David Michael Draiman (Hebrew: דָּוִד מִיכָאֵל דריימן; born March 13, 1973) is an American singer and songwriter. Noted for his distorted, operatic, baritone voice and percussive singing style, he has been the lead vocalist of heavy metal band Disturbed since 1996. He has written some of the band's most successful singles, such as "Stupify", "Down with the Sickness", "Indestructible", and "Inside the Fire". In 2006, he was ranked at No. 42 on the Hit Parader list of "Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time". During Disturbed's hiatus from 2011 to 2015, he worked on an industrial metal project with Geno Lenardo, which was later named Device. They released one self-titled album in 2013. Disturbed returned with the album Immortalized in 2015, Evolution in 2018, and Divisive in 2022. 

What this Chapter is going to cover:

1.  Pat Boone

2. Janis Martin

3.  Crickets

4. Buddy Holly

5. Big Bopper

6. Ritchie Valens

7. Dion and the Belmonts

8. Backlot of Universal Studios Hollywood Fire 2008

Patrick Charles Eugene Boone was born on June 1, 1934 in Jacksonville, Florida.  At two years old, the family moved to Nashville where he graduated high school.  In 1953, he at 19 years old, married Shirley Foley.  Shirley was the daughter of country music great Red Foley.  The Boone's four daughters.  Shirley Boone was also a recording artist and television personality.  Pat Boone was a singer, composer, actor writer, television personality, motivational speaker, and spokesman.  His pop singer career began in the 1950s and continued into the1960s.  Boone had 38 Top 40 hits and sold more than 45 million records, and was in 12 movies.  

Boone began his career by performing in Nashville's Centennial park.  He recorded for Republic Records in 1954 and Dot Records in 1955.  In 1955 his version of Fats Domino's "Ain't That a Shame" was a hit and set the stage for the long string of hits while covering R & B songs by black artists.  These included "Tutti Frutti" and "Long Tall Sally" by Little Richard, "At My front Door" by The El Dorados, and the Blues ballads, "I almost Lost My Mind" by Ivory Joe Hunter, "I'll be Home" by the Flamingos and "Don't Forbid Me" by Charles Singleton.  Boone wrote the lyrics for the instrumental theme song for the movie "Exodus".

Pat Boone was a Christian conservative and had to decline certain songs and movies that he felt might not fit his beliefs.  That would include a role with Marilyn Monroe and in the movie "April Love" he had to stop the scene and ask his wife if it would be alright to kiss Shirley Jones since it had not been in the original script.  Boone was a regular on the Arthur Godfrey  show in 1955.  The British Invasion pretty much ended Pat Boone's career.  In the 1970s he switched to gospel and country. 

According to Billboard, Boone was the second-biggest charting artist of the late 1950s.  At 23 he began hosting a half-hour ABC variety television series, "The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom".

Boone is a member of the "Gospel Music Hall of Fame".

Boone claimed that he is the great-great-great grandson of the American Pioneer Daniel Boone.

Janis Martin was born in Sutherlin, Virginia, east of Danville.    Her father and Uncle were musicians and her mother was a stage mother.  At 5 years of age, Janis was out singing and playing her guitar.  Even at a young age, Janis was inspired by Eddy Arnold and Hank Williams.   She entered state wide contests with over two hundred contestants and she won.  Because she won, she began to play with Cowboy Copas and Sunshine Sue and became a member of the "Old Dominion Barn dance" on WRVA every Saturday Night on the CBS network.  By her mid teens, Janis was playing with Eddy Arnold, Hank Snow, The Browns and jim Reeves.  Soon she became tired of country music and turned to rock and roll.

Carl Stutz at WRVA station wrote a song titled "Will You Willyum", and asked Martin to sing the song live on stage that Saturday night so he could make a demo tape to send to his publisher in New York.   Within the week, Stutz called Janis to tell her that RCA Victor was interested in recording "Will You Willyum".  The publisher offered the song to Steve Sholes.  Sholes was a producer at RCA and wanted the girl on the tape to record the record.

