Rocking Around the Clock with Bill Haley and the Comets

Bill Haley and the Comets rolled out some of the greatest rock and roll hits from when they were founded in 1952 to the time of Haley’s death in 1981. This American rock group put nine singles on the Top 20. Bill Haley began his career as a country music singer.

The original name of this band was Bill Haley and the Saddlemen from 1949–1952 and performed country style. It was during this time that Haley became one of the top cowboy yodelers. However, a great deal of the Saddlemen recordings didn’t get released until the 1970s and 1980s. They included wonderful tunes like “Rose of My Heart” and “Yodel Your Blues Away." Members of this group included Haley piano, Johnny Grande accordion, and Billy Williamson steel guitarist.

When Haley started on his rock and roll career he began with rockabilly and the band adopted the name the Comets. Bill Haley and the Comets came out with “Crazy Man, Crazy” and it became a hit with teens and went on to become the first rock and roll song to be on national TV. It was used for the soundtrack of a 1953 play which starred James Dean.

Next came one of their biggest hits which is still popular today “Rock Around the Clock." This hit sold 25 million copies and went into the Guinness Book of World Records and became a gold disc.

Next came “Shake, Rattle, and Roll” and wound up being the seventh best selling record in November of 1954. The song became even more popular when Elvis recorded it. Other hits included “Dim, Dim the Lights," “Birth of Boogie," and “Mambo Rock." Elvis made a recording of “Shake, Rattle, and Roll” in 1956. Bill Haley and the Comets appeared in two full-length rock and roll movies “Rock Around the Clock” and “Don’t Knock the Rock."

It was from this talented man and his band that teens got the saying, “See You Later, Alligator." This is the song that started it all.

Another of their sing and dance along songs was ”Corrine, Corrina.”

Bill Haley and the Comets lost some of their popularity in the U.S. from 1956 to 1957 due to other more wild acts by Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Little Richard. So they moved over to the U.K. in February of 1957 and discovered that they were enthusiastically greeted by fans at Waterloo Station in London. They also went on tour in Australia. When Elvis was on duty in Germany he went to visit them backstage.

Returning to the states Bill Haley and the Comets became known as Bill Haley y sus Cometas in Latin America and signed with a Mexican record label. They scored an amazing hit with “Twist Espanol” sung in Spanish.

Since at this time people were twisting everywhere Haley came up with another Mexican hit single called “Florida Twist." Even though in the U.S. Chubby Checker was known for starting the twist craze in Mexico and Latin America it was Bill Haley and the Comets who were known as the Kings of the Twist.

In the late 1960s Bill Haley and the Comets were already referred to as an oldies act. However, they were still popular in Europe and signed on with Sonet Records in Sweden in 1968 and came up with a new version of “Rock Around the Clock” which rose up in the European charts. In the early 1970s they appeared in some concert films which included The London Rock and Roll Show and Let the Good Times Roll.

In 1973 Bill Haley and the Comets recorded “Rock ‘n’ Roll Music”. The song had been previously recorded by top artists like Chuck Berry, The Beatles, and The Beach Boys.

It was in 1974 that their original recording of “Rock Around the Clock’ became once again popular in the U.S. due to the movie American Graffiti and the TV show Happy Days. Bill Halley was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. It was at this time that supporting bands didn’t get named but the Comets were inducted in 2012. Other places where Bill Haley and the Comets have been inducted are the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and in Hollywood’s Rockwalk in 2005 where the Comets put their handprints in cement leaving a blank space for Haley who had died in 1981.

His son carries on his father’s fame. Bill Haley, Jr. put together a band called Bill Halley, Jr. and the Comets in 2011. He has created a Rock and Roll History Show in which the band performs Bill Haley’s songs from his repertoire from the record labels of Decca, Essex and Holiday. During the show, his son also tells some anecdotes and interesting and unknown facts about the songs and his father’s life. The band did a short tour of the Eastern U.S. in 2012.