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...
"I was too shy to play in public. He (manager of the Booth Corners Auction Mart) asked me to sing for his big audience -- but I never figured I'd have the nerve. What I didn't know is that he had secretly rigged a microphone in his office and some loudspeakers in the mart. So I had my first audience before I knew about it. And they seemed to like it all right. So I went on doing it -- out in front of the public -- for a dollar a night." (1979)
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"I busked around the country riding freight trains, the usual story, playing in radio stations and what have you. I did a stint in Chicago at the International Barn Dance, and played in St Louis and Dallas, Louisiana and out through the midwest. Then I returned home. My mom and dad were living near Philadelphia and I returned there with disillusion at the grand old age of twenty two. I had had what I felt was a halfway decent career, but I felt I wasn't going to make it, and I returned with the idea of getting out of show business. Then I became a disc jockey on a local station, WPWA in Chester (Pennsylvania), because it was in me, but I was still singing country and western." (1979)
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"When I'm 75 and you can still clap your hands, and I can still hold a guitar, we'll still have rock and roll." (1969)
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"No matter how bad a show may be going some night, that song (Rock Around the Clock) will pull us through. It's my little piece of gold."
1970s.
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Fact
1
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.
2
He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6435 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
3
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 354-356. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.
His popular-song compositions include "Green Tree Boogie", "Sundown Boogie", "Crazy Man Crazy" and "Rock-a-beatin' Boogie".
6
He joined ASCAP in 1955.
7
Educated at Boothwyn High School.
8
Many reference books add "Junior" to the end of Haley's full name. According to his family, however, this is not correct.
9
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.
10
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.
11
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.
12
Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
13
Haley's early recordings, in particular "Rock the Joint", inspired disc jockey Alan Freed to coin the term "rock and roll."
14
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.
15
Once performed a show backed by Buddy Holly and The Crickets, when the Comets were late for a gig.
Soundtrack
Title
Year
Status
Character
Gila!
2012
TV Movie lyrics: "Rock-A-Beatin Boogie" / music: "Rock-A-Beatin Boogie"
$2 Million