At the age of 15 in 1956, Martin signed with RCA Victor in March .  Just two months after Elvis Presley joined the label.  She recorded "Will you Willyum" and on the other side was her own composition "Drugstore Rock 'n Roll".  The song became the biggest hit of her career, selling 750,000 records.  Next was a performance on American Bandstand, The Today Show and the Tonight Show starring Steve Allen.  She also appered on the Jubilee USA, and the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. She was one of the youngest performers to ever appear on the Grand Ole Opry.  Billboard named her the most promising female vocalist that year 1956.  

Elvis Presley and RCA were so impressed with Martin's stage presence that Janis was nick named the Female Elvis.  Elvis Presley sent a dozen red roses to her when she appeared at the RCA Victor convention.  Colonel Tom Parker offered to manage her when seeing her potential.  Just before Parker's offer, Elvis was on an extremely taxing touring schedule.  Elvis had collapsed on stage in New Yok due to exhaustion.  Janis's Father wanted to safe guard their daughter from all that and decided not to take Colonel Parker's offer.

Martin continued to tour with the head of the Old Dominion Shows when RCA chose Martin to tour as a member of the Jim Reeves Show.  She continued recording rock and roll and country material that ended up being successful on both charts.  The hits included "My Boy Elvis:, "Let's Elope Baby", and her cover of Roy Orbison's song "Ooby Dooby" and "Love Me to Pieces".

In 1956, Martin eloped with her paratrooper boyfriend.  After her husband was safely shipped overseas in Germany, she told her parents about the marriage.  Her father tried to have it annulled because she was only 15 years old.  She was ordered to keep her marriage a secret in order to save her career.  In 1957, Janis went on an USO tour in Europe with Jim Reeves, Hank Locklin, The Browns, and  Del Wood.  Her husband got a 30 day leave and went on the road with her.  Martin's teenage pregnancy caused RCA Victor to drop her in 1958.  Martin had a son.

It was around this time that RCA Victor put out a LP album titled "Janis and Elvis".  It was released in South Africa to help recover some of the losses due to Janis suddenly leaving RCA.  As soon as Colonel Tom Parker heard there was a record album with a name first besides Elvis, he quickly pulled it.  No one  else but Presley was going to be listed first on an album.  Very few were sold and now the original record is extremely rare, collectible and worth estimated over 2,000 dollars in good condition.  In 1960, Janis signed with a Belgian label,  Palette. 

By 1960, Martin was on husband number two and he demanded she leave the music business.  In the 1970s, she began performing again with her newly formed band, The Variations.  In 1975, Janis was working for Halifax, Virginia, Police Department when music historian tracked her down.  She was asked to perform locally and tell her story in the Goldmine Magazine.  Martin began to tour Europe as part of the rockabilly revival there, and in 1979 RCA pulled four of Martin songs from their vault.  They were released in 1977 on "Dog Gone Records" .  In the 1980s the "Bear Family " label gathered Martin's complete record history on an album "The Female Elvis".  Martin continued to tour and released an album in 1995, "Here I Am" on Hydra Records.  Also the same year she appeared on Rosie Flores's "Rockabilly Filly" album for High Tone Records.  Flores recorded an album with Martin six months before her death and it was released in 2012 as "The Blanco Sessions by Cow island Music.

Janis Martin died from cancer on September 3, 2007 at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.  Her only son died that January the same year.

In 2010 the Library of Virginia posthumously honored Martin as a "Virginia Women in History" because of her musical  career.

Buddy first made his appearance on a local television in 1952.  He and his friend Bob Montgomery formed a duo "Buddy and Bob", and in 1955, they opened for Elvis Presley and Holly decided to make music a career.  His band's style shifted from country to rock and roll.  Holly opened for Bill Haley and His Comets when he was spotted by Nashville talent scout Eddie Crandall and got a contract with Decca.  Unhappy with Decca, Holley went to Norman Petty in Clovis, New Mexico, and recorded a demo of "That'll Be the Day".  Petty became the band's manager and sent the demo to Brunswick Records, who released it as a single 45 and credited the "The Crickets".  Holly's band was now known as the "Crickets" in 1957.  At that time "That'll Be the Day" topped the US and UK singles chart.  Followed by "Peggy Sue" and the album the "Chirping" Crickets album released in November 1957.  

