William John Clifton "Bill" Haley (July 6, 1925 – February 9, 1981), was one of the first American rock & roll musicians. He is credited by many with being the first to popularize this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and their hit song "Rock Around the Clock." And although he's known as the [Father of Rock & Roll], Haley is a neglected hero.

Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly are ensconced in the heavens, transformed into veritable constellations in the rock music firmament, their music respected by writers and scholars as well as the record-buying public. And among the living rock & roll pioneers, Chuck Berry is given his due in the music marketplace and by the history books. Bo Diddley is acknowledged appropriately in the latter, even if his music doesn't sell the way it should. Yet Bill Haley, who was there before any of them, playing rock & roll before it even had a name, and selling it in sufficient quantities, out of a small Pennsylvania label, to attract attention from the major labels before Presley was even recording in Memphis. Yet Haley is barely represented by more than a dozen of his early singles, and recognized by the average listener. He's often treated as little more than a glorified footnote, an anomaly that came and went very quickly, in most histories of the music. The truth is, Bill Haley came along a lot earlier than most people realize, and he went on making good music for years longer than is usually recognized.

Early life and career: The anonymous sleeve notes accompanying the 1956 Decca album [Rock Around The Clock] by Bill Haley and His Comets describe Haley’s early life and career thus, "Bill Haley was born and raised in Highland Park, Michigan, and then his family moved, when he was seven years old, to a house near Wilmington, Delaware. Like most future musicians and composers he soon showed definite signs of the musical bug; and lack of funds, which generally affects the young genius, forced him to manufacture his own musical instrument out of cardboard. This was a guitar and the fable has it that it actually produced musical sounds, incredible as this may seem. Father Haley was moved by this demonstration of filial endeavour to buy his son a real guitar and was justified by Bill getting his first professional job at the age of 13, playing and entertaining at an auction for the fee of $1 a night. Very soon after this he formed a group of equally enthusiastic youngsters and managed to get quite a few local bookings for his band."

The sleeve notes continue, "When Bill Haley was fifteen (c.1940) he left home with his guitar and very little else and set out on the hard road to fame and fortune. The next few years, continuing this story in a fairy-tale manner, were hard and poverty stricken, but cramful of useful experience. Apart from learning how to exist on one meal a day and other artistic exercises, he worked at an open-air, park show, sang and yodelled with any band that would have him and worked with a travelling medicine show. Eventually he got a job with a popular group known as the Down Homers... Soon after this he decided, as all successful people must decide at some time or another, to be his own boss...and he has been that ever since."

The sleeve notes conclude, "For six years Bill Haley was a musical director of Radio Station WPWA in Chester, Pennsylvania, and led his own band all through this period. It was then known as, Bill Haley’s Saddlemen,{1}indicating their definite leaning toward the country-western style. They continued playing in clubs as well as over the radio around Philadelphia, and in 1951 made their first recordings."

In 1952, The Saddlemen were renamed Bill Haley with Haley's Comets (inspired by a popular mispronunciation of Halley's Comet), and in 1953, Haley's recording of "Crazy Man, Crazy" (co-written by Haley and his bass player, Marshall Lytle although Lytle wouldn't receive credit until 2001) became the first rock & roll song to hit the American charts, peaking at #15 on [The Billboard Top Singles Chart] and #11 on [The Billboard Cash Box Chart.] Soon after, the band's name was revised to Bill Haley & His Comets.

In 1953, a song called "Rock Around the Clock" was written by Max Freedman and Jimmy DeKnight, for Haley. He was unable to record it until April 12, 1954, and it was released to relative failure, staying at the charts for only one week. Also in 1954, Haley scored a major worldwide hit with a cover version of Big Joe Turner's "Shake, Rattle and Roll," which went on to sell a million copies and became the first ever rock & roll song to enter British singles charts.

Haley and his band were important in launching the music known as "Rock & Roll" to a wider, mostly white audience after years of it being considered an underground genre. When "Rock Around the Clock" appeared behind the opening credits of the 1955 film [Blackboard Jungle,] starring Glenn Ford, it soared to the top of the [U.S. Billboard Charts] for eight weeks. The single is commonly used as a convenient line of demarcation between the rock era and the music that preceded it. [Billboard Magazine] separates its statistical tabulations into 1890-1954 and 1955-present. After the record rose to #1, Haley was quickly given the title [Father of Rock & Roll,] by the media, and by the teenagers that had come to embrace the new style of music.

In 1957, "Rock Around the Clock" was the first record ever to sell over one million copies in both Britain and Germany and, Haley became the first major American rock singer to tour Europe. Haley continued to score hits throughout the 1950s, such as "See You Later, Alligator," and he starred in the first rock & roll musical movies [Rock Around the Clock] and [Don't Knock the Rock,] both in 1956. His star was soon surpassed in the USA by the younger, sexier Elvis, but Haley continued to be a major star in Latin America, Mexico, and in Europe throughout the 1960s.

Death and legacy: A self-admitted alcoholic (as indicated in a 1974 radio interview for the BBC), Haley fought a battle with liquor well into the 1970s. Nonetheless, he and his band continued to be a popular touring act, enjoying a career resurgence in the late 1960s because of a rock & roll revival movement and the signing of a lucrative record deal with the European, Sonet Records label. After performing for Queen Elizabeth II at a command performance in 1979, Haley made his final performances in South Africa in May and June 1980. Prior to the South African tour, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and a planned tour of Germany in the fall of 1980 was canceled.

