The death of Buddy Holly in a plane crash in February 1959 sent shockwaves through the rock 'n' roll world.

It's an event that still resonates today, as successive generations look back at Holly's magnificent music and wonder what he might have achieved had he lived.

HEADCAT — comprising Lemmy, Danny B Harvey, and Slim Jim Phantom — isn't the first act to pay tribute to Holly, but their new album "Plays Buddy Holly" might be the loudest and most powerful of them all.

The original sessions took place in 1999, and were released in 2006 as part of HEADCAT's debut album.

Danny returned to these original masters while preparing this album, remastering his original mixes rather than working with the released versions.

The result is a fuller, more solid sound than ever before.

Danny explains the genesis of the album: "When Lemmy, Slim Jim and I first teamed up to record a HEADCAT album, we knew it would be filled with songs we cherished and had always dreamed of recording." The Holly tracks alone have been isolated, together with three previously unreleased alternate mixes, to create 13 smoking hot slabs of riotous retro rock 'n' roll, as performed by three masters of the form.

HEADCAT were perfectly qualified to make a record like this.

Lemmy grew up on Holly's music — he was 11 when "Peggy Sue" gave Buddy and his band THE CRICKETS their first U.K.

hit in October 1957, and their music was forever on the radio thereafter.

Slim Jim, of course, was one-third of the STRAY CATS, who regularly covered Holly in concert; and Danny B Harvey's ROCKATS too were firmly grounded in the 1950s rockabilly milieu.

The album will be released on CD and red/yellow split color vinyl on May 15.

A digital EP featuring the alternate mixes of "Fool's Paradise", "Peggy Sue Got Married" and "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" will be released the same day."