Niki Sullivan (Rhythm Guitarist)

Niki Sullivan was born in Southgate, California on June 23rd, 1937. Niki was a member of the Crickets for almost the entire year of 1957 and played guitar. However, Buddy was able to play both lead and rhythm guitar, leaving not much of a role in the group for Niki. When he wasn't playing rhythm guitar, he made other contributions on recordings. For example, during the recording session which produced "Peggy Sue", Niki didn't actually play guitar, but switched a lever on Buddy's guitar so that he could go from rhythm guitar to play the famous lead guitar solo without a pause. Sadly for Niki, Norman Petty didn't consider his role in the historic recording powerful enough to give him credit, which just proves how wrong Norman could be sometimes.
After he left the Crickets, Niki formed a rock group called The Plainsmen, but they did not meet success. After Buddy died, he teamed up with a man named Gene Evans and recorded at Norman Petty's studio under the named The Hollyhawks. Buddy's father, Lawrence Holley, was the group's manager.
Unfortunately, Niki's contribution to Buddy Holly's career was not included in the 1978 film about Buddy's life. However, they left out a bunch of other people, so Niki shouldn't feel bad. But I still think it would have been kewel to have a scene showing how Niki flipped the switch on Buddy's guitar during "Peggy Sue".
And now for a somewhat eerie historical fact concerning Niki Sullivan. It seems that Buddy and Niki were actually distant cousins at the time the group was formed, but they didn't realize it at first. However, reliable sources show that Ella Holley and Niki's mother were good friends. Perhaps they didn't know they were somewhat related, either.

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