Tyler

Staff and Wire Reports

A woman claiming to be the "Peggy Sue" of Buddy Holly's '50s hit single is touching quite a nerve with the late Rock 'n' Roll icon's widow as she releases a book titled "Whatever Happened To Peggy Sue?" The former "friend" of Holly's was in Tyler on Friday promoting the novel and defending First Amendment rights.

"(The media) has used my name and they've used my life," Peggy Sue Gerron said sternly, citing songs and films depicting Holly's career and personal facts. "This is America and I feel like I have every right to use my (story) and this is what I am doing."

Maria Elena Holly is trying to keep Gerron from selling the book detailing her relationship with her late husband.

Ms. Holly said the novel is "unauthorized and will harm Holly's name, her reputation and that of her company, Holly Properties."

"It's very interesting that this woman makes up all these stories," Ms. Holly said from her home in Dallas. "He never, never considered Peggy Sue a friend."

Ms. Gerron does not seem to be backing down.

"I have just what Maria Elena has: I have an attorney," she said. "I have every right to do what I am doing. This is not a problem for me. If I stop, that is when it becomes a problem for me."

Ms. Gerron will appear at Hastings in Tyler 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday to sign her book and greet fans.

Saturday night, Club Down Under will host a "Night with Peggy Sue," featuring local musician Lynn Groom and offering another opportunity for East Texans to meet the late singer's "close friend."

Ms. Gerron, who lives in Lubbock and completed the 283-page book in the past year with another woman from West Texas, said she wrote the book because 2008 is the 50th anniversary of the release of "Peggy Sue."

Holly also recorded "Peggy Sue Got Married."

Material for the book came from about 150 diary entries Ms. Gerron made during the time she knew Holly, she said.

"I wanted to give him his voice. It's my book, my memoirs," she said. "We were very, very good friends. He was probably one of the best friends I ever had."

Ms. Holly said she will sue if the excerpts she's read are in the book, which is available online and will be in bookstores soon.

"I don't understand why people do that, especially when she knows that people know the truth," the widow said.

Earlier this week, Ms. Holly's attorney in Dallas, Richard Wallace, sent a cease-and-desist letter to TogiEntertainment Inc., an Oklahoma City-based publishing house. Wallace declined to comment Friday.

Holly was killed Feb. 3, 1959, in a plane crash that also claimed singers Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. Holly was 22.

Ms. Holly, who married Holly in August 1958, has owned the rights to her husband's name, image and related trademarks, and other intellectual properties for years, the letter said.

No one involved in the book's publication asked for consent to use Holly's name or image - "his likeness will be featured prominently" on the book's cover and the subtitle reads, "Memoirs of Buddy Holly's Peggy Sue," the letter said.

"Confusion and tarnishment of Buddy Holly's name and Ms. Holly's reputation are likely to result from this unauthorized book," the letter states.

The letter demands the ceasing of promotion and sale of the book, removal of the subtitle and cancellation of all book orders. It also asks for refunds on any deposits for the book and for an accounting of revenues from any sales.

Mark Faulk, chief executive officer of TogiEntertai-nment, said the threat of a lawsuit won't deter Ms. Gerron or his company.

"It's obvious that they do not want the work released," he said. "My feeling is that Maria Elena fears the truth will come out about Buddy Holly. If there is a lawsuit, our belief is that it will be totally frivolous."

Buddy Holly's brother, Larry Holley, said "Peggy Sue" was not the original lyric in the song of the same name. The name Holly originally intended to use was Cindy Lou, Holly's niece, Larry Holley said.

Maria Elena said her husband changed the name to Peggy Sue after Crickets drummer Jerry Allison, the man who married Ms. Gerron in July 1958, asked him to because he had a crush on Ms. Gerron at the time.

CONTESTED BOOK: Peggy Sue Gerron and Glenda Cameron, co-authors of the book, “Whatever Happened to Peggy Sue?” sit at a press conference, in Tyler, where Ms. Gerron defended her right to publish the book after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Buddy Holly’s widow Maria Elena Holly.
(— Staff Photo By Jaime R. Carrero)