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American rock and roll band

Beak Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley and His Comets in 1956. Left to right: Rudy Pompilli, Baton Williamson, Al Rex, Pecker Haley, Johnny Grande, Ralph Jones, and Franny Beecher
Background information
Also known as	Beak Haley and the Saddlemen, the Kingsmen, the Lifeguards, B.H. Sees Combo
Origin	Chester, Pennsylvania, U.s.
Genres	Rock and roll, land, rockabilly
Years active	1949–1952 as Saddlemen; 1952–1981 as Bill Haley & His Comets; 1981–present equally the Comets, Bill Haley's Comets
Labels	Decca, Brunswick (Great britain), Atlantic, Keystone, Cowboy, Holiday, Essex, Warner Bros., Orfeón, Dimsa, Newtown, Invitee Star, Logo, APT, Gone, United Artists, Roulette, Sonet, Buddah, Caper, London (Britain)
Associated acts	The Jodimars
Past members	Pecker Haley Johnny Grande Billy Williamson Rudy Pompilli Al Rex Franny Beecher Marshall Lytle Fredrick "Fritz" Riddell Danny Cedrone Dick Richards Joey Ambrose Ralph Jones Nick Nastos John "Bam-Bam" Lane Louis Torres Joey Welz and more than than 100 others

Bill Haley & His Comets were an American rock and roll band, founded in 1952 and continued until Haley'south expiry in 1981. The band was too known as Bill Haley and the Comets and Bill Haley's Comets (and variations thereof). From late 1954 to late 1956, the grouping placed nine singles in the Acme 20, one of those a number i and 3 more in the Top X. The single "Stone Around the Clock" became the biggest selling stone and whorl unmarried in the history of the genre and retained that position for some years.^[ane]

Bandleader Beak Haley had previously been a state music performer; subsequently recording a country and western-styled version of Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats "Rocket 88", a rhythm and blues song, he changed musical direction to a new sound which came to be called rock and roll.

Though the group was considered to be at the forefront of rock and roll during the genre's formative years, the arrival of more than risqué acts such as Elvis Presley and Little Richard by 1956 led the more groomed Haley and his Comets to turn down in popularity. Haley would remain popular in Europe and continue to take a comeback as a nostalgia deed in the 1970s, forth with many of his contemporaries. Following Haley's decease, no fewer than seven different groups accept existed under the Comets name, all claiming (with varying degrees of authority) to be the continuation of Haley's group. As of the cease of 2014, four such groups were still performing in the United States and internationally.

Early history [edit]

In around the mid-1940s, Bill Haley performed with the Down Homers and formed a group chosen the Four Aces of Western Swing. The group that later on became the Comets initially formed as "Bill Haley and the Saddlemen" c. 1949–1952, and performed mostly country and western songs, though occasionally with a bluesy experience. During those years Haley was considered one of the top cowboy yodelers in America. Many Saddlemen recordings were not 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 role player Johnny Grande and steel guitarist Billy Williamson. Al Thompson was the group's start bass actor, followed by Al Rex and Marshall Lytle. During the group's early years, it recorded under several other names, including Johnny Clifton and His Cord Band and Reno Browne and Her Buckaroos (although Browne, a female matinee idol of the fourth dimension, did non actually appear on the record).

Haley began his rock and scroll career with what is now recognized as a rockabilly style in a embrace of "Rocket 88" recorded for the Philadelphia-based Holiday Records label in 1951. It sold well and was followed in 1952 by a cover of a 1940s rhythm and blues vocal called "Stone the Articulation" (this time for Holiday's sister company, Essex Records).

"Rock the Joint" and its firsthand follow-ups were released nether the increasingly incongruous Saddlemen name. It presently became apparent that a new proper noun was needed to fit the new musical style. A friend of Haley's, making note of the common culling pronunciation of the name Halley'due south Comet to rhyme with Bailey, suggested that Haley call his ring the Comets. This issue is cited in the Haley biographies Audio and Glory past John Haley and John von Hoelle; Neb Haley by John Swenson; and in Still Rockin' Around the Clock, a memoir past Comets bass histrion Marshall Lytle.

The new name was adopted in the fall of 1952. Members of the grouping at that time were Haley, Johnny Grande, Baton Williamson and Marshall Lytle. Grande normally played piano on records but switched to accordion for live shows equally it was more portable than a pianoforte and easier to deal with during musical numbers that involved a lot of dancing around. Soon later renaming the band Haley hired his starting time drummer, Earl Famous.^[2] Displeased with the lineup, Haley sought out Dick Boccelli (also known as Dick Richards), who turned down the job but recommended a young drummer Charlie Higler. Soon after, Haley asked Richards again, who then accustomed the function. During this time (and equally late every bit the fall of 1955), Haley did not have a permanent pb guitar player, choosing to use session musicians on records and either playing lead guitar himself or having Williamson play steel solos.

