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After the death of Buddy Holly, the Crickets used
various lead singers on their records. One was David Box who sang
lead on the Crickets' recording of "Peggy Sue Got Married".
Harold David Box was born in Sulphur Springs on 11 August
1943. In 1945 the family moved to Lubbock. David made his first
public appearance aged 3 or 4 singing 'Jole Blon' and 'If I Had
A Nickel '. His father taught him to play guitar and bought one
as an 8th birthday present. By 1954 David was a keen Buddy Holly
fan and often watched open air performances from Radio KDAV. In
1958 he formed the Ravens, a group styled on the Crickets with
David vocal/guitars, Lynn Bailey bass and Ernie Hall drums. They
cut some demos at Mitchell Studio in Lubbock.
Tracks included Look at me, Ting A Ling, Don't Cha Know and
Sweet, Sweet Day. With the help of Sinda Taylor and Ralna English
they put down Not Going Steady and High School Angel. Ernie Hall
was a close neighbour of Jerry Allison's parents and heard that
the Crickets needed a vocalist to replace Sonny Curtis, who had
been drafted into the Army. The band sent a demo to Jerry and
they were invited to Los Angeles to audition. Coral files indicate
that the recordings were purchased on 16 August. The Box/Hall
composition Don't Cha Know featured david on vocals/lead guitar,
Joe B on bass, Ernie Hall on drums and Jerry on rythum guitar.
The band wanted Peggy Sue Got Married to follow the original Peggy
Sue arrangement so Jerry reverted to drums. The recordings were
put on a three track tape machine with the harmony vocals isolated
on one of the tracks. The songs became the last Cricket singles
to be issued on Coral - and one of the very best released after
Buddy died, certainly the arrangement on peggy Sue Got Married
is far better than any of those added to Buddy's demo version.
David & Ernie had about 3 weeks in L.A. apparently helping
the Crickets on gigs with Bobby Vee and Larry (Mr Custer) Verne.
In the long departed Rockpile magazine respected jounalist Jim
Liddane reported having heard a live recording of David singing
Heartbeat, What to do and several ballads but all attempts to
confirm this have failed. The boys then returned to Lubbock to
finish their schooling.
David's father was a good friend of ex Lubbock DJ Ben Hall
who had set up a recording studio in Big Spring, 105 miles south
of Lubbock. David made many trips there and ben arranged a deal
with ted Groebl who owned the local Joed label. David was introduced
to Roy Orbison, Joe Melson and Peanuts Wilson, all of whoom cut
unreleased demos for Ben.
The first single issued under david's name was waitin/Do the
best I can (Joed 717) and is an extremely rare disc. Doug Walding,
whose conections with the Crickets span three decades, co wrote
Waitin' with Roland Pike. The other known recordings from the
sessions are a second unissued Sweet, Sweet Day and the totally
unissued That's All I Want From You. All 4 songs have since appeared
on the Rollercoaster CD Hep Cats From Big Spring (RCCD 3003) A
David Box/Roland Pike composition,Travelin' Light, appeared on
an album by the Levee Brothers (Levee 775), recorded at the Sumit
Studio in Dallas.
David left school in 1962 and enrolled in the School of American
Art in Westport, Conn'. He studied under Norman Rockwell, America's
most famous artist. The Box home contains many fine examples of
David's artistic skills. It is interesting to reflect how many
musicians are talented artists (Buddy). Westport is about 2000
miles from Big Spring so it made sence for David to record in
Nashville where Roy Orbison was based. He stayed at Roy's home
and used his band, fronted by Bob Moore. Ray Rush continyed to
produce. The second Joed single coupled If' You Can't Say Something
Nice with another recording of Sweet Sweet day. Something Nice
picked up some airplay and was picked up by Candix who used I've
Had My Moments as the flip. As a result of this single David did
a tour opening for the Everly Brothers but his biggest thrill
was a phone call from Chet Atkins complementing him on his discs
Early in 1964 David returned to Nashville to cut the superb Peggy
Sue styled Little Lonely Summer Girl. His parents recall being
woken by a phone call from an excited David telling them that
he and Roy (Orbison) had just finished a version of Maybe Baby.
Sadly it wasn't issued and has never been traced.
In the summer of 1964 Dvid left college and had more time
for touring. He went up the Eastern seaboard as far as Northern
Canada. Inexplicably Summer Girl never charted nationally but
did well in several regions especially Houston when it went top
10 in all radio playlists. This was partly due to Ray Rush, having
moved to Houston to work for the International Artists label,
promoting the disc. Taking advantage of the situation David flew
to the city fot a few interviews and gigs. He worked with local
band Buddy and the Kings. Buddy Groves vocal/guitar, Carl Banks
bass and Bill Daniels presumably on drums. Daniels was a qualified
pilot and the quartet hired a Cesna Skyhawk 172 to take them to
a gig in Harris County on 23 October 1964. The plane crashed nose
first and overturned on the return flight. There were no survivers.
On 24 October David and Ray had been scheduled to fly to Nashville
to record two of the songs David had written in Lubbock Not Going
Steady and High School Angel.
After the sad news broke in Lubbock the Bos's first visitors
were Buddy Holly's parents. Mr Holley hugged Harold and said simply
"It's better you should know this now; people will tell you
that time heals the pain but it doesn't"
Thanks to John Ingman.
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