Elvis & Buddy Holly: When Legends Meet

Proceeds from When Legends Meet benefit St. Catherine’s Center for Children, a leading Capital Region provider of human services supporting vulnerable children, adults, and families.

What city has bragging rights to the title, Birthplace of Rock & Roll? Lubbock, Texas might seem an unlikely place, but if you visited Lubbock’s Fair Park Coliseum in 1955, you might have witnessed two entertainers who altered the trajectory of American popular music. Twenty-year-old Elvis Presley, a year away from releasing a string of chart-topping hits that would make him the undisputed King of Rock & Roll, performed in Lubbock five times in 1955. Attending his first show—and later opening for Elvis during return engagements—was 18-year-old Lubbock native Buddy Holly, a bluegrass/country singer and musician who was inspired by Elvis. Within a few short years, Buddy Holly would become a Rock & Roll legend in his own right.

Elvis & Buddy Holly: When Legends Meet stars award-winning tribute artist and Buffalo native Nathan Pittorf as Buddy Holly. Nathan is a talented singer/guitarist who has been entertaining audiences around the country for more than a decade. Performing the memorable songs that rocketed Holly to fame before his untimely death at the age of 22, Nathan brings the Lubbock legend to life in his high-energy tribute to Holly.

Dan Fontaine, a native of Massachusetts, is New England’s premier Elvis Tribute Artist. His shows have entertained audiences in cities large and small, including Las Vegas, New York, Memphis, Nashville, and New Orleans. With a three-octave vocal range similar to Elvis, Dan’s vocal style is recognized as one of the most authentic in the business, earning him multiple awards in Elvis Tribute Artist competitions nationwide. Backed by his band, The Memphis Sun Mafia—gifted musicians who faithfully recreate Elvis’s extensive catalog of hits—Dan’s tribute to Elvis will entertain and delight audiences with some of the King’s most popular songs from the ‘60s and ‘70s. 

Albany native Luke Barnhart  makes a guest appearance as young Elvis, singing early Rockabilly hits that inspired Buddy Holly and helped launch the Rock & Roll revolution.

“Without Elvis,” Buddy Holly said, “none of us would have made it.” When Legends Meet will remind you why these two groundbreaking artists are charter members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.