Even before the release of more successful records, the grouping had achieved greatness in some respects: "No one had blended country and R&B on a single before the Comets' "Rock the Articulation" in 1952. No one had scored an American Peak 20 hit with anything that could really qualify as rock'n'scroll before their single "Crazy Man Crazy" in 1953".^[3]

National success and "Stone Around the Clock" [edit]

BillHaley/Elvis/HankSnowTicket – Oklahoma City newspaper advertising. for Sunday October 16, 1955; two shows at the Municipal Auditorium. Note: Elvis Presley's beginning appearance to exist co-promoted (with Hank Snow) by Colonel Tom Parker.

In 1953, Haley scored his start national success with an original vocal called "Crazy Man, Crazy", a phrase Haley said he heard from his teenage audition, again released on Essex. Haley later on claimed the recording sold a million copies, but this is considered an exaggeration. Some sources betoken that the recording—a blend of R&B, western and pop music—is a contender for the title of "offset stone'n'roll record" while others state that it was merely "the first rock and curlicue song to exist a striking on the pop charts". It was also said to exist the showtime stone'n'gyre recording to be played on national television in the United states (in an episode of Passenger vehicle (American TV plan) in 1953).^[four]

On their last release from Essex, new ring member Joey Ambrose is heard on the B-side, "Straight Jacket."

In the spring of 1954, Haley and His Comets left Essex for New York-based Decca Records, where they were placed under the auspices of veteran producer Milt Gabler, who would produce all of the band's recordings for the label and who had been involved in creating many proto-rock and curl recordings past the likes of the Andrews Sisters and Louis Jordan dating back to the 1940s. One of Hashemite kingdom of jordan's records, Saturday Nighttime Fish Fry (1949), is considered to be a contender for the title of "showtime rock'n' roll record. Gabler after commented that "all the tricks I used with Louis Jordan, I used with Bill Haley".^{[5] [6]}

The grouping's first session, on Apr 12, 1954, yielded "Rock Effectually the Clock", which would become Haley's biggest striking and 1 of the near of import records in stone and roll history. Sales of "Rock Around the Clock" started slowly, since it was the B-side of the unmarried, just information technology performed well enough that a second Decca session was commissioned.

"Shake, Rattle and Ringlet" followed, a somewhat bowdlerized encompass version of the Large Joe Turner recording^[7] released earlier in 1954. The single was 1 of Decca's best-selling records of 1954^[8] and the seventh-all-time-selling record in November, 1954.^[nine]

In March, 1955, the group had four songs in Greenbacks Box magazine's acme 50 songs: "Dim, Dim the Lights (I Desire Some Atmosphere)", "Nascence of the Boogie", "Mambo Rock", and "Shake, Rattle and Curlicue."^[10]

Haley'due south "Milk shake, Rattle and Roll" never achieved the same level of historical importance as "Rock Effectually the Clock" simply it predated information technology equally the first international rock and roll hit. Information technology did not attain the Number 1 position on the American charts, merely it became Haley's first gold record. Elvis Presley recorded the vocal in 1956, combining Haley's organization with Turner's original lyrics, only his version was non a substantial hitting. Tardily in 1954, Haley recorded another hitting, "Dim, Dim The Lights", which was one of the outset R&B songs recorded by a white group to cross over to the R&B charts. Johnnie Ray had reached Number 1 with "Weep" in 1952.

The belated success of "Rock Around the Clock" is attributed to its utilise in the soundtrack of the picture show Blackboard Jungle, ^[11] which was released on March 19, 1955. The song was re-released to coincide with the film and shifted to the unmarried'south A-side. Haley'south recording became an anthem for rebellious 1950s youth^[12] and reached Number i on the pop charts, remaining there for 8 weeks,^[thirteen] and went to Number 3 on the R&B chart.^[14] According to The Guardian, the grouping was "the first rock'n'ringlet band" and the song was peculiarly "of import because it was the start rock'north'roll record heard by millions of people worldwide".^[3]

Ambrose's acrobatic saxophone playing, along with Lytle on the double bass – literally on it, riding information technology like a pony, and holding it over his head – were highlights of the ring's live performances during this time. Their music and their act were part of a tradition in jazz and rhythm and dejection, just it all came similar a thunderclap to most of their audience. In late 1954, Haley and His Comets appeared in a short subject entitled Circular Upwards of Rhythm, performing iii songs. This was the primeval known theatrical rock and roll moving-picture show release.^[15]

