Buddy Holly’s legendary status in rock and roll is based on a year and a half career which tragically ended in the infamous plane crash on February 2, 1959. “That’ll Be the Day” was Holly’s first top 40 record and only #1 song. It entered the charts on August 19, 1957. It reached #1 on September 23rd. The song was inspired by a line from John Wayne in the movie, “The Searchers:” Ward Bond (Reverend Clayton) -- “You wanna quit, Ethan?” John Wayne (Ethan) -- “That’ll be the day.” Holly first recorded it for Decca, but Decca never released it. Holly then went to Norman Petty's studio in New Mexico and re-recorded the song. Since Decca owned the rights to the “Holly” version, the record was released under the “Crickets” -- the name of Holly’s group -- on the Brunswick label. The song includes the classic rockabilly guitar , unobtrusive backing vocals by the Crickets, the introduction of the “Holly hiccup” that turns “turtle” in “all your turtle dovin’” into three syllables. Linda Ronstadt would take her version to #11 in 1976.