Holley made his second appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in January 1958.  Soon he toured Australia and  the UK. In 1959 he had a new band with Waylon Jennings (bass) and Tommy Allsup (guitar), and Carl Bunch (drums).  They embarked on a tour of the midwestern U.S.   It was very cold and sometimes below 25 degrees. The tour bus was unheated and often broke down.  Holly's drummer Carl Bunch was hospitalized for frostbite to his toes.  J. P. Richardson (the Big Bopper) had influenza.  

On February 2nd, Holly arranged a chartered four seat Beechcraft Bonanza airplane to take Jennings, Allsup, and himself, from Mason City, Iowa to Moorhead, Minnesota after the Clearwater Lake, Iowa show.  That would allow them time to do laundry, avoid a cold bus and get a good night's rest.  After the show (just before midnight) Allsup agreed to flip a coin for a seat with Richie Valens.  Valens won and reportedly said "That's the first time I've ever won anything in my life".    Allsup later opened a restaurant in fort Worth, Texas and called it "Heads Up" after the famous coin toss.  Waylon Jennings voluntarily gave up his seat as Richardson (The Big Bopper) was ill.  Soon after the plane took off in a snow storm with low visibility,  and crashed killing Holly, Valens, The Big Bopper and the pilot Roger Peterson.

During his short career, Holly wrote and recorded many songs. He is often regarded as the artist who defined the traditional rock-and-roll lineup of two guitars, bass, and drums. He was a major influence on later popular music artists, including Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, The Hollies (who named themselves in his honor).  Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 1986. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 13 in its list of "100 Greatest Artists".

J.P. Richardson was born in Sabine Pass, Texas.  His father was an oil-field worker.  After the family moved to Beaumont, Texas, he played on the "Royal Purple" High School Football team.  While at Lamar College, he studied prelaw and was a member of the college band.

Richardson worked at a radio station full-time and dropped out of college.  He married and had a daughter in 1953.  He was drafted into the Army in 1955 as a radar instructor at Fort Bliss in El Paso.  Discharged in 1957,  He returned to radio and a new show about teenagers doing a new dance called "the Bop".  Richardson decided to call himself the "Big Bopper".  

Richardson played guitar and started out as a songwriter.  The man who launched Richardson's recording career was Harold "Pappy" Daily from Houston.  Daily signed Richardson to Mercury and recorded his first single, "Beggar to a King" with not much chart success.  He soon recorded "Chantilly Lace" as "The Big Bopper" for Pappy Daily's D Label.  Mercury bought the recording and released it in 1958.  "Chantilly Lace" spent 22 weeks in the Top 40 charts.  Then in 1958 he had a second hit with "The Big Boppers Wedding".

The Big Bopper had a big hit with "Chantilly Lace" and decided to take time off from the radio station.  He joined the "Winter Dance Party Tour" with Buddy Holly , Ritchie Valens, and Dion and the Belmonts.  The tour started on January 23, 1959 and on the 11th night of the tour, they played at the "Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa.  That night, Holly chartered an airplane for himself, Waylon Jennings and Tommy Allsup to Moorhead, Minnesota.  The cold bus with little to no heat had already broke down twice.  They were all tired, cold, or sick.  Buddy hired Roger Peterson a 21 year old pilot who was tired from working a 17 hour workday but agreed to fly the band.  That night it was 18 degrees Fahrenheit, moderate gusty winds and snow. (In a Bonanza V Tail aircraft)

Valens flipped a coin with Allsup and won his seat on the airplane.  The Big Bopper was feeling ill suffering from the flu and Jennings voluntarily surrendered his seat.  They took off from Mason City Airport, loaded with luggage, but remained airborne only a few minutes and crashed in the middle of farm country.  Holly, Valens, were ejected from the plane a few feet from the plane.  The Big Bopper was thrown from the backseat of the plane 100 feet away on the other side of the fence.  There was also a gun found thrown from the plane that belonged to Buddy Holly.  All three musicians were killed on impact.  Richardson was 28 years old.  

