7 The 100 Most Influential Musicians of All Time 7

records tapered off, and Holly was living in New York with

his new bride. Estranged from the Crickets and broke, he

was also contemplating legal action against Petty. This left

him little choice but to participate in the doomed “Winter

Dance Party of 1959” tour through the frozen Midwest,

during which he and coheadliners Ritchie Valens and the

Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson) were killed in a plane crash.

The music of Holly and the Crickets, their innovative

use of the studio, and the fact that they wrote most of their

songs themselves made them the single most important

influence on the Beatles, who knew every Holly record

backward and forward. In 1986 Holly was inducted into

the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 1996 he was hon-

oured by the National Academy of Recording Arts and

Sciences with a lifetime achievement award.

The Rolling Stones

The original members were Mick Jagger (b. July 26, 1943, Dartford,

Kent, Eng.), Keith Richards (b. Dec. 18, 1943, Dartford, Kent, Eng.),

Brian Jones (b. Feb. 28, 1942, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, Eng.—d.

July 3, 1969, Hartfield, Sussex), Bill Wyman (b. Oct. 24, 1936, London,

Eng.), and Charlie Watts (b. June 2, 1941, London, Eng.). Later

members were Mick Taylor (b. Jan. 17, 1948, Hereford, East Hereford

and Worcester, Eng.), Ron Wood (b. June 1, 1947, London, Eng.), and

Darryl Jones (b. Dec. 11, 1961, Chicago, Ill., U.S.).

F

ormed in 1962, the Rolling Stones are a British rock

group that has drawn on Chicago blues stylings to

create a unique vision of the dark side of post-1960s

counterculture.

No rock band has sustained consistent activity and

global popularity for so long a period as the Rolling Stones,

still capable, more than 45 years after their formation, of fill-

ing the largest stadia in the world. Though several of