Rock Musician. He was best known as the drummer with Buddy Holly and the Crickets. Bunch took up the drums as a teenager while recovering from leg surgery, and began recording as a member of the group The Poorboys in 1957. An impressed Holly asked him to join the Crickets for their 1959 "Winter Dance Party" tour, replacing drummer Jerry Allison, who had left the band. During the tour Bunch came down with frostbite after the group's bus broke down in a snowstorm; it landed him in a hospital and he avoided the ill-fated flight which claimed the lives of Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens. Following their tragic deaths, Bunch resumed his career with the band Ronnie Smith and the Jitters, before his service in the US Army. Except for stints as a drummer with Roy Orbison and Hank Williams, Jr., Bunch left the music industry and attended Friends International Christian University, from where he attained degrees in Theology and Biblical Counseling. He founded his own Christian ministry and served as a substance-abuse counselor. In later years he also attended Holly-related events, signing autographs as "The Frostbitten Cricket". He died of complications from diabetes.
Rock Musician. He was best known as the drummer with Buddy Holly and the Crickets. Bunch took up the drums as a teenager while recovering from leg surgery, and began recording as a member of the group The Poorboys in 1957. An impressed Holly asked him to join the Crickets for their 1959 "Winter Dance Party" tour, replacing drummer Jerry Allison, who had left the band. During the tour Bunch came down with frostbite after the group's bus broke down in a snowstorm; it landed him in a hospital and he avoided the ill-fated flight which claimed the lives of Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens. Following their tragic deaths, Bunch resumed his career with the band Ronnie Smith and the Jitters, before his service in the US Army. Except for stints as a drummer with Roy Orbison and Hank Williams, Jr., Bunch left the music industry and attended Friends International Christian University, from where he attained degrees in Theology and Biblical Counseling. He founded his own Christian ministry and served as a substance-abuse counselor. In later years he also attended Holly-related events, signing autographs as "The Frostbitten Cricket". He died of complications from diabetes.
Bio by: C.S.
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