has come out with. It’s amazing what he did. And he built a studio with his own hands. The studio he presently has is a theater, completely wired by him. And if you can imagine cables — thousands of cables all hooked up in that studio – and he did it himself. The man has to be got to be smart, you need to love his result.
Bob Smith 7:45
The Buddy Holly records are so tightly put together, so good in their musicianship, we asked Niki Sullivan if Buddy Holly was as demanding in the studio as the recent movie portrayed him to be.
Niki Sullivan 7:56
No, there was never, never any pressure to be perfect. Buddy never demanded it of us. I think he did of himself, but not out loud. He tried very hard to do – to do what made him happy. And Norman Petty, our manager, was never pressuring us. He just more or less let it flow. We just had fun!
Music 8:19
Yeah, need you beg.
Bob Smith 8:25
There are only a few film clips of the Xrickets in existence. One is an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in December 1957. If you look at that film, just to the left of Buddy Holly, you’ll see Niki Sullivan on guitar. And he remembers that night very well. very vividly.
Niki Sullivan 8:44
When you’re when you’re a young man from West Texas, and you watch the Ed Sullivan show on TV, you expect to see 3,000 people in the audience with a huge expanse of stage work and lights and cameras, and you know what goes on in the stage show. We went to the studio – the front of the studio was no wider than maybe 50 feet. When we got on, it was even smaller. We just didn’t know what to think about all of this. And when we went out on stage to set up, the the stage was so small it was almost cramped. And the audience could not have seated more than 250, 300 people tops – if that. So when it came time for us to go on, we were apprehensive about it because this is not what we thought the Ed Sullivan Show was. We thought it was giant auditorium. But we went on, we had fun, and loved every minute of it. Iy also helped our record sales. I might add.
Music 9:44
Now from Lubbock, Texas for all the kids in the country we bring back the Texas boys – do it! (Band launches into Maybe Baby)
Bob Smith 11:44
Coming up, Niki Sullivan talks about the breakup of the Crickets. Why he and others weren’t included in the movie The Buddy Holly Story and why Niki Sullivan finally quit the music business.
Music 12:39
Maybe Baby.
Bob Smith 13:42
You’re listening to the off ramp with Bob Smith.
Music 13:55
Gonna tell you how it’s gonna be. Are you gonna give it to me today in the mile
Bob Smith 14:10
The original Crickets split up at the end of 1958 and went their separate ways. Buddy Holly went on to record as a solo artist, while some members of the band went on playing together until the mid 1960s. But Niki Sullivan had quit the group nearly a year earlier. And he says there was a very simple reason.
Niki Sullivan 14:34
We were having some friction, financial frictions, among other things, but that wasnot mainly the reason that I left. It’s a very complicated business and being young and being extremely tired. I don’t I don’t believe I could have made a rational decision if I wanted to. But I decided to leave the group and I’ve not ever regretted In my decision, I’m missing the guys. I really do because they’re good people. I left the group shortly after the Ed Sullivan Show in 1957 and became a recording artist on my own.
Bob Smith 15:12
At one point Sullivan’s career, h got a helping hand from the Buddy Holly family.
Niki Sullivan 15:16
I did do a record on Jubilee label with Gene Evans. We were called The Hollyhocks. Buddy’s father paid for the sessions and for getting us started through the New York connection that we had with the Crickets. And it’s one of the finest recordings I ever made. Didn’t sell anything.
Bob Smith 15:38
Sullivan’s journey through the music world lasted for another decade. And it was marked by more than its share of ups and downs. At times, he says he became disgusted with the music business, with success and then failure. And he quit, only tostart up and try once again.
Speaker 1 15:53
So I went to California, and tried it out there. I tried the smallest clubs in the world and the dives, if you will, trying to get my head screwed on right. And I was having arough time, I just could not make myself want to be in show business again. So I quit. I sold my instruments again for a third time. And one night at the Palomino Club in Van Nuys, California, or North Hollywood, excuse me, Glen Campbell, and quite a few other stars, were giving a benefit show. And this friend got Glen Campbell off to the side and said, Hey, I need you to talk to this man. So we sat down and we talked a good at least 15 or 20 minutes. And I just told him, I said, Hey, guy, I cannot get up on a stage. I am absolutely shell shocked. I’m frightened to death. I said, just tell me what to do. And he says, do it. Just go up there and do it. I said I can’t. And this went back and forth. And he said, Man, I don’t know what to tell you. He said, but just get up there and do it. Well, I went home that night, and I laid down and I cried as hard as I’ve ever cried in my life. I really needed help. Two days later, I get a phone call from somebody I did not know asking if I would join a group. And I went over that day and we sat down and picked a little and it lasted five years. So in 1967, I said hey, well, this is the way to go. And I was playing at all the top spots in Hollywood. I’d gotten out of my shell and went back to work.
Bob Smith 17:30
The group was called Soul Incorporated, which had several regional hits on the west coast. In addition to clubs and concerts, it looked like Niki would spend the rest of his life in the music business after all.