The October 25, 1980 edition of the German paper, [Bild,] reported Haley' brain tumor and quoted British manager, Patrick Maylan, as saying that Haley "...had taken a fit and went over the seat. He didn't recognize anyone anymore." It also reported that a doctor at the clinic where Haley had been taken said, "The tumor can't be operated on anymore..." [The Berliner Zeitung] reported a few days later that Haley had collapsed after a performance in Texas and been taken to the hospital.

Despite his ill health, Haley began compiling notes for possible use as a basis for either a biographical film based on his life, or a published autobiography (accounts differ), and there were plans for him to record an album in Memphis, Tennessee. However, the brain tumor began affecting his behavior and he retired to his home in Harlingen, Texas, where he died early on the morning of February 9, 1981.

Haley's death certificate lists "natural causes most likely a heart attack" as the "immediate cause" of death. The next lines, "due to, or as a consequence of..." are blank.

Media reports immediately following his death indicated Haley displayed deranged and erratic behavior in his final weeks, although beyond a biography of Haley, by John Swenson, released a year later, which describes Haley painting the windows of his home black, there is little information available about Haley's final days.

Haley was posthumously inducted into the [Rock & Roll Hall of Fame] in 1987. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The Comets: Haley's original Comets from, 1954 and 1955, still tour the world to packed houses. Despite ranging in age from 72 to 84, the band members show no sign of slowing down, releasing a concert DVD in 2004 on Hydra Records, playing the trendy Viper Room in West Hollywood in 2005, and performing at Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater in Branson, Missouri in 2006-07.

In March 2007 The Original Comets pre-opened the Bill Haley Museum in Munich, Germany. On October 27, 2007 ex-Comets guitar player, Bill Turner, opened the Bill Haley Museum for the public. The Museum keeps the legacy and importance of Bill Haley & His Comets alive. There are hundreds of photos, posters, books, instruments, Gold Records, business papers and merchandise on display.

Asteroid: In February 2006, the International Astronomical Union announced the naming of asteroid 79896 Billhaley to mark the 25th anniversary of Bill Haley's death.

Children: Married three times, Bill Haley had at least eight children. John W. Haley, his eldest son, wrote [Sound and Glory,] a biography of Haley, while his youngest daughter, Gina Haley, is an up-and-coming musician based out of Los Angeles. Scott Haley is a noted athlete, while Bill's youngest son, Pedro Haley, is also a musician-in-the-making. He also had a daughter from his last marriage with Mrs. Martha Velasco. Her name is Martha Maria.

Bill Haley Jr. (b. 7/28/55), Bill's second son and first with Joan Barbara "Cuppy" Haley-Hahn, publishes a regional business magazine in Southeastern Pennsylvania, and sings and plays guitar with a band called, "Lager Rhythms." He's also appeared with the Original Comets. He is currently writing another biography about his father, concentrating on the years 1949-61.

Film portrayals: Unlike his contemporaries, Bill Haley has rarely been portrayed on screen. Following the success of [The Buddy Holly Story] in 1978, Haley expressed interest in having his life story committed to film, but this never came to fruition. In the 1980s and early 1990s, numerous media reports emerged that plans were underway to do a biopic based upon Haley's life, with Beau Bridges, Jeff Bridges and John Ritter all at one point being mentioned as actors in line to play Haley. (According to [Goldmine Magazine,] Ritter attempted to buy the film rights to Sound and Glory).

• Bill Haley has also been portrayed, not always in a positive light, in several "period" films:
• John Paramor played Haley in [Shout! The Story of Johnny O'Keefe] (Made for TV, 1985).
• Michael Daingerfield played Haley in [Mr. Rock & Roll: The Alan Freed Story] (1999).
• Dicky Barrett (of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones) played Haley in [Shake, Rattle and Roll: An American Love Story] (1999).

Following Haley's death, no fewer than six different groups have existed under the "Comets" name, all claiming (with varying degrees of authority) to be the official continuation of the group led by Haley. As of early 2008, three such groups are still actively performing in the United States and internationally.

Several tribute bands patterning themselves after The Comets are also active in Europe, including [Phil] Haley and His Comments in Great Britain, and the Bill Haley and His Comets Revival (also known as Bill Haley's New Comets) in Germany. _______________________________________________________________________________________ {1}The band initially formed as Bill Haley and the Saddlemen c. 1949–1952, and performed mostly country and western songs, though occasionally with a bluesy feel. Many Saddlemen recordings would not be 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."

• Original members:
• Bill Haley (guitar, vocals)
• Johnny Grande (piano in the studio, accordion for live shows)
• Billy Williamson (steel guitar)
• Al Thompson (bass guitar)
• Charlie Higler (drums)
• Joey Ambrose (saxophone)

• Other early members:
• Al Rex (replaced Al Thompson on bass guitar)
• Dick Richards (aka: Dick Boccelli, replaced Charlie Higler on drums)
• Marshall Lytle (replaced Al Rex on bass guitar)

During this time (and as late as the fall of 1955), Haley did not have a permanent lead guitar player, choosing to use session musicians on record and either playing lead guitar himself or having Williamson play steel solos, instead.