The Chirping Crickets is the self-titled debut album from the American rock and roll band The Crickets, led by Buddy Holly. In 2003, the album was ranked number 421 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The LP was released in the US in 1957, and in the UK in 1958. Buddy Holly was an American musician, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born in Lubbock, Texas, to a musical family during the Great Depression, and learned to play guitar and sing alongside his siblings. His style was influenced by gospel music, country music, and rhythm and blues acts, and he performed in Lubbock with his friends from high school. In 1955, after opening for Elvis Presley, he decided to pursue a career in music. He opened for Presley three times that year; his band's style shifted from country and western to entirely rock and roll.