Bill Haley & His Comets in 1954. Left to correct: Joey D'Ambrosio, Dick Richards, Beak Haley

In 1955, Lytle, Richards and Ambrose quit the Comets in a bacon dispute and formed their own group, the Jodimars. Haley hired several new musicians to take their place: Rudy Pompilli on sax, Al Rex (a erstwhile fellow member of the Saddlemen) on double bass, and Ralph Jones on drums. In addition, lead guitarist Franny Beecher, who had been a session musician for Haley since Danny Cedrone's death in the spring of 1954, became a full-time Comet and Haley's first performing lead guitarist (Cedrone had played the guitar solo on the original recording of "Stone Around the Clock" and died before long after the recording session for "Shake, Rattle and Curl" in the summer of 1954). This version of the ring became more popular than the before manifestation and appeared in several motion pictures over the side by side few years.

Other hits recorded past the band included "Come across You Later, Alligator"^[eleven] in which Haley's frantic delivery contrasted with the Louisiana languor of the original past Bobby Charles, "Don't Knock the Stone", "Stone-a-Beatin' Boogie", "Rudy's Rock" (the first instrumental hit of the stone and curl era), and "Skinny Minnie."

Bill Haley and the Comets performed "Stone Around the Clock" in an a cappella and a lip-synched version on the NBC goggle box program Texaco Star Theater hosted by Milton Berle on May 31, 1955. Berle predicted that the song would go to Number 1, calling the band "A group of entertainers who are going right to the top." Berle besides sang and danced to the song, which was performed by the unabridged cast of the show. This was one of the earliest nationally televised performances by a stone and curlicue band and provided the new musical genre a much wider audience.

Pecker Haley and the Comets were the starting time rock and whorl performers to appear on the CBS boob tube musical variety plan The Ed Sullivan Show, or Toast of the Town on Sunday, August 7, 1955, in a broadcast from the Shakespeare Festival Theater in Stratford, Connecticut. They performed a live version of "Rock Around the Clock" featuring Franny Beecher on lead guitar and Dick Richards on drums. The grouping made a second and terminal advent on the Ed Sullivan Show on Sun, April 28, 1957, performing "Rudy'southward Rock" and "Forty Cups of Coffee."

Nib Haley and the Comets appeared on American Bandstand hosted by Dick Clark on ABC television twice in 1957, on the prime-fourth dimension prove on Oct 28 and on the regular daytime bear witness on November 27. The ring also appeared on Dick Clark'south Saturday Dark Beechnut Show (also known as The Dick Clark Show), a prime-time Goggle box series from New York on March 22, 1958, during the first season (performing "Rock Around the Clock" and "Ooh, Look-a There, Ain't She Pretty") and on Feb 20, 1960 (performing "Rock Around the Clock" and "Tamiami").

In 1956, the group appeared in ii of the earliest full-length stone and curlicue movies with Alan Freed: Rock Around the Clock and Don't Knock the Stone. The Platters were co-stars in the first movie, and Little Richard appeared in the 2nd. Stone Around the Clock was produced by Sam Katzman (who would produce several Elvis Presley films in the 1960s) and directed by Fred F. Sears.^[16]

Decline in popularity [edit]

The band's popularity in the U.s. began to wane in 1956–57 as sexier, wilder acts such equally Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard began to dominate the record charts (although Haley'south cover version of Niggling Richard'due south "Rip Information technology Up", released in direct competition with Little Richard'southward original recording, outsold the original). Afterward "Skinny Minnie" hitting the charts in 1958, Haley had little further success in the United States, although a spin-off grouping made up of Comets musicians dubbed The Kingsmen (no relation to the later grouping of "Louie, Louie" fame) had a hit with an instrumental, "Weekend", that same year.

Overseas, still, Haley and his band continued to be pop, touring the U.k. in Feb 1957, when Haley and his crew were mobbed by thousands of fans at Waterloo station in London at an incident which the media dubbed the "Second Battle of Waterloo". The grouping also toured Australia in 1957, and in 1958 enjoyed a successful (if riot-dominated) tour of the European mainland. Nib Haley & His Comets were the first major American stone and curl human activity to tour the world in this way. Elvis, who was on armed forces duty in Germany, visited them backstage at some shows. On a free solar day in Berlin they performed ii songs in the Caterina Valente movie Hier Bin ich Hier Bleib Ich (Here I Am Hither I Stay).

