SOURCE: "The Making of a Legend," in Remembering Buddy: The Definitive Biography, 1986. Reprint by Penguin Books, 1987, pp. 149-63.

In the following excerpt, Goldrosen and Beecher document the continued popularity and influence of Holly's songs following his death, detailing the release of "enhanced" versions of unfinished or previously unissued recordings made by Holly later in his career.

"The day the music died"—so Don McLean termed that cold February day in his number one song "American Pie" almost thirteen years later. He was not the first to see Holly's death as a decisive event in the history of rock 'n' roll. At the time, no one could sense fully just what the fatal accident meant for the development of the music; and yet, on three continents, the news brought an indescribable feeling of something lost—something which could never be regained. Holly was memorialized in song and several albums...