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Once, according to a wire service report, a reporter went to his house and was told he never lived there. In recent years, little was heard from the entertainer who was one of the founding fathers of rock. Haley's count they made 37 hit records, including "See Ya Later, Alligator," "Shake, Rattle 'n Roll," and "Rock 'a Beatin' Boogie." After their star seemed to fade in this country, they went abroad, and found new and equally eager audiences. Haley and his group won hordes of howling, screaming, irrespressibly enthusiastic fans. Haley and the Comets recorded "Rock the Joint," "Real Rock Drive" and "Crazy, Man, Crazy." Throbbing with energy and exuberance, the latter, according to music historians, was, in 1953, the first rock record to become a national pop hit. "Rock Around the Clock," which sold more than 16 million copies within 15 years of its release, was not his first rock release. As a young man he had a group billed as Bill Haley and The Four Aces of Western Swing and later he and his band were called Bill Haley and The Saddlemen. While in high school in Pennsylvania, he started playing country music. Haley sometimes described as the first white rock singer, was born in Highland Park, Mich., a Detroit suburb, and moved as a child to Booth's Corner, a small southeastern Pennsylvania town.
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This was a new music for kids who hadn't had any of their own. "That's when the mob scene started - thousands of kids at the stage door. "Actually, it had been gathering momentum and when we made 'Rock Around the Clock' it just exploded. "People associate the beginning of rock 'n roll with 1954," Mr. But few individuals or groups did more to introduce rock to the popular music audience, or to ignite the explosion with which it blazed its way into the world's consciousness. Haley died of natural causes.īill Haley and the Comets, with their loud, pulsating sound, did not invent rock 'n roll, whose roots have been traced to country music and to black rhythm and blues. The precise cause of death was not known, but a justice of the peace said that Mr. Police said he was found dead in his bed about 12:35 p.m.
#Rock around the clock movie
Haley, who with his group, the Comets, sent teen-aged film audiences into frenzy when they played the song over the credits of the movie "Blackboard Jungle." had lived for some time in relative seclusion in a fashionable neighborhood of Harlingen in the Rio Grande valley. Jukebox Musical: The film features acts like Bill Haley and His Comets and The Platters lip-synching to previously released recordings, with the exception of a live-to-camera performance of the Comets instrumental "Rudy's Rock" and a couple of minor numbers.Bill Haley, 53, who helped make rock 'n roll a major part of the American musical idiom with his 1950s classic "Rock Around the Clock," died yesterday in his home in south Texas.As Himself: Besides the bands themselves, pioneering disc jockey Alan Freed appears apparently, Steve called in a favor owed to him.The '50s: The movie is a window to the early days of rock 'n' roll in the '50s, in the vein of Go, Johnny, Go! and Shake, Rattle & Rock!.Steve turns to agent Corinne Talbot (Alix Talton), who handles bookings for nearly all of the venues in which Steve needs the band to play to gain them exposure, but Corinne's primary interest in Steve, however, turns out to be more than professional, and so Steve will need to maneuver around her to give the Comets the exposure they need. Convinced that rock and roll will be the next big thing, Hollis strikes a deal to manage the group and also strikes up a romance with dancer Lisa Johns (Lisa Gaye). While traveling through a small town, he attends the local teenage dance and meets local band Bill Haley and His Comets and is introduced to rock and roll music and dancing.
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As band manager Steve Hollis (Johnny Johnston) observes that big band dance music is failing to draw audiences any longer, he comes across a new sound that piques his interest. The film tells a highly fictionalized rendition of how rock and roll was discovered. Rock Around the Clock is a 1956 musical film featuring Bill Haley & His Comets and other bands such as the Platters, Tony Martinez and His Band, and Freddie Bell and His Bellboys.
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