The original band members were Bill Haley (guitar/vocals), Johnny Grande, keyboards), Dick Richards (drums), Franny Beecher (guitar), Joey Ambrose (sax), Marshall Lytle (bass).

Bill Haley

Date of Birth

6 July 1925, Highland Park, Michigan, USA

Date of Death

9 February 1981, Harlingen, Texas, USA

William John Clifton Haley - better known as Bill Haley, leader of the first-ever rock & roll band The Comets - is probably the greatest musical pioneer of the 20th century. He was the first white artist to record a rhythm & blues hit - the 1951 "Rocket 88" for Dave Miller's subsidiary label Holiday - and scored a rockabilly hit in 1952 with "Rock The Joint" (Essex) long before the term was known and the style was adopted by Sam Phillips on Sun Records, when Phillips recorded artists like Elvis Presley and Charlie Feathers. In 1953 Haley entered the Billboard & Cashbox Top 20 with his composition "Crazy Man Crazy". Some historians believe this song is the first rock & roll record, and other historians disagree, but there's no doubt that it was definitely the first to enter the pop charts. In 1954 Haley enjoyed two million-sellers with "Dim Dim The Lights" and "Shake, Rattle & Roll" for the major label Decca (now MCA). His recording of "Rock Around The Clock" was used in the MGM movie Blackboard Jungle (1955) starring Glenn Ford and a young Sidney Poitier, as well as the underrated Vic Morrow, who was heavily criticized for his allegedly Marlon Brando-like performance, but who was just doing what most every young actor in the US--including James Dean, who oddly enough was never criticized for it--did, which was display Brando's at the time refreshing rebelliousness. It gave Haley his first #1 hit, which at this writing is the greatest-selling single record of all time. From 1955 to 1960 Haley enjoyed 22 Top 30 Hits and appeared in four movies - a short called Round Up of Rhythm (1954), then Rock Around the Clock (1956) and Don't Knock the Rock (1956), and in a German film, Here I Am, Here I Stay (1959) alongside Caterina Valente, with whom he sang the duet "Viva La Rock & Roll".

In 1960 Haley, embroiled in major legal problems relating to his divorce, fled to Mexico, where he became known as the "Spanish King Of Twist" and had a best-selling record in Latin America with "Florida Twist". He also starred in three movies there, before having a major worldwide comeback in 1968, when "Rock Around The Clock" made the international charts again, scoring #1 in England and the UK. In 1970 he recorded an artistically highly successful album in Nashville entitled "Rock Around The Country" (Sonet), and starred in the Peter Clifton-directed The London Rock and Roll Show (1973) along with Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and Little Richard. He appeared in Let the Good Times Roll (1973) and toured extensively with the Richard Nader Revival Package Shows. He also recorded the theme song for the hit TV series "Happy Days" (1974) starring Henry Winkler and Ron Howard. In 1976 his saxophonist for 25 years, Rudy Pompilli, died of lung cancer; after that Haley retired for three years. "I was out of the business for the past three years," he explained, "because my saxophone player died. We were together for 25 years, and we had a pact--if he died first I would stop playing, and if I died first he would not play. But now I feel the mourning period is over, and I'm about 80% ready to go back on the road." In 1979 he toured the UK and Germany, also playing a command performance for the Queen. It was at this time that he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and a few years later, on February 9 1981, he passed away after a tour of South Africa. Currently there are four bands playing under "The Comets" banner, one being the official one led by Al Rappa, who is the only musician of this lineup who has any Haley connection, having played bass for him between 1959 and 1969. Another band is led by Joe E. Rand, who once fronted a Comet lineup consisting of musicians who actually played with Haley. A third band feature drummer John "Bam Bam" Lane, who worked for Haley between 1962 and 1969. The "original" band, however, is still playing, and consists of Englishman Jacko Buddin doing a nice job on the Haley vocals and featuring all the original Comets: Franny Beecher (lead guitar), Joey Ambrose (sax), Dick Richards (drums) and Marshall Lytle (double bass), and they recently recorded an outstanding album for the Las Vegas based Rollin Rock label of Ronny Weiser. They're still rocking around the clock !!!

Once performed a show backed by Buddy Holly and The Crickets, when the Comets were late for a gig.

Haley and Elvis Presley wanted to perform together during Haley's 1958 tour of Germany, while Elvis was in the army. The idea was vetoed due to concerns about audience violence.

Haley's early recordings, in particular "Rock the Joint", inspired disc jockey Alan Freed to coin the term "rock and roll."

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

Blind in his left eye due to a botched operation when he was a child. Haley adopted his trademark "kiss curl" look early in life as an attempt to draw attention away from his blind eye.

He built a house called Melody Manor in 1955 for his second wife (and wife at the time) Cuppy (real name Barbara Joan Cupchak) and their then-two children. Yearly memorable Christmas parties for all of the Comets and their families were thrown there. When Haley and Cuppy divorced in 1960, Cuppy's lawyers claimed Melody Manor, and Haley "shuffled around in cheap motels until he could no longer even afford those anymore" before going to Mexico.

His best friend and session guitarist Danny Cedrone died on June 17, 1954 from a heart attack after mysteriously falling down a flight of stairs; Haley and Cuppy's second child Doreen Haley died on July 21, 1954 of SIDS; Haley's mother Maude Green died on April 25, 1955 of complications from her diabetes; Haley's father William Haley died on June 17, 1956 of cancer and tuberculosis (he "threw up his lungs"); and Haley's sister Margaret Haley died on June 21, 1958 of cancer; all were buried at Melody Manor.

Many reference books add "Junior" to the end of Haley's full name. According to his family, however, this is not correct.

Educated at Boothwyn High School.

He joined ASCAP in 1955.

His popular-song compositions include "Green Tree Boogie", "Sundown Boogie", "Crazy Man Crazy" and "Rock-a-beatin' Boogie".

Is portrayed by Michael Daingerfield in Mr. Rock 'n' Roll: The Alan Freed Story (1999) (TV)

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 354-356. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6435 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

His name, and that of his band, The Comets, have led many to incorrectly pronounce Halley's Comet with a long a. The correct pronunciation is Halley's Comet, with a short a.

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