BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS
Description: Bassist, USA
Known For: Member of the Crickets.
Instruments: Bass
Music Styles: Pop/rock
Location: United States of America
Date Born: July 8, 1940
Lubbock, Texas, U.S.
Date Died: 12th October 2005
Location Died: Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America
CONTACT DETAILS
Web Site: Joe B. Mauldin at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE
Joseph Benson Mauldin, Jr. (July 8, 1940 – February 7, 2015) was an American double-bassist, songwriter and audio engineer, best known as the double-bassist of rock and roll group The Crickets. Later he became a recording engineer at Gold Star Studios, the Los Angeles studio that became the hit factory for Phil Spector, Brian Wilson and other major 1960s rock performers.
Born in Lubbock, Texas, Mauldin became the bassist in the group The Crickets, which included Buddy Holly and drummer Jerry Allison and guitarist Niki Sullivan. The first rock band he played in was The Four Teens of Lubbock in 1955. He appears to have recorded with this group (that included the recording artist Terry Noland) in Dallas, prior to his recording with Buddy Holly in Clovis, NM. After Holly’s death in 1959, he played on and off as an original Cricket with J.I. Allison, Sonny Curtis, Glen D. Hardin and with Niki Sullivan on occasion.
Above: Buddy Holly and the Crickets in 1957 (top to bottom: Allison, Mauldin and Holly)
Mauldin was inducted into the West Texas Walk of Fame in Lubbock and the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee as an original Cricket. In 2012, Mauldin was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Crickets by a special committee, aimed at correcting the mistake of not including the Crickets with Buddy Holly when he was first inducted in 1986.
Mauldin died of cancer in Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 74.
Above: Buddy Holly and The Crickets (top to bottom: Allison, Holly and Mauldin), 1957
LINKS:
- Joe B. Mauldin at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
- Joe B. Mauldin discography at Discogs
- Joe B. Mauldin at the Internet Movie Database