Norman Petty (1927-1984) was an American musician and an innovative record producer, mostly famous for his role in Buddy Holly’s rise to stardom, for ‘The Norman Petty Trio’ and for producing greats such as Roy Orbison, The Crickets, Buddy Knox, Bobby Vee and many others.
Born in Clovis, New Mexico, he taught himself piano at an early age and his father (who was a motor mechanic) gave him amplifiers, radios and other electrical equipment to experiment with, which he showed talent in being able to fix almost anything. At high school he even earned pocket money for tuning the piano.
He started to play dance music to his fellow pupils, his talent taking him to performances at the local air base in-front of soldiers and air-men. His affection for the US Air Force would would not only lead him to do his military service with them, but during his career he would also perform at many Air Force bases across America.
At the age of 13 he had two after-school jobs – projectionist at a local cinema and as a pianist, regularly playing requests in 15-minute slots on local radio.
At the radio station not only did he gain experience meeting performers, he used the opportunity to examine the studio equipment. One day an announcer failed to show at the station and Petty was asked to step in, afterwards being offered the role and within a couple of months he was promoted to DJ.
At 15 he met his future wife Violet Ann ‘Vi’ Brady, who attended the same school and also played piano. As two pianos couldn’t combine musically, Petty taught himself the Hammond organ just so they could play together.
What would become the ‘Norman Petty Recording Studios’ began during university, Petty would spend weekends setting up at a site behind his fathers garage, it was very basic at first, but there was nothing like it anywhere near Clovis. At first it was used to record speech and attracted businesses to form advertising for radio, and politicians recorded speeches during elections.
At 21 Petty married Vi and they moved into the garage/recording studio. Around the same time they teamed up with friend Jack Vaughn, a guitarist, and formed ‘The Norman Petty Trio’ with Vi on vocals.
The next few years saw the band playing wherever they could, moving to Dallas where regular work was found. Petty even found employment as a part-time recording engineer, gaining valuable experience and working with greats such as Marty Robbins. During this time they returned to Clovis at the weekends to open the studio.
Christmas Eve 1953, the trio recorded Duke Ellington’s ‘Mood Indigo’ and pressed the discs on their own new label ‘Nor Va Jak’ to sell at their performances. Locally the single was a success and RCA picked up the recording, released it nationally and sold half a million copies. With the money from the single Petty started work on converting his dad’s garage into a full recording studio.
During the next eighteen months, the trio had numerous success in the charts and was voted the ‘most promising group of 1954’ (cashbox magazine).
Thanks to the early days of Rock N’ Roll the studio was filling up with local bands, taking advantage of using the tape machines, desks, an echo chamber and using Petty’s skill at maximising the sound by meticulously placing microphones or drums.
He charged acts per track rather than per hour just so the inexperienced artists didn’t have to worry about money, he also opened up the studio during the night so those with day jobs could find the time to record. As ‘The Norman Petty Trio’ helped finance the studio with their success, the business plan was such that any act that had any success would help the acts that did not succeed.
Roy Orbison was an early act in March 1956, recording ‘Ooby Dooby’ which became a hit in Texas. Legendary producer Sam Phillips quickly acquired the artist thanks to Roy’s fathers signature and took him to Sun Records in Memphis.
‘The Rhythm Orchids’ came to Clovis and recorded two songs, one with Jimmy Bowen and one with Buddy Knox. Both went on to sell over a million copies each. People started to take notice of what Petty was doing and acts started to come from further afield, Trini Lopez from Dallas and then a 20 year old man from Lubbock, Buddy Holly.
Buddy had previously recorded in Nashville for Decca records but was frustrated and uninspired. The success of the Bowen and Knox records took Buddy 90 miles down the road to Clovis and to Petty.
Petty advised Buddy to go back home, form a band and come back. Buddy did that, he returned in February 1957 and recorded a demo of ‘That’ll Be The Day’. He was happy with his sound but the single had to be released as ‘the Crickets’ due to the previous Decca contract.
Petty would eventually have separate contracts – one for Buddy and one for the Crickets, although Buddy sang on all the songs. This meant between Sept 57 and March 59 the acts would have 9 hits. Buddy’s releases would be the softer more progressive tracks while the Crickets the more rock n’ roll type.
Petty on the studio’s distinctive sound – “I felt our sound was special. Some have said it was the guitar sound, while others felt that the drum sounds were unique.” The sounds made in the studio determined if it was a Buddy or a Crickets track.
Soon Buddy Holly and the Crickets became one the biggest acts in America, and Petty was propelled as one of the top producers on the Rock N’ Roll scene.
Buddy asked Petty to be their personal manager but he refused due to admitting not knowing anything about managing. Also, the studio was fully booked and he was busy with ‘The Norman Petty Trio’ who’s label was asking for a new album.
But the Crickets persisted and Petty eventually agreed, taking 10% instead of the usual 25-50%. In the end Petty regretted becoming manager, taking concerns not only professionally but also of their personal well-being led him to later admit to making mistakes in doing what he thought was best for the group.
He travelled to the UK and all over the US with the band, causing him to struggle keeping his Trio in the spotlight, never mind the operation of his own studio.
After Buddy died in 1959, Petty was put in charge of finishing off the unfinished songs, producing albums ‘Reminiscing’ (1963), ‘Showcase’ (64), ‘Holly in the Hills’ (65) and ‘Giant’ (1969). These were overdubbed by ‘The Fireballs’.
Petty was now concentrating on the careers of two groups – ‘The Fireballs’ and ‘The Leen Teens’ (later called the ‘String-A-Longs’ who had a Hot 100 number 3 hit with ‘Wheels’ during September 1961.
‘Sugar Shack’ recorded as ‘Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs’ reached No.1 in US in September 1963 and they became one of America’s top acts for 1963 and 64. They had further hits over the years including a 1967 top 10 with ‘Bottle of Wine’.
The 50’s and 60’s saw virtually every major record label in the US issue a Petty recording.
Petty also launched KTQM (top quality music!) radio station in 1963 and KWKA in 1971, running both until 1979.
He died aged 57 (Lubbock, Texas) in August 1984 from leukaemia. Vi helped start the ‘Norman and Vi Petty Music Festival’ in Clovis which ran from 1987 – 1997. She died (Clovis) in March 1992 from liver failure, aged 63.
The 7th street studio is available for tours by appointment only. The one-story stucco building is frozen in time, its unchanged interior looking like it did in 1957.
Writer, producer, recording artist, music publisher, innovator. Norman Petty was involved in so many hit records, been behind many recording innovations and written so many successful songs.
