Today (September 7th) marks what would have been Buddy Holly‘s 81st birthday. Holly, who would die tragically on February 3rd, 1959, at the age of 22 in plane crash with Ritchie Valens and J.P. “Big Bopper” Richardson, was arguably rock n’ roll’s first singer-songwriter. Holly’s death while on tour with the 1959 Winter Dance Party remains one of music’s greatest losses.

Holly’s hit singles and album tracks, both with and without his backing band the Crickets, such as “That’ll Be The Day,” “Peggy Sue,” “Rave On,” “Maybe Baby,” “Oh Boy!,” “Think It Over,” “Well . . . Alright,” “Rave On,” “Everyday,” “True Love Ways,” “Heart Beat,” and “It Doesn’t Mater Anymore,” inspired a generation of acts including Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, the Searchers, the Who, the Hollies, who named themselves in tribute to him, and most importantly, the Beatles.

Mick Jagger explained Buddy Holly’s influence on all the future British Invasion rockers: “Every English person you talk to, from my generation, at least, will tell you that Buddy Holly was — he was a big influence as a songwriter. And he wrote all these songs in a very short period of time, and they’re all very simple. And he was very big in England, I think he toured only once; I saw him on stage. But he was a very big influence.”

Paul McCartney has without a doubt been the biggest champion for Buddy Holly’s music over the decades: “It’s great music, Buddy’s. It’s very evocative for those of us who were around then. Y’know, it really sums up the period. And a lot of it still plays now, still sounds good.”

Yesterday, we announced on our website that Michael Jackson‘s ‘Scream‘ would be coming out this month and now we have more details…  (Check out the trailer they released, here).

Scream, will be a 13-track Michael Jackson compilation, set for release on September 29th.  The collection, which features such “Prince Of Pop” classics as “Thriller,” “Dirty Diana,” and “Leave Me Alone,” also features his 1995 duet with sister Janet Jackson — “Scream,” the Jacksons‘ 1981 track “This Place Hotel,” the group’s 1984 cut “Torture,” along with Rockwell‘s 1984 Top Two hit “Someone’s Watching Me,” which featured Jackson on backing vocals.

Just in time for Halloween, on October 27th, Scream will also be released in a glow-in-the-dark two-LP vinyl edition “featuring a unique poster with the cover art and poster featuring the first-ever augmented reality (AR) experience created for a Jackson project.”

Billboard reported: “Official Michael Jackson Scream album celebrations will take place this fall in six major cities around the world: Paris, London, Sydney, Berlin, Los Angeles and Tokyo. Fans will be treated to screenings of Jackson’s seven short films from the Scream album during the celebrations followed by an after party.”