Fast forward to April 1958, Bruce and Brian – or Hank Marvin, as he now called himself – had moved to London, and that’s when the sun came out, as The ‘Chirping’ Crickets was released in the UK. On the cover was Buddy Holly with a guitar they had never seen before, a Fender Stratocaster.

They were hooked on all things Holly. Bruce studiously copied all of his rhythm parts and Hank learned all his licks. Here was a unique talent who played the guitar wonderfully, had a distinctive ‘hiccupping’ vocal style and wrote most of his own material.

Later that summer, still only 16, they joined the Drifters, the backing band of an emerging star called Cliff Richard, but soon found they had to change the name to avoid confusion with the American vocal group of the same name. And so, the Shadows were born. The story of Cliff importing the ‘Red Strat’ for Hank to play is legendary now. That first Stratocaster in the UK became Hank and the Shadows’ trademark and is still revered today. A stream of Shadows hits followed, both backing Cliff and as an instrumental band in their own right.

This partnership continued until the end of 1968, when the Shadows took a break. Bruce continued to play, write and produce for various artists, including Olivia Newton-John, Cliff Richard and Marvin, Welch & Farrar, his next musical enterprise with Hank Marvin. In 1989, Bruce became the musical consultant for the highly successful stage musical Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, which ran on the London stage for 13 years.

While visiting New York before the Broadway opening of the show, Bruce visited Buddy’s apartment building on 5th Avenue, where his last songs were written. It seems fitting that to thank Bruce for his contribution to Buddy’s legacy, his guitar is named ‘Crying, Waiting, Hoping’.