Bill Haley

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Bill Haley was born on 6 July 1925 in Highland Park, Michigan, and grew up in Pennsylvania. His father played banjo and mandolin, and his mother was a classically trained keyboard player. Because of an operation in childhood he was blind in one eye. The curl on his forehead was supposed to hide that side, but became his trademark.

Music and breakthrough

Haley began in country music. In 1947 he founded a western swing band that later came to be called The Saddlemen, and in 1951 they recorded a cover of Rocket 88. In 1952 the name became Bill Haley with Haley's Comets, after Halley's Comet. Crazy Man, Crazy became a hit in 1953 and is sometimes called the first rock 'n' roll record. In 1954 he recorded Rock Around the Clock. The record did little at first, but after the song was heard in the film Blackboard Jungle, it reached number 1 in July 1955. Shake, Rattle and Roll and See You Later, Alligator also became big hits.

Influence

Haley mixed country music and western swing with Black rhythm and blues into a rousing new sound. Many regard him as the one who first made rock 'n' roll popular in the early 1950s, and his performances in Europe caused an uproar. Even so, his star was quick to fall: next to younger and wilder stars such as Elvis Presley, he looked like a man in his thirties with no sex appeal. He died on 9 February 1981 and was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 1977Golden Country Origins
• 2004Rock Around The Clock

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• Mixtape 1: The Origins of Pop Music^NL Reader
• Mixtape 2: Youth Cultures 1950-1980^NL Reader
• The Dream Factory: Film Reel 4^NL Reader
• Magazine: De jukebox gaat de film in^NL Magazine