Richardson was survived by his wife, daughter and a baby on the way.  Jay Perry Richardson (1959-2013) was born two months after the crash.  Big Bopper's son was also an entertainer with a musical career and toured around the world with a Buddy Holly impersonator and called himself the Big Bopper Jr. 

 Jay Perry Richardson had never met his father and had heard a lot of rumors about the gun being recently shot.  He also heard rumors that his father had survived and walked away from the airplane.  He wanted to know the circumstances surrounding the crash.  Big Bopper Sr. was buried in a section of cemetery that was required to have no headstones.  The fans wanted to put an historical marker at his grave in 2007.  Big Bopper Sr.  had to be moved to another section of the cemetery to allow an historical raised marker.  His son requested that his father's body be exhumed and x-rayed for gunshot wounds (possibly from Holly's gun).  He wanted to put all rumors to rest.  The results were no evidence of any bullet hole.   Just about every bone was fractured in Big Bopper Sr.'s body and he could not have survived and did not walk away from the crash site.  Rumors put to rest.  

Valens was from Pacoima in San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles.  His parents were from Mexico.  Ritchie grew up hearing traditional Mexican mariachi music as well as flamenco guitar, R&B, and jump blues.  At the age of five, he showed a desire to want to create his own music.  His father encouraged him and bought him a guitar, trumpet and drums.  By the time he was in high school, he was playing in a local band as a guitarist and later as the main vocalist.

Valens auditioned for Bob Keane who owned Del-Fi Records in Hollywood.  In 1958, "Come On, Let's Go" and "Framed" was recorded.  The next recording was "La Bamba" and "Donna" which sold over one million copies and went gold.   (Donna was a real girlfriend named Donna Ludwig)

Ritchie's career took off and he dropped out of high school.  Keane booked appearances at venues all over the country and appearances on television shows.  

Valens actually had a fear of flying.  There had been an a collision of two planes over his junior high school playground where several of his friends were injured or killed.  Ritchie was 17 years old at the time of the famous crash and the youngest to die.  His remains were buried at San Fernando Mission Cemetery, Mission Hills, Los Angeles, California. 

Valens influenced many future Latino  bands and artists including Los Lobos, Los Lonely Boys and Carlos Santana.  He was the first Latino to crossover into mainstream rock.  He was the first to combine the traditional Latin music with a rock style successfully.

The Belmonts name came from a street in New York that two of the singers lived on.  The Belmonts, just on their own, had a string of unsuccessful single recordings.  Dion joined the group and their first recording was "I Wonder Why" on Laurie Records.  It was number 22 on the Billboard Top 100 chart and appeared on the Dick Clark's American Bandstand show.  

With early success, they began to tour in 1958 with the Coasters, Buddy Holly and Bobby Darin.  After that tour Dion and the Belmonts began the famous tragic tour the  "Winter Dance Party Tour" featuring Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper.   After the crash, Bobbie Vee performed in Holly's place at the next concert.  Later Jimmy Clanton, Frankie Avalon, and Fabian were hired to finish the tour in place of the three deceased headliners.  

In 1959, Dion and the Belmonts had their next hit "A Teenager in Love" and broke the Top Ten on the Billboard Hot 100.  After the split up of the Belmonts, Dion went on to record "Runaround Sue",  "The Wanderer", and  "Ruby Baby".   The Belmonts alone also went on to record with less success.

Dion and the Belmonts reunited in 1966 for an album "Together Again".  The group disbanded in 1967 but reunited again for a 1972 performance at Madison Square Gardens and one last reunion before a sold out concert at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, New York.

Dion went on as a solo performer and recorded "Abraham, Martin and John".  A tribute to the assassinations of Lincoln, King, and John and Robert Kennedy.  Dion was again a star as the song went right up the Top 40 Chart peaking at number four.  Dion was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame in 1989 (without the Belmonts).  That put a tension between Dion and the group.   In 2000, the group the "Belmonts" was inducted into the Vocal Hall Of Fame.  

