Bill Haley was one of the biggest names in American Rock music for many years. He is the first to popularize the art from in the early 1950’s with his group “Bill Haley & His Comets” and their smash hit song, “Rock Around The Clock”.

Haley was born in Michigan and later moved with his family to the Boothwyn, PA area after the Great Depression left the Detroit area in dire straits. At an early age Haley was exposed to a variety of music thanks to his mother and father’s ability to play banjo and keyboard. After fashioning a makeshift guitar out of cardboard at an early age, his parents eventually purchased him a real one and his musical journey truly started to take shape.

Haley can be noted as starting his professional music career as a teenager, playing and entertaining at auctions for a small fee, and eventually formed a group and started to branch out with local bookings featuring himself and his band. From there, his story moves to his mid teens where he left home and sought out fame and fortune by playing around the country with anyone that would have him perform. After many lean years, he eventually started working with a well-known group called the “Down Homers” while in Connecticut. He eventually moved on as a solo act and it then blossomed into greatness.

Bill Haley moved forward as a musical director of a radio station in Chester, PA and led his own band with a country western flare, playing clubs all over until finally striking it big. The Saddleman changed their name to Billy Haley with Haley’s Comets and in 1953 they moved forward to start recording. The band recorded the track “Crazy Man” and it is credited as the first major rock and roll song to hit the American charts. The band continued to make waves, and spawned several hits through the years.

Haley wasn’t without problems, as he struggled with alcoholism throughout the 1970’s, despite being able to manage his rock and roll band. In 1980, Bill Haley was diagnosed with a brain tumor and stopped touring, never to return to music. He would have a well-publicized break down of lifestyle, and died in 1981. He has been heralded as one of the pioneers of Rock Music and is celebrated as a great musical artist to this day.