Editing Bill Haley & His Comets (section)

==Late career==
In February 1976, Haley's saxophone player and best friend, [[Rudy Pompilli]], died of [[cancer]] after a nearly 20-year career with the Comets. Haley continued to tour for the next year with a succession of new sax players, but his popularity was waning again, and his 1976 performance in London was critically lambasted in the music media, such as ''[[Melody Maker]]''. That year, the group also recorded an album, ''R-O-C-K'' at [[Muscle Shoals Sound Studio]] for Sonet Records. According to one source, "he had conflicted feelings about fame, was extremely private, suffered chronic alcoholism, and troubled relationships".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aFzMvgEACAAJ|title=Crazy Man, Crazy The Bill Haley Story|author=Bill Haley, Jr., Peter Benjaminson |page= |date=October 3, 2019 |publisher=Backbeat Books|isbn=9781617137112|accessdate=November 10, 2023}}</ref> Having admitted to an alcohol problem in a 1974 radio interview for the [[BBC]],<ref name=FallingComet>{{Cite web|url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/falling-comet/|title=Falling Comet|date=2011-06-01|website=Texas Monthly|language=en|access-date=2020-01-25}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PgGqNrqfrsoC&q=bill+haley+%22alcoholism%22&pg=PP15|title=The Billboard Book of Number One Hits|last=Bronson|first=Fred|date=2003|publisher=Billboard Books|isbn=978-0-8230-7677-2|language=en}}</ref> Haley continued to battle alcoholism into the 1970s. 
In early 1977, Haley announced his retirement from performing and settled down at his home in Mexico. According to the John Swenson biography of Haley, the musician was quoted as saying that he and Pompilli had an agreement that if one died, the other would retire.

The Comets continued to tour on their own during this period.

In 1979, Haley was persuaded to return to performing with the offer of a lucrative contract to tour Europe. An almost completely new group of musicians, mostly British, including saxophonist [[Pete Thomas (saxophonist)|Pete Thomas]], were assembled to perform as the Comets. Haley appeared on numerous television shows and in the movie ''Blue Suede Shoes'', filmed at one of his London concerts in March 1979. A few days later, a performance in [[Birmingham]] was videotaped and aired on UK television; it was released on DVD in 2005. During the March tour, Haley recorded several tracks in London for his next album for Sonet, completing the work that summer in Muscle Shoals; the album, ''Everyone Can Rock & Roll'', issued later in 1979, was the last release of new recordings by Haley before his death.

On November 26, 1979, Haley and the Comets performed for [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Queen Elizabeth II]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.royalvarietycharity.org/royal-variety-performance/archive/detail/1979-london-theatre-royal|title=Performances :: 1979, London Theatre Royal &#124; Royal Variety Charity|website=Royalvarietycharity.org|access-date=May 12, 2023}}</ref> a moment Haley considered the proudest of his career. It was also the last time he performed in Europe and the last time most fans saw him perform "Rock Around the Clock".{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}

Haley made his final performances in South Africa in May and June 1980. Just before the South African tour commenced, Haley's health was reportedly failing, and he was reportedly diagnosed with a [[brain tumor]]; a planned tour of Germany in the autumn of 1980 was subsequently cancelled.  The tour was critically lambasted, but surviving recordings of a performance in [[Johannesburg]] show Haley in good spirits and good voice. Nonetheless, according to the Haley News fan club newsletter and the Haley biography ''Sound and Glory'', planned concerts (such as a fall 1980 tour of Germany) and proposed recording sessions in New York and [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]] were cancelled, including a potential reunion with past members of the Comets.

Despite his illness, Haley started compiling notes for possible use as a basis for either a biographical film based on his life, or a published autobiography (accounts differ), and there were plans for him to record an album in [[Memphis, Tennessee]], when the brain tumor began affecting his behavior and he returned to his home in [[Harlingen, Texas]]. 
The October 25, 1980, issue of German tabloid ''[[Bild]]'' reported that Haley had a brain tumor. Haley's British manager, Patrick Malynn, was quoted as saying that "Haley had taken a fit [and] didn't recognize anyone anymore." In addition, a doctor who examined Haley said that the tumor was inoperable.<ref name="Bill Haley 1982. page 154">''Bill Haley: The Daddy of Rock and Roll''. John Swenson. 1982. Stein and Day. p. 154, {{ISBN|0-8128-2909-3}}</ref>  Haley's widow Martha, who was with him in these troubling times, denied he had a brain tumor, as did his close friend Hugh McCallum. Martha and friends related that Haley did not want to go on the road anymore and that ticket sales for that planned tour of Germany in the fall of 1980 were slow. McCallum said, "It's my unproven gut feeling that that [the brain tumor] was said to curtail talks about the tour and play the sympathy card."<ref name=FallingComet/>

