As far as most record buyers were concerned Mike Berry burst on to the scene with his “Tribute To Buddy Holly” in 1961. Fans of the legendary Texan rock and roller loved and hated the record in equal measure. There is no doubt now that the song was very much a tribute because Mike and his producer, Joe Meek were Buddy Holly fanatics, but many of the late singer’s followers thought it was just exploiting Buddy’s name for profit. It wasn’t a unique tribute; there had been the rather mawkish ‘Three Stars’ from Tommy Dee which had been a chart hit in the UK for Ruby Wright in 1959. Incidentally, a version was also recorded by Eddie Cochran- though, ironically, few people heard it until after Eddie’s own death a few months later. ‘Tribute To Buddy Holly’ was a good deal closer to the style adopted by Holly on his early singles and featured a prominent drum driven rhythm not dissimilar to that on ‘Peggy Sue’.