Bill Haley
Bill Haley was born in Highland Park on the 6th of July 1925 and grew up in a very musical family. His mother played the piano and his father the banjo. When he was a child, his father would teach Bill about the various styles of Country Music, like Hillbilly, Yodel, Western Music and Western Swing.
Therefore, at a young age it was already clear for Bill Haley that he would pursue a career as a Country musician. He left home at the age of 15, and, in 1944 started touring throughout the country as the guitarist of Cousin Lee And His Band.
2 years later he was first heard on record with the Western band ‘The Down Homers’.
In 1947 he moved to Chester, Pennsylvania and performed with Brother Wayne on the WSNJ Country and Western radio show in Bridgeton, New Jersey.
As Yodelling Bill Hayley he was selected best yodeler of America in Indiana.
By nature he was a hard working man; performing duties as the DJ, the musical director and the leader of the houseband at WPMA radio in Chester working up to 16 hours a day. By night he would play in parks and saloons in Philadelphia with his band The Four Aces Of Western Swing. With this band Bill had his first releases for Cowboy Records. Having a cowboy look, the band's music was nevertheless highly influenced by Jazz and Pop, later adding Rhythm And Blues to their musical style.
This mix between R&B and Country slowly-but-surely led to Bill Hayley's success. Since his style of music didn't match any other kind of music, it was referred to as The Hayley Sound or Bill Hayley's Music. Years later it became known as Rock 'n' Roll and Bill Hayley was celebrated as one of its founding fathers.
In December 1952, Bill and his band rid themselves from the cowboy image and started performing as Bill Hayley & His Comets. In 1954 they had their worldwide breakthrough with the song Rock Around The Clock.
The song wasn't an instant success though. After being released as the B-side of the single Thirteen Women and being introduced as a Foxtrott, the song disappeared from the Top 30 list of the Billboard charts after only a week.
When film director Richard Brooks heard it, he decided to use it in the opening credits and as background music at the end of his film Blackboard Jungle, starring Glenn Ford and Sidney Poitier. After that Bill Hayley's Rock 'n' Roll ruled the charts…
Only when Elvis Presley entered the scene by appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show in September 1956, Hayley's success cooled down. He last made it into the charts with Skinny Minnie in 1958.
Up until his death, Hayley tour successfully though. During his last tour in South Africa he broke the news to a friend that he had an inoperable brain tumour. Marked by his illness, a tour through Europe planned for November 1980 had to be canceled.
On the 9th of February 1981, Hayley died at his house in Harlingen, Texas aged 55.