Remembering the OG of Rock & Roll Bill Haley On His Birthday
Happy Heavenly Birthday to Bill Haley!
Bill Haley popularized rock and roll in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets. He is best known for his version of the hit single “Rock Around the Clock”, which became an anthem for rebellious teenagers. However, Haley had already been producing hits and pioneering the genre before “Rock” launched him to superstardom.
William John Clifton Haley was born in Highland Park, Michigan, on July 6, 1925. When he was seven years old, his family moved to Boothwyn, Pennsylvania, as a result of the Great Depression. In 1938, at the age of 13, he made his first appearance performing guitar and songs at a Bethel Junior baseball team entertainment event. During the 1940s, Haley was known as “Silver Yodeling Bill Haley” because he was considered one of the top cowboy yodelers in America.
Bill Haley was the musical director at Radio Station WPWA in Chester, Pennsylvania for six years. He led his own band, Bill Haley’s Saddlemen, during this time. Haley and his Saddlemen played clubs and radio around Philadelphia. In 1951, they made their first recordings on Ed Wilson’s Keystone Records in Philadelphia. The band’s early recordings were influenced by country music, Western swing, and rhythm and blues.
Bob Johnson, Program Director of WPWA, suggested renaming the Saddlemen to Bill Haley with Haley’s Comets during Labor Day weekend of 1952.
1954
In 1954, Bill Haley and His Comets released “Rock Around the Clock”. It went on to become a worldwide hit. The song reached #1 on the charts in 1955 and stayed there for 8 weeks. Its success helped to launch the rock and roll revolution, and Haley became one of the genre’s most popular and influential figures. In August of 1955, he and his band were the first rock and roll act to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show on CBS. Furthermore, in 1957, Haley also became the first major American rock singer to tour Europe.
Bill Haley released hit singles throughout the 1950s, including “Shake, Rattle and Roll” and “See You Later, Alligator”. In addition, he also toured extensively, and his concerts were often raucous affairs.
As newer, younger, and more flamboyant rock stars like Elvis Presley emerged, Bill Haley’s popularity declined in the late 1950s and early 1960s. However, he continued to record and tour, and he enjoyed immense popularity in Latin America, Europe, and Australia during the 1960s.
Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Haley received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in early 1960 and was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. The Comets were separately inducted into the Hall of Fame as a group in 2012.
Bill Haley, diagnosed with a brain tumor, died on February 9, 1981, at his home in Harlingen, Texas. He was 55 years old. The International Astronomical Union named asteroid 79896 “Billhaley” in February 2006 to mark the 25th anniversary of his death. The Original Comets opened the Bill Haley Museum in Munich, Germany, in March 2007.
Bill Haley, a pioneer of rock and roll, helped to shape the sound of the genre for generations to come. He influenced many, if not most, of the rock and roll bands you hear today on WMMR!
Happy Birthday to the Original “Rock & Roll Animal” Bill Haley!
Bill Haley & The Comets – ‘Rock Around the Clock”
10 Rock Icons with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Source: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
