Editing Bill Haley (section)

==Bill Haley and His Comets==

{{main|Bill Haley & His Comets}}
During the Labor Day weekend in 1952, the Saddlemen were renamed '''Bill Haley with Haley's Comets'''. The name was inspired by the supposedly official pronunciation of [[Halley's Comet]] and was suggested by Bob Johnson, program director at radio station WPWA where Bill Haley had a live radio program from 12:00{{spaces}}noon to 1:00{{spaces}}p.m. In 1953, Haley's recording of "[[Crazy Man, Crazy]]" (co-written by Haley and his bass player, [[Marshall Lytle]], although Lytle would not receive credit until 2001) hit the American charts, peaking at number 12 on ''Billboard'' and number 11 on ''Cash Box''. Some sources indicate that this was the first [[rock and roll]] record in history, although [[rockabilly]] might be a more appropriate term.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kallen |first=Stuart |date=9 May 2012 |title=The History of American Pop |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zohmDwAAQBAJ&q=Crazy+Man%2C+Crazy+bill+haley+million&pg=PA33 |publisher=Greenhaven Publishing LLC |page=34 |isbn=978-1420506723 |accessdate=November 10, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/master/249571-Bill-Haley-With-Haleys-Comets-Crazy-Man-Crazy|title=Bill Haley With Haley's Comets* – Crazy Man, Crazy|date=July 6, 2017|work=Discogs|access-date=November 10, 2023|quote=Style: Rock & Roll, Rockabilly}}</ref> By the time this record was released, the group's name had been revised to using the term "Comets" instead of "Saddlemen".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/2135591-Bill-Haley-With-Haleys-Comets-Crazy-Man-Crazy|title=Bill Haley With Haley's Comets* – Crazy Man, Crazy|date=July 6, 2017|work=Discogs|access-date=November 10, 2023|quote=}}</ref>

[[File:Bill Haley, 1974, Liége 1.jpg|thumb|upright|Bill Haley and the Comets performing in 1974]]

In 1954, Haley recorded "[[Rock Around the Clock]]".<ref>Dawson 2005</ref> Initially, it was only a moderate success, peaking at number  36 on the ''Cash Box'' pop singles chart and staying on the charts for just two weeks.  On re-release, the record reached number one on July 9, 1955.

Haley had already had a worldwide hit with "[[Shake, Rattle and Roll]]", another [[rhythm and blues]] cover in this case from [[Big Joe Turner]],  which went on to sell a million copies and was the first rock 'n' roll song to enter the [[UK Singles Chart]] in December 1954, becoming a gold record. He retained elements of the original (which was slow blues), but sped it up with some country music aspects into the song (specifically, Western swing) and changed up the lyrics. Haley and his band were important in launching the music known as "Rock and Roll" to a wider audience after a period of it being considered an underground genre.

When "Rock Around the Clock" appeared as the theme song of the 1955 film ''[[Blackboard Jungle]]'' starring [[Glenn Ford]], it soared to the top of the American ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' chart for eight weeks. The single is commonly used as a convenient line of demarcation between the "rock era" and the music industry that preceded it. ''Billboard'' separated its statistical tabulations into 1890–1954 and 1955–present. After the record rose to number one, Haley became widely popular with those who had come to embrace the new style of music. With the song's success, the age of rock music began overnight and ended the dominance of the jazz and pop standards performed by [[Frank Sinatra]], [[Jo Stafford]], [[Perry Como]], [[Bing Crosby]], [[Eddie Fisher]], and [[Patti Page]]. "Rock Around the Clock" was also the first record to sell over one million copies in both [[UK|Britain]] and [[West Germany|Germany]]. [[Danny Cedrone]], not a member of The Comets, played the guitar solo on the record, though did not live long enough to see the song's success as he died shortly after the recording following a fall down stairs at his home, aged 33.

Bill Haley and the Comets performed "Rock Around the Clock" on the ''[[Texaco Star Theater]]'' hosted by [[Milton Berle]] on May 31, 1955, on [[NBC]] in an'' a cappella'' and lip-synched version. Berle predicted that the song would go number one: "A group of entertainers who are going right to the top." Berle also sang and danced to the song which was performed by the entire cast of the show. This was one of the earliest nationally televised performances by a rock and roll band and provided the new musical genre with a much wider audience.

Bill Haley and the Comets were the first rock and roll act to appear on American musical variety series the ''[[Ed Sullivan Show]]'' on August 7, 1955, on [[CBS]] in a broadcast that originated from the [[American Shakespeare Theatre|Shakespeare Festival Theater]] in [[Stratford, Connecticut]]. They performed a live version of "Rock Around the Clock" with Franny Beecher on lead guitar and Dick Richards on drums. The band made their second appearance on the show on Sunday, April 28, 1957, performing the songs "[[Rudy's Rock]]" and "Forty Cups of Coffee".

Later on in 1957, Haley became the first major American rock singer to tour Europe. Haley continued to score hits throughout the 1950s such as "[[See You Later, Alligator]]" and he starred in the first rock and roll musical films ''[[Rock Around the Clock (film)|Rock Around the Clock]]'' and ''[[Don't Knock the Rock]]'', both in 1956. Haley was already 30 years old, and his popularity was soon eclipsed in the United States by the younger [[Elvis Presley]], but continued to enjoy great popularity in Latin America, Europe, and Australia during the 1960s.

Bill Haley and the Comets appeared on ''[[American Bandstand]]'' hosted by [[Dick Clark]] on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] twice in 1957, on the prime time show October 28, 1957, and on the regular daytime show on November 27, 1957. The band also appeared on Dick Clark's ''Saturday Night Beechnut Show'', also known as ''[[The Dick Clark Show]]'', a primetime TV series from New York on March 22, 1958, during the first season and on February 20, 1960, performing "Rock Around the Clock"; "Shake, Rattle and Roll"; and "Tamiami".