Waylon Arnold Jennings (pronounced ; June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Jennings began playing guitar at 8 and began performing at 12 on
KVOW radio. His first band was
The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a D.J. on KVOW,
KDAV,
KYTI, and
KLLL. In 1958,
Buddy Holly arranged Jennings's first recording session, of "
Jole Blon" and "When Sin Stops (Love Begins)". Holly hired him to play bass. In
Clear Lake, Iowa, Jennings gave up his seat on the ill-fated flight that crashed and killed Holly,
J. P. Richardson,
Ritchie Valens, and pilot
Roger Peterson. The day of the flight was later known as
The Day the Music Died. Jennings then worked as a D.J. in
Coolidge, Arizona, and
Phoenix. He formed a
rockabilly club band,
The Waylors. He recorded for independent label Trend Records and
A&M Records, before succeeding with
RCA Victor after achieving creative control.