Niki Sullivan 17:41
But then, I met my wife, and I immediately fell in love. And I had a choice to make. In fact, we had one and a half dates and got married the half day that stood her up for an hour. So I had a decision to make and I made it. I sit down – this is – I’m not the type of individual who can make a career in showbusiness and have a happy family. I just didn’t feel I could do it. I still question whether I could or not. I’m too moody.
Music 18:10
Have a nice round of applause for Mr. Buddy Holly.
Got
Bob Smith 18:36
Of the movie The Buddy Holly story – If you know Buddy Holly purely from that film, you’ve never heard of a number of key people in the real life Buddy Holly story. So why did the movie makers leave out people like Niki Sullivan.
Niki Sullivan 18:48
They didn’t know enough about me. John Goldrosen who originally wrote the book, the Buddy Holly Story, called me in San Antonio sometime around 1972 and told me he was writing this book, and he wanted to collaborate with me and get some input.And my wife was having – getting ready to have a set of twins. And we were having some problems. And she delivered prematurely. And we almost lost those kids. And for about 29 days, I didn’t think of anything else. So I didn’t get to work with John. The book came out and the producers used the book as a foundation to base the story on in the movie. So I’m not mentioned in that first book too much. So they didn’t know enough about me, and they figured that they could just leave me out and nobody would notice or be the wiser. They do now wish they had included me. They’ve had quite a bit of mail and certain problems over it, but I have no ill feelings. I’m just glad that Buddy got his deal.
Music 19:53
Every day. Get in class. Go and last Is there a roller coaster? Julie
Bob Smith 20:29
Despite the inaccuracies in the film, Niki Sullivan has nothing but praise for the star of the motion picture Gary Busey,
Niki Sullivan 20:37
Outstanding portrayal. If anyone wants to see Buddy Holly today, if they will just take the time to look at the movie and watch the portrayal. If you knew Buddy, you would swear that Buddy had to have told Gary what to do in that movie, because there’s so many things that go on in that movie, such as a little thing that nobody would catch. Most people wouldn’t. When they wear glasses, and they scratch their eyes. They do it this way.
Bob Smith 21:04
Sullivan illustrated by holding a hand over his cheek and sticking a finger up behind one lens of his glasses.
Niki Sullivan 21:11
Buddy never did. It was always this way – the fingers in front of the glass. And in one scene in the movie, Gary reaches up this way! Nobody else would have known to do that. It was just, I’m sure, a chance of light, but that’s those little things you’d pick up, and he deserved his award.
Bob Smith 21:43
So now more than 20 years after the Crickets’ success, where are the other band members? Well, Sonny Curtis is a recording artist and top songwriter, with such hits as I Fought the Law and The Law Won, and Walk Right Back. And other Crickets are still in the music business too.
Niki Sullivan 21:58
Jerry Allison, the drummer and Joe Mauldin, the bass player are presently on tour with Waylon Jennings.
Bob Smith 22:03
And what about Niki Sullivan? What does he do?
Niki Sullivan 22:06
I don’t choose to be back into the the music scene. It’s a good business, but it’s – I don’t want to work that had man. I’m lazy. I admit it. You know, I’m a district sales manager for a national stereo company. And I travel the entire State of Kansas andabout a third of Missouri and I work harder now than I did in the music business. And I don’t want to work that hard! Right!
Bob Smith 22:31
Even though his days as a professional musician are over, for the past two years, Niki Sullivan has done what he couldn’t do on that fateful February 2nd, 1959. He’s gotten up on the stage of the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake Iowa, and has performed with other musicians at the Buddy Holly Memorial Tribute Concert.
Niki Sullivan is in his 40s now. He looks like you’d expect his high school classmate Buddy Holly to look had he lived. He has dark hair, over the collar and the ears, but still a conservative cut, dark glasses, and of course a bobbing Adam’s apple when he talks. How does this man look back on those early years of his life, when he and his friends from Lubbock, Texas were on top of the world?
Niki Sullivan 23:38
Oh boy. Yeah, that was a college education for me. The camaraderie that the fellas that we toured with, the people we were associated with, the crowds that we playedto are awesome memories that I’ll live with a long time. I don’t regret that at all.
Music 23:54
(Sonny Curtis sings) I just came down to see the Buddy Holly Story …
Bob Smith 27:32
Sonny Curtis, one of the original Crickets and the real Buddy Holly story. Our interview today was with Niki Sullivan, described by Wikipedia as one of the four original members of buddy Holly’s backing band the Crickets. Though he lost interest within a year or two of his involvement, his guitar playing was an integral part of Holly’s early success. He performed on 27 of 32 songs that Buddy Holly recorded over his brief career. Niki Sullivan was 42 years old the day we talked to him. He died in 2004 at the age of 66. Eight years later, in 2012, Nicky Sullivan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the crickets. I’m Bob Smith. That’s Buddy Holly Remembered and this has been The Off Ramp.
Well, that’s it.
Thanks for listening to part two of our Buddy Holly Remembered special here on the Off Ramp with Bob Smith. We hope you’ll join us again next time for more fun
The Off Ramp with Bob Smith is produced in association with CPL Radio and the Cedarbrook Public Library Cedarburg, Wisconsin.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
