After a minor sucess with Crazy Man Crazy in 1952 Haley and the Comets signed with Decca in 1954. They first released " Rock Around The Clock" a song originally cut two years earlier by" Sunny Dae". who scored only a minor hit with it.The group followed with with a remake of Joe Turner's Shake Rattle and Roll.which hit the top ten in both the United States and Britain. Rock around the clock hit the top of the charts in 1955.It was the sound track of the movie "BlackBoard Jungle". A movie that captured the spirit of teenage rebellion embodied by rock during the mid-1950s.Haley continued to churn out hits. During the 1955 and 1956 he scored with twelve Top 40 records.including"See You Later Alligator" " Burn That Candle" " Dim Dim The Lights" "Razzle Dazzle" and "Rock"In 1957 he appeared in two movies " Rock Around The Clock'and' Don't Knock The Rock" which featured his music.
Bill Haley and the Comets. Bill Haley was born in Michigan.Bill Haley in 1949 formed a band.The Four Aces of Western Swing, for a radio show on station WPWA in Chester Pennsylvania.As the Ramblin Yodeler he recorded country music with the Four Aces and subsequently with the Down Homers and the Saddlemen.His Mother was a piano teacher his Fater was a mandolin player. That was where the country infulence came from. in 1950,Haley released a cover version of Jackie Brenston's" Rocket 88". which convinced him to combine country swing music with the R&B boogie woogie jump beat of" Louis Jordan".Haley had songs that had the drive of Jordon's Tympany Five and the color of country western. Rockabilly was what it was called back then.He started out as a country western singer then added a touch of rhytm and blues.It wasn't something Haley planned it just evolved.
