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Who is Bill Haley?
Bill Haley (1925-1981) was a pioneering rock and roll singer. With his group, the Comets, Haley was the first performer to score national hits with what is now called rock… and roll, most notably his 1953 recording Crazy Man Crazy, which was the first rock and roll song to hit the national charts in the US. He is best remembered for the 1955 hit Rock Around the Clock, which is considered the song that launched rock and roll as a popular music form, opening the door for Elvis and the others. Haley starred in two of the first rock and roll movies, and excitement over his music led to riots at concerts in the UK and Germany in 1957-58. His career cooled after 1958, but he continued to record with the Comets and score hit records, enjoying a career renaissance in Mexico in the mid-1960s, and later becoming a popular attraction in the rock and roll revival movement of the late 1960s-early 1970s. And in 1974, Rock Around the Clock became a top 40 hit again after it was used in the movie American Graffiti and the TV show Happy Days. Haley went into semi-retirement after 1976 but toured Europe twice in 1979 (and recorded an album) and also performed in South Africa in 1980 before his death on February 9, 1981. (MORE)
