3 Hall of Fame Rockers From the 1950s Whose First Bands Never Got Famous

In the 1950s, rock music was just becoming a mainstream event. At the time, there were a lot of moving parts and decisions to be made by artists. No one had succeeded at being a rock star before—there was no blueprint. Here below, we wanted to explore some of the genre’s distant past. We wanted to highlight three stars of the style who took a little time to find fame and fortune. Indeed, these are three HOF rockers from the 1950s whose first bands never got famous.

Roy Orbison

Born on April 23, 1936, in Vernon, Texas, Roy Orbison grew up to be one of the greatest singers in the history of music. With his signature dark shades and his black hair slicked back, Orbison was known later in his career both as a solo artist and as part of that famous supergroup The Traveling Wilburys. But before any of that happened, the Texan got his start in 1949 at just 13 years old when he started the band Wink Westerners with some school pals. From there, Orbison garnered a little bit of a reputation, and he started his next band in 1955, The Teen Kings. That group had some success thanks to the tune “Ooby Dooby”. But after that, Orbison became a household name all on his own.

Buddy Holly

Born on September 7, 1936, in Lubbock, Texas, Buddy Holly rose to fame in the 1950s. Sadly, the artist was just 22 years old when he died in that famous Iowa plane crash—the one Don McLean dubbed “the day the music died”. But before all that sadness, Holly was a standout songwriter. He was helping to make rock a mainstream sound with songs like “That’ll Be The Day” and “Everyday”. But before he was famous, Holly was paying his dues. In 1953, he started his first band, Buddy and Bob, with his friend Bob Montgomery. While that group never released any significant tracks, it did lead to Holly later opening for Elvis Presley at a concert. From there, he was officially hooked, and a (brief) music career unfurled after that.

Ritchie Valens

Speaking of tragedy, songwriter and performer Ritchie Valens was also on that fateful plane in Iowa that went down. Born May 13, 1941, in SoCal, Valens rose to fame thanks to his energetic hit, “La Bamba”. But before he was known on the radio, he was just getting started with the group The Silhouettes at 16 years old. He made his performance debut with the band in 1957. A year later, he recorded and released “La Bamba” as a solo artist. The rest, as they say, is history.

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