Buddy Holly: How Harrogate family behind Bradleys Jewellers keeps the pop star's legacy alive
A Yorkshire family has played a major role in keeping Buddy Holly’s legacy alive. Peter Bradley Jnr tells John Blow about the book about the star, Words of Love.
It was Buddy Holly and the Crickets’ only UK tour in 1958 and with a packed schedule, the influential pop star stopped for refreshments on March 18 between dates in Yorkshire. Peter Bradley Jnr, of Bradleys Jewellers, knows the story well because his Yorkshire family has an important role in Holly’s legacy.
“When Bradleys Jewellers opened our big flagship store on Prospect Crescent in Harrogate which we (converted) from Allens department store in 2001, a dear friend of ours, the entertainer Des O'Connor opened our store,” says Peter Jnr.
“After the opening of the store, he was sat with my dad in the drawing room at the top of the building and he was looking out over Bettys, and he said: ‘I remember being here at Bettys with Buddy Holly’.”
The band had played Doncaster Gaumont the previous night during a run where they were also hosted by Sheffield City Hall, Bradford Gaumont and Hull Regal.
O’Connor, who was compere for the tour, reported that the pair had afternoon tea at Bettys and Holly used the cafe stop to write a letter to his parents, which he regularly did wherever he was in the world.
The Harrogate institution was the host again last month during an event to celebrate, Words of Love, a book by Peter Jnr and others which features input from the world’s most famous musicians who were loaned replicas of Holly’s original Gibson J-45 guitar.
These custodianships meant they became ambassadors of the Buddy Holly Educational Foundation, the charity set up by the Harrogate man’s father Peter Bradley Snr and the musician’s widow, María Elena Holly.
“My dad, Peter Snr, has been a lifelong fan of Buddy Holly. He was a big influential person in my dad's life when he first heard his records when he was 17, growing up in Scarborough, and it was a lifelong obsession. About 20 years ago he had the opportunity to meet Buddy Holly's widow, María Elena Holly, who has carried Buddy's torch for his legacy since his demise, tragic demise, on the 3rd of February, 1959, in a plane crash with Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper (JP Richardson),” he says.
“She could instantly recognise that my dad was a huge admirer of Buddy Holly and the Crickets’ music, and she recognised his honesty and his integrity and his passion for wanting to do something for Buddy in his memory. They became great friends and still are. She's in her mid-90s, we speak regularly, myself and my wife Claire visit Dallas, where she lives, on a regular basis. She's become family to my family, and it's a huge honour and privilege for my family to be able to be associated with this great woman.”
Peter Snr and his wife Janet set up what became their jewellery business in 1970 and now have stores around North Yorkshire. After years touring as a musician, Peter Jnr joined the family business but is also a board member (along with his father) of the foundation, which not only honours Holly’s legacy but aims to provide musical education in areas such as songwriting, production, arranging, orchestration, and performance, to new generations regardless of income, ethnicity or learning levels.
Songwriting retreats, for example, have taken place in Whitby, North Yorkshire, and Holly’s birthplace of Lubbock, Texas.
Doncaster-born rock star Yungblud is among those who has benefitted from the foundation’s workshops, having once attended a retreat before Glastonbury Festival run by Peter Jnr and Squeeze co-founder Chris Difford, with the pair then taking the young Dominic Harrison under their wing.
But he says it was Sir Roger Daltrey, The Who frontman, who in 2017 suggested that he compile his book, which features photography by Jude Vidal and original cover art created specially by Ronnie Wood.
The pair are friends, as the foundation has raised around $4m for the Teenage Cancer Trust and Teen Cancer America charities with which Sir Roger is closely involved, and both are aided by sales of the book.
Holly’s career is presented through a large collection of photography and personal items, accompanied by the stories of those who knew him. María Elena Holly is joined by more than 80 top musicians who cite Holly as a central influence on their own incredible careers.
The book came out last year but promotion continues. Sheffield musician Richard Hawley and The Beatles expert Colin Hall were among those who turned out to the event at Bettys in Harrogate in May.
Sir Roger, who provides an afterword, helped Peter Jnr secure meetings with his bandmate Pete Townshend and other rock royalty such as Sir Paul McCartney, Dolly Parton and Eric Clapton. Others included are Bruce Springsteen, Dave Grohl, Emmylou Harris, Brian May, Van Morrison, Robert Plant, Keith Richards, Ed Sheeran, and Sting.
Some quickly became poignant, including the meeting with The Beach Boys’ late luminary Brian Wilson, who died aged 82 a year ago tomorrow.
“Brian was on good form and we shared an hour with him,” says Peter Jnr. “Not many people get close to Brian Wilson and his family have very kindly just redelivered the guitar back to us for that guitar to be presented to the next ambassador, which is going to be Taylor Swift.”
Sometimes you have to pinch yourself, says Peter Jnr, 53, who is father to 28-year-old Veda. "Some of my friends, when they've seen where I've been, or pictures of where I've been, can't quite believe it. And I'll cherish those memories for the rest of my life.”
Buddy Holly, though, will always remind him of home.
“You don't remember much when you're a toddler or a young person but I do remember, as young as four or five, hearing the records of Buddy Holly. It’s been part of my family history.”
Words of Love is released by Genesis Publications.