Back in the U.Due south., Haley attempted to start his own record label, Clymax, and establish his own stable of performers, notably Sally Starr (the hostess of a Philadelphia television children'south program) and the Matys Brothers. Members of the Comets were deputed to work as session musicians on many of these recordings, many of which were written or co-written by Haley and members of the Comets. The Clymax experiment only lasted about a year. In 1959, Haley'due south human relationship with Decca collapsed; after a final set of instrumental-merely recordings in the autumn, Haley announced he was leaving Decca for the new Warner Bros. Records label, which released two more albums in 1960, which were moderately successful. In 1960 Franny Beecher and Rudi Pompilli left the Comets to start their own tape label. Replacing Beecher was a 20-twelvemonth-old guitarist, John Kay, from Chester, Pennsylvania. Beecher after returned briefly to play with the Comets, when his record characterization failed to take off, sharing guitar duties with Kay. Kay left the band in 1966 but returned in the early 1970s for an aborted world tour. He appeared in the Wembley show, which was filmed and released as the London Stone and Roll Show.

Mexico and the late 1960s [edit]

In 1961–1962, Bill Haley y sus Cometas (as the band was known in Hispanic America) signed with the Orfeón label of Mexico and scored an unexpected hit with "Twist Español", a Spanish-language recording based on the twist dance craze, which was sweeping America at the fourth dimension. Haley followed upwardly with "Florida Twist" (#3 MEX, according to Billboard Hits Of The World 04.21.62), which was for a time the biggest-selling single in Mexican history. Although Chubby Checker and Hank Ballard were credited with starting the twist craze in America, in United mexican states and Latin America, Bill Haley and His Comets were proclaimed the Kings of the Twist. Thanks to the success of "Twist Español" and "Florida Twist", among others, the ring had connected success in United mexican states and Latin America over the next few years, selling many recordings of Spanish and Spanish-flavored material and simulated live performances (overdubbed audience over studio recordings) on the Orfeon characterization and its subsidiary, Dimsa. They hosted a television series, Orfeon a Become-Go, and made cameo appearances in several movies, lip-synching some of their old hits. Haley, who was fluent in Spanish, recorded a number of songs in the language, but most of the band's output during these years was instrumental recordings, many utilizing local session musicians playing trumpet. There was also some experimentation with Haley's way during this time; one unmarried for Orfeon was a folk ballad, "Jimmy Martinez", which Haley recorded without the Comets.

In 1966, the Comets (without Pecker Haley) cut an album for Orfeon as session musicians for Large Joe Turner, who had always been an idol to Haley; no joint functioning of "Shake, Rattle and Whorl" was recorded, nonetheless. In a 1974 interview with BBC Radio, Haley said Turner's career was in a slump at this time, so he used his then-considerable influence with Orfeon to become Turner a recording session. The Comets' association with Orfeon/Dimsa concluded later on that year.

By 1967, equally related by Haley in an interview with radio host Cerise Robinson in that year, the group was "a free amanuensis" without whatever recording contracts at all, although the band continued to perform regularly in Northward America and Europe. During this year, Haley—without the Comets—recorded a pair of demos in Phoenix, Arizona: a state-western song, "Jealous Heart", on which he was backed by a local mariachi ring (similar in manner to the earlier "Jimmy Martinez"), and a late-60s-style rocker, "Rock on Baby", backed by a group called Superfine Dandelion. Neither recording would be released for 30 years. In 1968, Haley and the Comets recorded a unmarried for the United Artists label, a version of Tom T. Hall's "That's How I Got to Memphis", but no long-term association with the label resulted. In order to revive his recording career, Haley turned to Europe.

Revival [edit]

By the late 1960s, Haley and the Comets were considered an "oldies" deed. The ring'south popularity never waned in Europe. The group signed a lucrative deal with Sonet Records of Sweden in 1968 and recorded in a new version of "Rock Around the Clock", which striking the European charts that year. The band recorded a mixture of live and studio albums for the label over the side by side decade.

In the The states in 1969, promoter Richard Nader launched a series of rock and curl revival concert tours featuring artists of the 1950s and 1960s. At i of the showtime of these shows, held at the Felt Forum at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Haley received an eight-and-a-half-infinitesimal standing ovation following his functioning, equally Nader related in his recorded introduction to Haley'due south live album Bill Haley Scrapbook, which was recorded a few weeks later at the Bitter End club in New York.

