Who started the plucked strings trick in modern music? Was it John Barry? Juke Box Jury theme? Or Norman Petty/Buddy Holly (Raining in my Heart)?

It was probably Buddy Holly's arranger Dick Jacobs who started plucked strings in modern music.

According to Wikipedia the Buddy Holly track Raining In My Heart was recorded on October 21st 1958, along with It Doesn't Matter Anymore which also features plucked strings. This is said to be Buddy Holly's last recording session before his death in February 1959.

Regarding tracks arranged by John Barry which feature plucked strings, the earliest I'm aware of is the Adam Faith track 'What Do You Want' which was recorded on September 25th 1959. I believe this pre-dates Hit And Miss the Juke Box Jury theme.

Thank you Stat except I heard Petty dubbed the strings on after Buddy's death?

According to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame...

In October 1958, Holly had a recording session at Decca’s Pythian Temple studios with Dick Jacobs, Coral-Brunswick’s new head of A&R. Holly had arranged for orchestral strings to accompany him during the session and two of the songs he recorded, a Paul Anka-penned number, “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore,” and a song inspired by his new wife, “True Love Ways” became hits. For many years, it was believed that these recordings were his last. - See more at: rockhall.com/blog/post/buddy-hollys-fina...sthash.lODTdyDx.dpuf

Amusingly, there is an album of recordings featuring pizzicato strings available on CD titled 'Those Plucking Strings' by The Charles Blackwell Orchestra, produced by Joe Meek!

Ah Strat, the creative people making incredible and original sounds in the late 50s/early 60s are very much linked (Spector, Meek, Barry, Holly, etc). Not only were they aware of each other and influenced by each others experiments but often huge fans of each other (and furious with envy - Meek on Spector for example).

You can find many examples in Hollywood movies going back to the 1930s, but I'd say the American Leroy Anderson inspired many popular musicians to copy him - he was composing movie music, theme tunes, jingles and stock music with this technique prominent in the late 1940s, and then his 1951 'Plink, Plank, Plunk' prompted loads of copycat versions.

Here's the man himself on using the technique:

"Although I started my career as an organist, later on I played mainly Bass in orchestras. For everyone writing orchestra pieces, playing a string instrument is an excellent experience, since one acquires a valuable technical knowledge of the most important part of the orchestra. As a bass player I got first hand knowledge of the resources of a string orchestra and became particularly interested in the use of the Pizzicato, which is very often neglected by composers. As one populist example of how one can use the Pizzicato I wrote a little piece with the title "Plink, Plank, Plunk!" The string players have to lay down their bows and from the beginning to the end of the piece, pluck the strings of their instruments."

You're welcome!

Fascinating stuff!