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Bill Haley
1925-1981
Early Rock
Bill Haley and his Comets had the first
rock 'n' roll song to hit number one with "Rock Around
the Clock." It stayed for 8 weeks in the number one spot.
The song first hit the charts in 1954 and reached number 23.
A year later it was re-released and then climbed to its long
hold at #1. Twenty years later in 1974 it would go into the
charts for a third time reaching #39 on the charts. This was
due to its use as the original opening theme of TV's Happy Days.
 William
John Clifton Haley Jr. was born in Highland Park, Michigan
on July 6, 1925. He grew up in an Irish-American musical family
- specifically a country and western family. His father played
banjo and he was introduced to the guitar at an early age.
When he was quite young, Haley's family
moved to the Philadelphia area. In his early teens Haley started
playing guitar with local country and western groups. At 15
he left home to travel with the New England Country band called
the Down Homers. Several years later, he formed his own group,
first called the Four Aces of Swing, later the Saddlemen and
finally the Comets. For the first few years, when he wasn't
performing he worked at radio stations.
Haley's group started out playing western
swing, basically upbeat country music with a dance beat. But
it wasn't long before Haley began including features drawn
from other styles of music, especially the "back beat"
of black dance music. "Around the early 1950's, the musical
world was starved for something new," Haley said, "The
days of the solo vocalist and the big bands had gone. About
the only thing, in fact, that was making noise was progressive
jazz, but this was just above the heads of the average listener.
I felt then that if I could take, say, a Dixieland tune and
drop the first and third beats, and accentuate the second
and forth, and add a beat the listeners could clap as well
as dance to, this would be what they were after. From there
the rest was easy."
From 1953 to 1974 Bill Haley had 31 charted
hits, most of them in the middle 1950's. "Shake, Rattle
and Roll" (1954) was his first major hit followed by
"Rock Around the Clock" (1955), "Burn That
Candle" (1955), and "See You Later, Alligator"
(1956).
Unfortunately Haley wasn't the image of
a rock star. A fact that undoubtedly led to his fall from
popularity in the U.S. His only visual trademark was his spit
curl tumbling onto his forehead. Once others figured out the
music, it wasn't long before he was replaced in the eyes of
the public by handsome singers like Elvis and Pat Boone.
While his popularity faded in the States
he remained a huge celebrity in Europe and in Mexico. His
album Twist is the biggest selling album of all time in Mexico.
When the Mexican audience discovered him, Haley responded
by moving to that country, where he met and married his wife,
Martha. Mexico remained a home base for Haley up until his
death.
Haley regularly toured Europe and South
America during the 1960's and 1970's. The lineup of the Comets
constantly changed with the exception of the sax player Rudy
Pompilli. In March 1979 he toured Britain for a month and
was very successful. He cut a new album and then toured Europe
before returning to Britain for a performance before the Queen
at the Royal Variety Show.
He died on February 9, 1981 of a heart attack.
Right to the end, Haley continued to play his own style of
rock 'n' roll. Even though he had long been passed over by
American audiences, he was still a star in many places. He
may not have been the "Father of Rock 'n' Roll,"
but he was most certainly the messenger who brought it to
the world.
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