Tommy Allsup

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Tommy Allsup bigraphy, stories - American musician

Tommy Allsup : biography

November 24, 1931 –

Tommy Allsup (born November 24, 1931 in Owasso, Oklahoma) is an American musician.

Biography

He worked with entertainers such as Buddy Holly and Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys. If it had not been for losing a coin toss he would have died on the day the music died, instead Ritchie Valens was on the plane that tragic day. He moved to Los Angeles, played with local bands, and did session work, including writing credit for the Ventures’, "Guitar Twist".

He returned to Odessa, Texas, where he worked with Ronnie Smith, and Roy Orbison, and producing Willie Nelson. In 1968, he moved to Nashville, where he did session work, and produced Bob Wills’, "24 Great Hits by Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys". In 1979, he started a club, "Tommy’s Heads Up Saloon", in Fort Worth. The club was named after a coin flip Allsup had with Ritchie Valens on February 2, 1959 that saved Allsup’s life.