William John Clifton Haley was born in Highland Park,
Michigan on July 6, 1925. A botched operation when he was a child
left him blind in one eye. Later, to distract attention away from it,
the young man was to adopt a spit curl hairstyle that became a
fashion fad in the late 1950s.
In 1946, Bill joined a western swing band called The Down
Homers. Brief associations with other groups followed, as did
a radio run on WPWA and his very first recordings. At the
dawn of the new decade, Haley formed The Saddlemen and began
cutting singles for the Holiday and Essex labels in Philadelphia.
In 1952, The Saddlemen became Bill Haley with Haley’s Comets
and then Bill Haley & his Comets. The next year Haley wrote the
band’s first hit, “Crazy Man Crazy”
(Essex 321), which reached
#12 from coast-to-coast that summer.
“Fractured” and “Live It Up” were follow-up hits in 1953.
However, the owner of Essex refused to allow the group to record what
had become their biggest crowd pleaser -- “Rock Around The Clock.”
Indignant, Haley left Essex and signed with Decca, which assigned
Milt Gabler to produce the band’s next session on April 12, 1954.
That day, “Rock Around The Clock” was finally recorded -- but
only reached #23 for one week that May. A year later, though, after
the track turned up on the soundtrack of The Blackboard Jungle,
a Glenn Ford movie, “Rock Around the Clock” was re-released.
This time around it became the first rock ‘n ‘ roll #1 hit, sold over
20 million copies and ignited the rock ‘n’ roll era. Two decades
after being cut, the single re-entered Billboard’s Top 40 charts one
more time -- thanks to its use as the original TV theme of
ABC’s Happy Days series.
Bill Haley & his Comets spent the rest of the ‘50s touring the world,
starring in films (Don’t Knock The Rock, etc.) and racking up more
than 30 hits. “Shake, Rattle & Roll” and “Dim The Lights” came
along in 1954; “Razzle Dazzle,” “Burn That Candle,” “Mambo Rock,”
“Birth Of The Boogie” and “Rock-A-Beatin’ Boogie” in 1955. The beat
went on in 1956 with “Rip It Up,” “Rudy’s Rock,” “R-O-C-K,”
“The Saints Rock ‘n’ Roll” and “See You Later, Alligator.”
“Skinny Minnie” was Haley’s last significant hit in 1958. There
might have been more million-sellers, except that by that point
the spotlight had shifted. The new “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” which
Bill had been in 1953-5, was now the far more charismatic Elvis Presley.
Bill Haley & his Comets -- who once gave a command performance
for Queen Elizabeth -- continued to record and tour until
June 1980, when Bill was diagnosed with a brain tumor.
He retired to his home in Harlington, Texas, where he died on
February 9, 1981. Six years later, Bill Haley ws inducted into
the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. In 2006, on the 25th anniversary
of his passing, The International Astronomical Union announced the
naming of a heavenly body -- asteroid 78986 Billhaley -- in his honor.
