Bill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band
that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The
original members of this group were Haley, pianist and accordion player
Johnny Grande and steel guitarist Billy Williamson. Al Thompson was the
group's first bass player. In early 1954 they recorded Rock around the
Clock which met with moderate success. With the release of the film
Blackboard Jungle in March 1955 using Rock around the Clock as the
soundtrack, Bill Haley and his Comets hit the big time. Bill Haley after
a large tour in Europe, returned to his home in Harlingen, Texas where
he died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack on February 9, 1981.
This is a non-profit, informational web page, meant to be a
reminder of the music we listened to 50 years ago. Use of copyrighted
material is consistent with the "fair use" provisions contained in
section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976; the use of copyrighted material is
of a nonprofit, educational nature, intended for the sole purposes of
research and comment and does not significantly negatively affect "the
potential market for or value of the copyrighted work(s)."