The band appeared in several concert films in the early 1970s, including The London Stone and Roll Prove (for which Haley'southward 1960–66 lead guitarist, John Kay, briefly rejoined the band —he's the one with the center patch) and Permit the Good Times Roll. Subsequently 1974, revenue enhancement and direction bug prevented Haley from performing in the The states, so he performed in Europe most exclusively, though he also toured South America in 1975. The band was also kept busy in the studio, recording numerous albums for Sonet and other labels in the 1970s, several with a land music season. In 1974, Haley'due south original Decca recording of "Rock Around the Clock" hit the American sales charts over again, cheers to its use in the film American Graffiti and for two years, on the idiot box plan Happy Days.^[xiii]

Belatedly career [edit]

In February 1976, Haley's saxophone player and best friend, Rudy Pompilli, died of cancer afterward a well-nigh twenty-year career with the Comets. Haley continued to tour for the side by side year with a succession of new sax players, but his popularity was waning once more, and his 1976 performance in London was critically lambasted in the music media, such every bit Melody Maker. That year, the group also recorded an album, R-O-C-K at Muscle Shoals Audio Studio for Sonet Records. In early 1977, Haley announced his retirement from performing and settled downward at his abode in Mexico. According to the John Swenson biography of Haley, the musician was quoted as saying that he and Pompilli had an agreement that if 1 died, the other would retire.

The Comets connected to tour on their ain during this menses.

In 1979, Haley was persuaded to render to performing with the offer of a lucrative contract to bout Europe. An almost completely new group of musicians, mostly British, including saxophonist Pete Thomas, were assembled to perform equally the Comets. Haley appeared on numerous television shows and in the movie Blue Suede Shoes, filmed at ane of his London concerts in March 1979. A few days later, a performance in Birmingham was videotaped and aired on UK television; it was released on DVD in 2005. During the March tour, Haley recorded several tracks in London for his next album for Sonet, completing the piece of work that summer in Muscle Shoals; the album, Anybody Can Stone & Roll, issued subsequently in 1979, was the last release of new recordings by Haley before his decease.

In Nov 1979, Haley and the Comets performed for Queen Elizabeth Two, a moment Haley considered the proudest of his career. It was also the last time he performed in Europe and the concluding time about fans saw him perform "Rock Effectually the Clock".

In 1980, Bill Haley and His Comets toured South Africa, just Haley'southward health was failing, and information technology was reported that he had a brain tumor. The tour was critically lambasted, merely surviving recordings of a performance in Johannesburg show Haley in good spirits and proficient voice. Nonetheless, according to the Haley News fan gild newsletter and the Haley biography Sound and Celebrity, planned concerts (such as a fall 1980 bout of Germany) and proposed recording sessions in New York and Memphis were cancelled, including a potential reunion with past members of the Comets. Haley returned to his home in Harlingen, Texas, where he died in his slumber of an apparent middle attack on February 9, 1981, at the historic period of 55.^[17]

In April 1981, Bill Haley & His Comets returned to the British musical charts once more when MCA Records (inheritors of the Decca catalogue) released "Haley'southward Gilded Medley", a hastily compiled edit of the band's all-time-known hits in the style of the then-popular "Stars on 45" format. The single reached Number fifty in the UK only was non released in the United States.

In 1987, Bill Haley was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. At that time, supporting bands were not also named to the Hall of Fame. This policy was subsequently changed, and in 2012 a special committee of the Hall of Fame inducted the Comets. Bill Haley and His Comets were also inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. In June 2005, Bill Haley And His Comets were inducted into the Michigan Rock and Curl Legends Hall of Fame.^[xviii] In July 2005, the surviving members of the 1954–55 Comets (see below) represented Haley when Nib Haley and His Comets were inducted into Hollywood's Rockwalk, a anniversary also attended by Haley's second wife and youngest daughter. The Comets placed their handprints in cement; a space was left bare for Haley.

The Comets [edit]

More than than 100 musicians performed with Bill Haley & His Comets betwixt 1952 and Haley's expiry in 1981, many becoming fan favorites forth the way.^[19] Several brusque-lived Comets reunions were attempted in the 1970s and 1980s, including one contingent (organized by Baltimore-based pianoforte role player Joey Welz, who played piano for the Comets from 1962 to 1965^[20]) that appeared on The Tomorrow Show, and some other run by an Elvis Presley impersonator, Joey Rand (this group later lost a legal action over the right to use the Comets name). Only ane group was sent out to perform by Haley himself and his direction and production company, consisting of musicians who had played with Haley throughout the 1960s and 1970s—lead guitarist "Nick Masters" (Mathias Nicholas Nastos), bassist Ray Cawley, vocalist Ray "Pudge" Parsons, and drummer Buddy Dee—and who had connected to perform as the Comets between gigs and during Haley'southward retirement. This group rerecorded "Stone Effectually the Clock" for the television serial Happy Days.^[20]

