Bill Haley & His Comets Biography, Photos and Posters

Bill Haley & His Comets

Biography

Started: 1952
City and Country of Origin: Chester, Pennsylvania
Music Training:
Awards: 1987 (Bill Haley) inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame;
Top Recordings: "Crazy Man, Crazy," "We're Gonna Rock Around the Clock," "Shake, Rattle and Roll," "Dim, Dim the Lights (I Want Some Atmosphere)," "Mambo Rock," "Rock-a-Beatin' Boogie," "See You Later Alligator"
Bill Haley & His Comets Biography: Founded in 1952, Bill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets (and variations thereof), was one of the earliest groups of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of white America and the rest of the world. The group had its heyday during the 1950s. Bandleader Bill Haley had previously been a country performer; after recording a country and western-styled version of "Rocket 88", a rhythm and blues song, he changed musical direction to a new sound which came to be called rock and roll.

Bill Haley performed with his signature spit curl, used to hide the fact that he was blind in his left eye, and with the band's matching plaid dinner jackets and energetic stage behavior. Many fans consider them to be as revolutionary in their time as the Beatles or the Rolling Stones were in theirs.

The band was formed as Bill Haley and the Saddlemen c.1949-1950, and performed mostly country and western songs, though occasionally with a bluesy feel. Many Saddlemen recordings would not be released until the 1970s and 1980s, and highlights included romantic ballads such as "Rose of My Heart" and western swing tunes such as "Yodel Your Blues Away". The original members of this group were Haley, pianist and accordion player Johnny Grande and steel guitarist Billy Williamson. Al Thompson was the group's first bass player, followed by Al Rex and Marshall Lytle. During the group's early years, it recorded under several other names, including Johnny Clifton and His String Band and Reno Browne and Her Buckaroos (although Browne, a female matinee idol of the time, did not actually appear on the record).

Haley began his rock and roll career with a cover of "Rocket 88" recorded for the Philadelphia-based Holiday Records label in 1951 which sold well and was followed up a cover of a 1940s rhythm and blues song called "Rock the Joint" in 1952 (this time for Holiday's sister company, Essex Records). Both songs were released under the increasingly incongruous Saddlemen name. It bacame obvious that Haley needed a new name for the group more consistent with the music they were playing. A friend suggested that Haley call his band The Comets.

The new name was adopted in the fall of 1952. At that time, the members were Haley, Grande, Williamson, and Lytle. Grande usually played piano on record, but switched to accordion for live shows as it was more portable than a piano and easier to deal with during musical numbers that involved a lot of dancing around. Soon after renaming the band, Haley hired his first drummer, Charlie Higler, though Higler was soon replaced by Dick Boccelli (a.k.a Dick Richards). During this time (and indeed, as late as the fall of 1955), Haley did not have a permanent lead guitar player, choosing to use session musicians on record and either playing lead guitar himself or having Williamson play steel solos, instead.

The groups first major hit was the 1953 release "Crazy Man, Crazy." The song became the first rock and roll song to be televised natinally when it was used as the soundtrack for a 1953 television play starring James Dean.

Haley added tenor sax player Joey Ambrose to the lineup in 1954 and the band moved to Decca Records in New York. The group recorded "Rock Around the Clock," one of the most important recordings in rock and roll history, which at that time was only a modest success. He followed it with What at that time was his biggest hit, the million seller, "Shake, Rattle and Roll." It was a totally rearranged version of the earlier hit by Joe Turner. It became the first major internatinal rock and roll hit record.

It wasn't until the movie Blackboard Jungle, which used "Rock Around the Clock" in its soundtrack, was released in March of 1955 that the song, which was rereleased, became a major hit. It rose to the top of the U.S. charts and stayed there for 8 weeks. The record has sold in excess of 25 million copies.

The groups other hits included "See You Later, Alligator" in which Haley's frantic delivery contrasted with the Louisiana langour of the original by Bobby Charles, "Don't Knock the Rock", "Rock-a-Beatin' Boogie", "Rudy's Rock" (the first instrumental hit of the rock and roll era) and "Skinny Minnie."

In 1956, Bill Haley and His Comets appeared in two of the earliest full-length rock and roll movies: Rock Around the Clock, and Don't Knock the Rock.

By the late 50s the groups appeal began to wane with the advent of acts like Elvis Presley and Little Richard. However, the groups appeal abroad, particularly in the U.K. continued till the end of the decade. The group or one of its many derivative groups continued to perform for many years.

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