Haley returned to his home in [[Harlingen, Texas]].  At this time, Haley's alcoholism appeared to be worsening. According to Martha, by this time, she and Haley fought all the time, and she told him to stop drinking or move out. Eventually, he moved into a room in their pool house. Martha still took care of him and sometimes, he would come in the house to eat, but he ate very little. "There were days we never saw him," said his daughter Martha Maria.<ref name=FallingComet/> In addition to Haley's drinking problems, it was becoming evident that he was also developing serious mental health issues. Martha Maria said, "It was like sometimes he was drunk even when he wasn't drinking." After being picked up by the police in Harlingen several times for alleged intoxication, Martha had a judge put Haley in the hospital, where he was seen by a psychiatrist, who said Haley's brain was overproducing a chemical, like adrenaline. The doctor prescribed a medication to stop the overproduction, but said Haley would have to stop drinking. Martha said, "This is pointless." She took him home, however, fed him and gave him his first dose. As soon as he felt better, he went back out to his room in the pool house, and the downward spiral continued until his death.<ref name=FallingComet/>

Media reports immediately following his death indicated that Haley displayed deranged and erratic behavior in the final weeks of his life. According to a biography of Haley by John Swenson, released in 1982,<ref name="Bill Haley 1982">''Bill Haley: The Daddy of Rock and Roll'', pp. 155-159, John Swenson. (1982. Pub. Stein and Day, 1982), {{ISBN|0-8128-2909-3}}</ref> Haley made a succession of bizarre, mostly monologue late-night phone calls to friends and relatives toward the end of his life in which he was semi-coherent. His first wife has been quoted as saying, "He would call you and ramble, dwelling on the past..." The biography also describes Haley painting the windows of his home black,<ref name="Bill Haley 1982"/> but there is little other information available about his final days.

Haley died in his sleep of an apparent [[myocardial infarction|heart attack]] on February 9, 1981, at the age of 55, at his home in Harlingen, Texas.<ref>{{cite news|title=Bill Haley of 'Rock Around the Clock' Fame Dies in Texas Home|author=Belcher, Jerry|work= Los Angeles Times|page=2|date=February 10, 1981}}</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/10/obituaries/bill-haley-55-dies-singer-band-leader.html "Obituary for Bill Haley"], ''New York Times'', February 10, 1981.</ref> He was discovered lying motionless on his bed by a friend who had stopped by to visit him. The friend immediately called the police, and Haley was pronounced dead at the scene.<ref name=FallingComet/> Haley's death certificate gave "natural causes, most likely a heart attack" as the cause of death.<ref>''Bill Haley: The Daddy of Rock and Roll'', p. 164, by John Swenson (Pub. Stein and Day 1982). {{ISBN|0-8128-2909-3}}</ref> Following a small funeral service attended by 75 people,<ref name=FallingComet/> Haley was cremated in [[Brownsville, Texas]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_l_1NkpGBrEC&dq=bill+haley+harlingen+grave&pg=PA869|title=Bill Haley|publisher=Wagner Verlag sucht Autoren |isbn=9783862795376}}</ref>

In April 1981, Bill Haley & His Comets returned to the British musical charts once again when MCA Records (inheritors of the Decca catalogue) released "Haley's Golden Medley", a hastily compiled edit of the band's best-known hits in the style of the then-popular "[[Stars on 45]]" format. The single reached Number 50 in the UK but was not released in the United States.

In 1987, Bill Haley was inducted into the [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]]. At that time, supporting bands were not also named to the Hall of Fame. This policy was subsequently changed, and in 2012 a special committee of the Hall of Fame inducted Joey Ambrose, Fran Beecher, Danny Cedrone, Johnny Grande, Ralph Jones, Marshall Lytle, Billy Pompilli, Al Rex, Dick Richards, and Billy Williamson.<ref name="Rockhall">{{Cite web |title=The Comets |url=https://rockhall.com/inductees/comets/ |access-date=2025-04-18 |website=Rock and Roll Hall of Fame}}</ref>

Bill Haley and His Comets were also inducted into the [[Rockabilly Hall of Fame]]. In June 2005, Bill Haley And His Comets were inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.michiganrockandrolllegends.com/mrrl-hall-of-fame/71-bill-haley-and-his-comets|title=Michigan Rock and Roll Legends – BILL HALEY AND HIS COMETS|website=Michiganrockandrolllegends.com|access-date=October 6, 2018}}</ref> In July 2005, the surviving members of the 1954–55 Comets (see below) represented Haley when Bill Haley and His Comets were inducted into [[Guitar Center|Hollywood's Rockwalk]], a ceremony also attended by Haley's second wife and youngest daughter. The Comets placed their handprints in cement, leaving a space blank for Haley.