30 years since Bill haley passed away

[i]Hi Friends,
Today it is 30 years when US rock'n'roll legend Bill Haley passed away from a brain tumour aged 55 in Harlingen,Texas. Bill Haley was born on July 6th 1925 in Highland Park, Michigan and played his first gig aged 13 at a auction for a of $1.00 a night. He played with the Down Homers and the Four Aces of Western Swing and eventually became the Saddlemen by 1949 which they recorded on labels like Keystone, Atlantic,Cowboy and Essex with songs like Deal me A Hand, Rocket 88,Rock the Joint, I'm Crying, Jukebox Cannonball and others. By 1952 the Saddlemen became the Comets which their first single as the comets were "Stop Beatin Round the Mulberry Bush and then their 1st hit was a song called Crazy man Crazy in 1953 which it was the actual first rock'n'roll song to hit the US charts which went to no 12 in the Billboard charts and no 11 on the Cashbox charts. On April 12th 1954 Bill and the Comets recorded an song written by James E Meyers and Max C Freedman called Rock Around the Clock at Pythian Temple studios in New york City which it took 2 takes and it was actually an B-side of a song called "Thirteen Women" but it was not until an year later in 1955 due to a movie called the Blackboard Jungle which starred Glenn Ford,Anne Francis,Louis Calhern,Sidney Poiter, and Vic Morrow that Rock Around the Clock hit the no 1 spot in the USA on July 9th 1955 where it stayed there for 8 weeks and also was no 1 in the UK in late 1955 even though it did go to no 17 there in early 1955. There were others from the time including Shake Rattle and Roll,See You Later Alligator, Dim dim the lights, mambo Rock, Birth of the Boogie, and many others. he and the comets appeared in movies "Rock Around the Clock" and Don't Knock The ROck" both in 1956 which were the first rock'n'roll musicals and by 1956 his star was soon surpassed by people like Elvis Presley,Little Richard,Chuck berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Everly Brothers, Gene Vincent and others but would have an following in other countries including Europe,mexico and Latin America. In 1957 he was on the very first rock'n'roll tour of Australia promoted by US born Promoter Lee Gordon which the support acts were Big Joe Turner, The Platters,Freddy Bell and the bellboys and LaVern Baker which they played 6 shows in both Sydney and melbourne, 2 shows in Brisbane @ Brisbane Stadium and 2 shows in adelaide and toured Uk which was massive. the last top 40 hit in the US was Skinny Minnie in 1958 and would continue to record for different labels but never regained the successful formula that had been back in the 1954-55 period as well as touring including an 2nd Australian tour in december 1973-january 1974 which the support acts were the Coasters, the drifters, Johnny O'keefe and Queensland singer Dennis Knight. It's hard to believe that 30 years has gone by but the music still lives on and still endures with great songs and some of the members of the comets are still touring today.
Rock On friends
From Luke

saw the Comets bout 10 yrs ago in England ,they still rocked ,even with an average age of over 70 yrs old

Wow amazing. It must have been an great show and I bet they were great

indeed they were ,played all the classics and the venue was packed out with over 500 punters in ,ah the good ole days ,shame im marooned in Perth nowadays ,lol