Buddy Holly - The Apartment Tapes

In December 1958, Buddy Holly bought an Ampex tape recorder from Norman Petty. Buddy Holly used this tape recorder in his New York City apartment to record rough takes of new songs that he was writing. In February 1959, as we all know, Buddy Holly died in a plane crash along with Ritchie Valens and J.P. "Big Bopper" Richardson. Many people believe that "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" and "True Love Ways" were Buddy Holly's last songs.
After his death, Buddy Holly's tape recorder was located in his apartment building. On this tape, there were 14 full songs that Buddy Holly recorded. The songs were, in general, very clear and very personal. Most were just Buddy Holly and his acoustic guitar. These songs were truly Buddy Holly's last songs.
The original tapes were given to two producers, Jack Hansen and Norman Petty. Both producers used the recordings and overdubbed them with a full band so the songs would be more radio-friendly. These versions of the songs were released to the public, and some of the songs even became hits. But the original raw recordings Buddy Holly made in his apartment never saw an official release.