ABSTRACT
Born in Clovis, New Mexico, Petty was a musician who became the owner/operator of an important recording studio. After serving in World War II, Petty worked as a radio announcer in Clovis, and then in 1948 formed a trio with his wife as vocalist, himself on piano, and a guitarist, which achieved some success in the early 1950s through mid1950s. He opened his own studio, NorVaJak, in the mid-1950s to record his group, and soon began offering his services to outside clients. His recording of Buddy Knox’s “Party Doll” was a major hit when he leased it to Roulette Records in 1957 (Roulette #4002; #1 pop). His most famous client was Buddy Holly; Petty became Holly’s manager as well as producer, and took co-songwriting credit on several of Holly’s hits. After Holly’s death, work slowed for Petty, although he oversaw a few more pop hits in the early 1960s and also continued to rework his Holly recordings to create new versions for release. In the early 1970s, he sold his publishing rights to Holly’s songs to Paul McCartney’s MPL company. Petty died in Lubbock, Texas, from leukemia.