"On June 1, 2008, a fire broke out on the backlot of Universal Studios Hollywood, an American film studio and theme park in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County, California. The fire began when a worker used a blowtorch to warm asphalt shingles that were being applied to a facade. He left before checking that all spots had cooled, and a three-alarm fire broke out. Nine firefighters and a Los Angeles County sheriffs' deputy sustained minor injuries. The fire was extinguished after 24 hours.

Universal Pictures said the fire destroyed a three-acre (1.2 ha) portion of the Universal backlot, including the attraction King Kong Encounter and 40,000 to 50,000 archived digital video and film copies. A 2019 New York Times Magazine exposé asserted that the fire also destroyed 118,000 to 175,000 audio master tapes belonging to Universal Music Group (UMG). This included original recordings belonging to some of the best-selling artists worldwide. UMG initially disputed this, but CEO Lucian Grainge later confirmed a significant loss of musical archives had occurred.""

"A February 2020 court filing by UMG confirmed that master tapes from at least 19 artists had been damaged or destroyed in the fire. The artists whom UMG confirmed as affected are Bryan Adams, And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, David Baerwald, Beck, Sheryl Crow, Peter Frampton, Jimmy Eat World, Elton John, Michael McDonald, Nirvana, Les Paul, R.E.M., Slayer, Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, the Surfaris, Suzanne Vega, White Zombie, and Y&T. "

• This page was last edited on 21 February 2024, at 16:19 (UTC).  Universal Studios Hollywood Fire

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1.  Who was going to be a Rabbi but decided on a music career instead? ____________________________________________

2. What year was the Universal Fire that killed King Kong?________________

3.  Who influenced many future Latino  bands and artists including Los Lobos, Los Lonely Boys and Carlos Santana?___________________________________

4.   Runaround Sue was a hit for what artist?_______________________

5.   Whose band was called the "Crickets"?________________________________

6.  In 1955 who's version of Fats Domino's "Ain't That a Shame" was a hit and set the stage for the long string of hits while covering R & B songs by black artists. _________________________________

7.  Even at a young age, she was inspired by Eddy Arnold and Hank Williams._____________________

8. It was released in South Africa to help the poor due to Janis suddenly leaving RCA. True or False 

9. Teenagers doing a new dance called "the Bop"and it inspired  Richardson to call himself the "Big Bopper".  True or False 

10.  In 2020, The universal fire was confirmed to destroy the masters of:  Chuck Berry, Muddy Water, Berlin, Judy Garland,Sheryl Crow, Peter Frampton, Elton John, Nirvana, Les Paul, R.E.M., Slayer, Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, the Surfaris, White Zombie, and Y&T.   True or False

1.  Who was going to be a Rabbi but decided on a music career instead? ____________________________________________David Michael Draiman

2. What year was the Universal Fire that killed King Kong?________________2008

3.  Who influenced many future Latino  bands and artists including Los Lobos, Los Lonely Boys and Carlos Santana?___________________________________Ritchie Valens

4.   Runaround Sue was a hit for what artist?_________________________Dion

5.   Whose band was called the "Crickets"?________________________________Buddy Holly

6.  In 1955 who's version of Fats Domino's "Ain't That a Shame" was a hit and set the stage for the long string of hits while covering R & B songs by black artists. _________________________________Pat Boone

7.  Even at a young age, she was inspired by Eddy Arnold and Hank Williams._____________________Janis Martin

8. It was released in South Africa to help the poor due to Janis suddenly leaving RCA. True or False It was

 released in South Africa to help recover some of the losses due to Janis suddenly leaving RCA. 

9. Teenagers doing a new dance called "the Bop"and it inspired  Richardson to call himself the "Big Bopper".  True or False 

10.  In 2020, The universal fire was confirmed to destroy the masters of:  Chuck Berry, Muddy Water, Berlin, Judy Garland,Sheryl Crow, Peter Frampton, Elton John, Nirvana, Les Paul, R.E.M., Slayer, Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, the Surfaris, White Zombie, and Y&T.   True or False