The Comets, featuring musicians who performed with Haley in 1954–1955, reunited in 1987 and are even so touring the world every bit of 2007, playing showrooms in the United states of america and Europe. They have also recorded a half-dozen albums for modest labels in Europe and the United states. This version of the group has too been credited as Bill Haley's Original Comets and, in circumstances in which the employ of the Comets proper name is in dispute, A Tribute to Bill Haley and The Original Ring. The bones lineup of this group from 1987 to May 2006 was Marshall Lytle (bass), Joey Ambrose (sax), Johnny Grande (piano), Dick Richards (drums) and Franny Beecher (guitar). British singer Jacko Buddin augmented the grouping on vocals during most of their European tours, with Lytle taking over on vocals for US and Canadian tours showtime in 2000 and full-time in Europe in the mid-2000s. Since they connected with Klaus Kettner'south Rock Information technology Concerts (Frg) in 1991, they have played hundreds of shows all over Europe and accept appeared on dozens of television receiver shows. In March 2007 they opened the Bill-Haley-Museum in Munich, Germany.

2 additional groups claim the proper noun Beak Haley's Comets and have extensively toured in the United States since forming in the 1980s: one originally led by Haley'due south 1965–68 drummer John "Bam-Bam" Lane, the other run by Al Rappa, who played bass for Haley off and on betwixt late 1959 and early 1969. (The 1959 album "Strictly Instrumental" on Decca was Rappa's showtime recording session with Bill Haley & His Comets. Haley had used Rappa as a fill-in actor on live gigs for several years prior to that.) Both these musicians claim trademark ownership of the name "Nib Haley'south Comets"; this dates back to Lane and Rappa (during a menstruum when they worked together as one ring) winning a trademark infringement lawsuit against the aforementioned Joey Rand grouping in 1989. Both Rappa'south and Lane's bands take, from fourth dimension to time, recruited other former Comets for their lineups (for example, in 2005, Rappa joined forces with Joey Welz), but for the most part the bandleaders are the only regular members who accept worked with Bill Haley straight. Lane died in 2007, but his group continues to perform, led by bandleader Lenny Longo, who has no direct connection with Bill Haley. Rappa incorporated numerous professional musicians from the southern Indiana area (Guitarist Warren Batts, Joe Esarey, Dave Matthews, Joe Denton, saxophonist John Urbina, bassist Jody Hamilton Miley (previous bassist with the George Jones Show), and others) to make a total band. Rappa performed his Upright Bass show before thousands in audiences all over the land. Members of Rappa's "Comets" went on to grade the LocoMotion Showband and continued touring the United States without Rappa adding Galen Deig (Drums) and Jimmy Baze (Bass) before eventually disbanding. Esarey went on to graduate from Cedarville University and Luther Rice Theological Seminary. He has since pastored churches and produced his own saxophone instrumental albums. Several of the members are now agile in a very popular Southern Indiana 50'southward / 60's band chosen The Duke Boys.

In March and July 2005, the members of the 1954–55 group, now billed as simply the Comets later on decades of controversy over the use of the proper name, made several high-profile concert appearances in New York Urban center and Los Angeles organized by Martin Lewis as office of celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of rock and roll, the release of Blackboard Jungle, the 50th anniversary of "Rock Around the Clock" hitting Number 1, and the 80th birthday of Neb Haley.^{[21] [22]} During a concert at the Viper Room in West Hollywood on July 6, 2005, the Comets were joined on stage for ane song by Gina Haley, the youngest daughter of Bill Haley; at a similar appearance in March they were joined by Haley's eldest son, John W. Haley. The 1954–55 Comets were also joined on stage past Bill Haley Jr. during several appearances in 2005 at Bubba Mac'south in Somers Point, New Bailiwick of jersey, and at a 2005 concert recognizing the tenure of Bill Haley and the Saddlemen at the Twin Bars in Gloucester City, New Jersey.

In 2006, the 1954–55 Comets spent much of the year in residence at Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater in Branson, Missouri. Meanwhile, the John Lane edition of Bill Haley'due south Comets recorded an album in Tennessee in early 2006, which has even so to be released.

On June 2, 2006, Johnny Grande, keyboardist with the 1954–55 Comets and a founding member of the band, died after a curt illness. The post-obit calendar month, 85-yr-old guitarist Franny Beecher announced his retirement, though he was at one bespeak announced as participating in an early 2007 tour of Frg. The three remaining original Comets (Lytle, Richards, and Ambrose) continued to perform in Branson with new musicians taking over the keyboard and pb guitar positions. During September 2006, PBS in the United States aired a series of programs videotaped in Branson during the bound of 2006; these shows include the last recorded performances of the complete Original Comets lineup, including Grande. Lytle died in 2013, Beecher in 2014. The last remaining members of the 1954–55 Comets, Dick Richards and Joey Ambrose, continued to perform as the Comets as of mid-2018, sometimes augmented by 1970s-era Comet Pecker Turner on lead guitar.

