6 July: Bill Haley

Today is the birthdate of Bill Haley, Known as the Father of Rock and Roll, who combined elements of rhythm and blues, swing and hillbilly music to make Rock Around the Clock the first million selling record.

1. His full name was William John Clifton Haley and he was born in Detroit. His father was a farmer and his mother played the organ in church.
2. When he was four, an operation on his inner ear accidentally severed his optic nerve, leaving him blind in his left eye for the rest of his life. Some say his characteristic kiss curl hairstyle was devised to draw attention to his good eye.
3. His parents realised he was interested in music when, as a child, he made himself a Guitar out of cardboard.
4. Before rock and roll, his main musical genre was western swing. After playing in numerous bands, he formed his own, called The Four Aces of Western Swing, which later became Bill Haley and his Saddlemen and later still changed their name to Bill Haley and the Comets.
5. Their first single as the Comets was Rocket 88, a rhythm and blues song, which sold passably well but wasn't a sensation.
6. The owner of their first record label discouraged Haley from recording Rock Around the Clock, but when he left that label and signed with Decca, he did record it and it was released in 1954. At first it didn't sell as well as the follow up single, Shake, Rattle and Roll, but that did well enough that Decca thought it might be worth giving Rock Around the Clock another chance. It probably helped when the song appeared in a film called The Blackboard Jungle, about rebellious teenagers. It went to number one and stayed there for seven weeks. The Rock and Roll Era had arrived.
7. He married three times. His first wife was Dorothy Crowe, who he married in 1946 and divorced in 1952. Four days after he divorced her he married Barbara Joan Cupchak. They divorced in 1960. In 1963 he married Martha Velasco. His third marriage lasted until his death.
8. By 1959, however, Bill Haley was having to compete with new, younger stars such as Elvis Presley. He may have been as talented as they were, but no longer fit the rock and roll image teenagers wanted, so despite being the Father of Rock and Roll his popularity waned.
9. Towards the end of his life, he had a drink problem and was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour. There was medication which could have helped, but it required him to stop drinking, which he wouldn't do. The cause of his death was recorded as “natural causes”, possibly a heart attack.
10. In 2006, to mark the 25^th anniversary of his death, an Asteroid was named after him - 79896 Billhaley.

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