Photographic negative, Buddy Holly, Harry Hammond Collection

Buddy Holly, Harry Hammond Collection. Buddy Holly on stage. The image used for the stage show "Buddy". Harry Hammond remembers, "I first met him at a club in Soho called the Whisky a Go Go. It was set up by his agent for a few of us from the press. I thought he was a nice guy and he'd written nice melodies. That was the only time Holly was in England and he was only here for two or three months. He did one show at the Gaumont State Cinema in Kilburn, which is where I took the pictures for the New Musical Express. In the 50's, I was often the only photographer at a concert. The reaction was quite mild and quiet - just a polite clap. We've all learnt to appreciate Buddy Holly in retrospect but he didn't carve out any particular moment at that time. It was just another rock and roll group to us".

This image forms part of the Harry Hammond Photographic Collection, acquired by the V&A from the artist in the 1980s. The collection comprises over 9,000 images of the British popular music scene (Tin Pan Alley) in the 1950s and 60s, on the eve of the boom in British pop music.

This image forms part of the Harry Hammond Photographic Collection, acquired by the V&A from the artist in the 1980s. The collection comprises over 9,000 images of the British popular music scene (Tin Pan Alley) in the 1950s and 60s, on the eve of the boom in British pop music. Harry Hammond (1920-2009) was born in London, and was apprenticed at the age of 14 to a Fleet Street studio. He served as a reconnaissance photographer during World War II. By the late 1950s he had developed his specialism of photographing the London pop music scene.

S.12027-2009