John "Bam-Bam" Lane died on Feb 18, 2007^[23] but his edition of Bill Haley'south Comets is expected to continue touring, with the 2006 recordings to be released in Lane's retention.

On Oct 27, 2007, ex-Comets guitar player Nib Turner opened the aforementioned Beak-Haley-Museum in Munich, Deutschland. He will besides join the New Comets during their Remember Beak Haley Tour 2011 with Haley's daughter Gina Haley.^[24]

Several bands patterning themselves after the Comets are as well active in Europe, including Bill Haley's New Comets in Germany.^[24]

In 2011, Haley's son Nib Jr. formed the band Bill Haley Jr. and the Comets, and created a "Rock 'N' Roll History Show."^[25]

On July 12, 2019, drummer Dick Richards died at age 95 in Ocean Metropolis, New Jersey.^[26] He was born Richard Marley Boccelli on February 12, 1924, in Yeadon, Pennsylvania.^{[27] [28]}

On May 24, 2020, ex-Comet bassist, Albert 'Al Male monarch' Piccirilli, died.^[29]

Al Rappa died on July 25, 2021, aged 94.^[30]

Discography [edit]

Studio albums [edit]

• 1954 – Rock with Neb Haley and the Comets (compilation)
• 1955 – Shake, Rattle And Roll (compilation)
• 1955 – Stone Effectually The Clock (compilation)
• 1956 – Rock 'n' Roll Stage Evidence (Decca 1945)
• 1957 – Rockin' the Oldies (Decca 1969)
• 1958 – Rockin' Effectually the Globe (Decca 1992)
• 1959 – Neb Haley's Chicks (Decca 1921)
• 1959 – Strictly Instrumental (Decca 1964)
• 1960 – Bill Haley and His Comets (Warner Bros. 1978)
• 1960 – Haley'southward Juke Box (Warner Bros. 1991)
• 1961 – Twist (Dimsa 1955)
• 1961 – Bikini Twist (Dimsa 8259)
• 1962 – Twist Vol. 2 (Dimsa 8275)
• 1962 – Twist en Mexico (Dimsa 8290)
• 1963 – Rock Around the Clock Male monarch (Guest Star 1454)
• 1963 – Madison (Orfeon 12339)
• 1963 – Carnaval de Ritmos Modernos (Orfeon 12340)
• 1964 – Surf Surf Surf (Orfeon 12354)
• 1966 – Whiskey a Become-Go (Orfeon 12478)
• 1966 – Bill Haley a Go-Go (re-recordings) (Dimsa 8381)
• 1971 – Rock Around the Country (Sonet 623); issued in N America by GNP-Crescendo (LP 2097) and as Travelin' Band on Janus (JLS 3035)
• 1973 – Only Rock 'n' Roll Music (Sonet 645); issued in North America by GNP-Crescendo (LP 2077)
• 1979 – Everyone Can Rock and Curlicue (Sonet 808)

Grammy Hall of Fame [edit]

"Stone Around the Clock" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, a Grammy honour established in 1973 to accolade recordings that are at least 25 years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance."

Beak Haley and the Comets: Grammy Hall of Fame Awards^[31]

Yr Recorded	Title	Genre	Label	Year Inducted	Notes
1954	"Rock Around the Clock"	Stone & Roll (unmarried)	Decca Records	1982

Notes [edit]

