E-mail Sonny "TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL" Actual unaltered photo of a silvertone guitar customized by Sonny. JIMMY TORRES and SONNY WEST at the Clovis Music Festival - Sept., 2006. Torres wrote and played lead guitar on million-selling instrument "Wheels." Courtesy Clovis News Journal Photo: Eric Kluth, Clovis News Journal. Sonny West's Profile Sonny West was born near Lubbock, Texas on the Clovis Highway. His early musical influences were the contry/blues artists of the day. At age eighteen he formed a four-piece band for the purpose of recording his compositions. In 1956 he recorded his Rock-ola Ruby b/w Sweet Rockin' Baby at the Norman Petty Studios in Clovis, New Mexico. (This first recording took place in the Lyceum Theater to achieve the desired sound.) This Nor-Va-Jak label release is a definitive recording, the essence of West Texas rockabilly. In 1957 West wrote and made the first recordings of Oh Boy and Rave On at Perry's studio. These were quickly covered by Buddy Holly and The Crickets and became timeless classics. From 1956 through 1958 he recorded quite a few of his own compositions in Clovis and is one of the creators of the "West Texas Sound". West is one of the original inductees of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame® and the West Texas Musicians Hall of Fame and is the recipient of BMI's million airplays award. His songs have been recorded by scores of artists and are featured in dozens of movies, TV shows and documentaries. West continues to write and record his own material and regularly appears on stage shows and roots music shows performing his well known classics. SONNY WEST LIVE Here Mark Dillman's [daddyodilly@yahoo.com] photos taken at a rare Sonny West concert May 20, 2006 in Leavenworth, KS. Sonny wrote two of Buddy Holly's biggest hits and made some cool rockabilly records of his own, all in the famed West Texas style! View Photos E-mail Sonny © Rockabilly Hall of Fame ® Page updated: July, 2007