Buddy Holly's widow charged Lubbock to use his name, and the city renamed its festival and walk of fame

Buddy Holly married María Elena Santiago in 1958^†. He died in a plane crash on 3 February 1959, at 22. She controls his name, image and trademarks. Texas passed a post-mortem right of publicity in 1987, known as the Buddy Holly bill, with a 50-year term^†. In 1999 the Buddy Holly Music Festival in Lubbock, his hometown, was renamed after she turned down $50,000 and 15 percent of ticket fees. It became the Lubbock Music Festival. In May 2007 the Buddy Holly Walk of Fame became the West Texas Walk of Fame after she asked for nearly $10,000 a year. The Buddy Holly Center keeps the name under a paid contract. On 15 March 1999 she and Holly's siblings sued MCA Records, two Crickets and the estate of producer Norman Petty in Lubbock County District Court. They alleged void contracts, forged signatures, underpaid royalties and stolen recordings. On 11 April 2007 the court declared that MCA owed the Holly heirs and the Petty estate $251,325 combined. In 2008 she threatened to sue Peggy Sue Gerron, the woman in "Peggy Sue," over her memoir. In 2026 María Elena Holly is living in Dallas, aged 93^†.