Short answers, pulled from the story.
Gene Vincent's biggest hit was "Be-Bop-a-Lula", released in 1956. It peaked at number 7 on the Billboard pop chart, spent 20 weeks there, and reached number 5 on the Cash Box chart for 17 weeks. The song eventually sold two million copies and earned Vincent a gold record.
On the 4th of July 1955, a drunk driver struck Vincent in Norfolk, Virginia, shattering his left leg. He refused to allow amputation, and the leg was saved, though he walked with a permanent limp and wore a steel brace for the rest of his life. The injury also led to his medical discharge from the U.S. Navy.
Yes. Vincent charted three top 40 hits in the United States in 1956 and 1957 and never entered the top 100 again. In the UK he accumulated eight top 40 hits between 1956 and 1961. His image reinvention on Jack Good's television program Boy Meets Girl in December 1959 helped sustain his British following.
Yes. On the 16th of April 1960, Vincent, Eddie Cochran, and songwriter Sharon Sheeley were in a high-speed taxi accident near Chippenham, Wiltshire. Cochran was thrown from the vehicle, suffered serious brain injuries, and died the next day. Vincent broke his ribs, collarbone, and further damaged his injured left leg.
Vincent was the first inductee into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame upon its formation in 1997, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. His band the Blue Caps were retroactively inducted alongside him in 2012 by a special committee. He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1749 North Vine Street and a bronze star on the Granby Street sidewalk in Norfolk, Virginia, placed on the 23rd of September 2003.
Gene Vincent died on the 12th of October 1971 at the age of 36 from a ruptured ulcer, internal hemorrhage, and heart failure. He died while visiting his father in Saugus, California, and is interred at Eternal Valley Memorial Park in Newhall, California.