Who is the composer of rock around the clock?

Answer 1

"At two of the sessions following Crazy Man Crazy [Bill] Haley presented a song called Rock Around The Clock, but Dave Miller [Essex label] refused to cut it because of an ongoing dispute with James Myers, probably over the publishing assignation.

Rock Around The Clock had been written in 1953 by Max C. Freedman, a Philadelphia songwriter, already 60 years old.

The co-writer 'Jimmy DeKnight' was a WASP-y pseudonym for Myers who cut himself in for 50% of the composer credit and 100% of the publishing. After Miller refused to cut Rock Around The Clock, Myers placed it with veteran country artist Sonny Dae and the song made its inauspicious debut on Jack Howard's Arcade label in 1953.

The dispute over Rock Around The Clock and the failure of the follow-ups to Crazy Man Crazy convinced those close to Haley that they must free themselves from the Essex contract. Haley's contract came up for renewal in 1954 while Miller was in Germany working on his pet project, the 101 Strings. Using Miller's failure to exercise the renewal option on time, Myers and [Jim] Ferguson freed Haley from Essex and sought out a label that was more attuned to Haley's music.

By June 1955 Rock Around The Clock was number one