1. ^ Bogdanov, Vladimir, Woodstra, Chris, and Erlewine, Stephen Tomas. (2003). All Music Guide to Country: The Definitive Guide to Land Music. Backbeat Books. page 315. ISBN 0-87930-760-nine.
2. ^ "RAB Hall of Fame: The Jodimars". Rockabillyhall.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved i May 2018.
3. ^ ^{a b} "Pecker Haley: Stone Around the Clock – the world's first rock canticle". The Guardian. 22 May 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
4. ^ Kallen, Stuart (9 May 2012). The History of American Pop. Greenhaven Publishing LLC. pp. 33–34. ISBN978-1420506723.
5. ^ "5 Candidates for the Offset Rock 'n' Roll Song". Mentalfloss. March 23, 2012. Retrieved August 2, 2020.
6. ^ [i] ^{[ expressionless link ]}
7. ^ Gilliland, John (1969). "Show iv – The Tribal Drum: The Rise of Rhythm and Blues. [Part 2]" (audio). Pop Chronicles. University of Due north Texas Libraries.
8. ^ Billboard, fifteen January 1955, p. 38.
9. ^ Billboard, xiii November 1954, p. 64.
10. ^ "Cash Box Top Singles 3/05/55". Cashboxmagazine.com. 5 March 1955. Archived from the original on 22 Apr 2012. Retrieved four Nov 2011.
11. ^ ^{a b} Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 5 – Hail, Hail, Stone 'n' Gyre: The Rock Revolution Gets Underway. [Office i]" (audio). Pop Chronicles. Academy of North Texas Libraries.
12. ^ "Bill Haley". Rockhall.com . Retrieved 2016-10-10 .
13. ^ ^{a b} "|Rewinding the Charts: 60 Years Ago Bill Haley Ushered in the Stone Era". Billboard.com . Retrieved 24 November 2020. ^{[ permanent dead link ]}
14. ^ Weinstein, Deena (January 27, 2015). Rock'n America: A Social and Cultural History. Toronto: Academy of Toronto Press. p. 57. ISBN978-1442600157.
15. ^ "Circular Up of Rhythm (1954) - IMDb". IMDb.com . Retrieved 24 November 2020.
16. ^ "|Rock Around the Clock". Tcm.com . Retrieved 24 Nov 2020.
17. ^ Belcher, Jerry (Feb ten, 1981). "Bill Haley of 'Rock Around the Clock' Fame Dies in Texas Dwelling house". Los Angeles Times. p. two.
18. ^ "Michigan Rock and Roll Legends – Bill HALEY AND HIS COMETS". Michiganrockandrolllegends.com . Retrieved vi October 2018.
19. ^ "Bill Haley Extra Page 2". Rockabillyhall.com. Archived from the original on 2011-10-11. Retrieved 2011-11-04 .
20. ^ ^{a b} "The Nib Haley Who'southward Who". Rockabilly Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 2012-02-04. Retrieved 2012-03-26 .
21. ^ "The Film That Helped Launch Rock". CBS News. Archived from the original on 2011-06-04. Retrieved 2011-eleven-04 .
22. ^ "Stone 'N' Roll Turns 50 in July". Seniorjournal.com. 2005-06-29. Archived from the original on 2011-10-14. Retrieved 2011-11-04 .
23. ^ ""EXTRA!" Page 1 / Bill Haley and the Comets". Rockabillyhall.com. Archived from the original on 2011-10-sixteen. Retrieved 2011-eleven-04 .
24. ^ ^{a b} "Nib Haley is back with Pecker Haley'southward New Comets". Bill-haley.com. Archived from the original on 2011-09-x. Retrieved 2011-11-04 .
25. ^ "Nib Haley Jr. performs male parent'south archetype tunes". Timesherald.com. Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2017-01-27 .
26. ^ Vincent Jackson. "Comets drummer, Ocean City resident Dick Boccelli dies at 95". Pressofatlanticcity.com.
27. ^ "Richard Marley "Dick" Boccelli 1924–2019". Godfreyfuneralhome.com . Retrieved 31 July 2020.
28. ^ "Dick Richards, drummer who shot to fame with Bill Haley and his Comets at the dawn of stone'n'roll – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 24 July 2019. Archived from the original on 2022-01-12. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
29. ^ Gary Puleo. "Pioneering bass player for the Comets passes away". The Times Herald. Archived from the original on 4 June 2020. Retrieved 24 Nov 2020.
30. ^ "In Loving Memory of Albert Rappa Sr. 1927 - 2021", Newcomer Cremations, Funerals & Receptions. Retrieved August 3, 2021
31. ^ Grammy Hall of Fame Database Archived July 7, 2015, at the Wayback Motorcar.

References [edit]

• Jim Dawson, Rock Around the Clock: The Record That Started the Rock Revolution! (San Francisco: Backbeat Books, 2005)
• John West. Haley and John von Hoelle, Audio and Glory (Wilmington, Delaware: Dyne-American, 1990)
• John Swenson, Bill Haley (London: W.H. Allen, 1982)
• Discography information from Bill Haley Key and Bill Haley & His Comets, etc.: A Discography, an unpublished reference work past Herbert Kamitz
• What Was the Offset Rock 'n' Coil Record? ISBN 0-571-12939-0 (paper)
• Charlie Gillette and SImon Frith, eds., Rock File 4 (Panther Books, 1976) ISBN 0-586-04370-5
• Billboard magazine
• Cash Box magazine

External links [edit]

• Pecker Haley at IMDb
• Bill Haley & His Comets discography at Discogs
• Rockabilly Hall of Fame – Biography of Bill Haley Archived 2010-05-27 at the Wayback Machine
• Rockabilly Hall of Fame – List of Comets musicians
• Pecker Haley Central Web Portal – expressionless link
• "Bill Haley & His Comets". Rock and Whorl Hall of Fame.

sorrellthip1991.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Haley_%26_His_Comets

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