‘Mr Rock n’ Roll,’ Bill Haley, dies suddenly

Press, 11 February 1981, Page 14

‘Mr Rock n’ Roll,’ Bill Haley, dies suddenly

NZPA-Reuter Harlingen, Texas Bill Haley, famous for his 1950 s hit, "Rock Around the Clock,” recorded by' his group, The Comets, died at his home at Harlingen, yesterday at the age of 53. A Justin j of the Peace, Tommy Thompson, ruled that Haley had died of natural causes and said he assumed he died of a heart attack. “A friend of his went by see him and found the house locked and no one an-i swered,” Mr Thompson said.' “He had been dead about six hours because a captain at I the Police Department talked; with |jim earlier in the 1 morning.” . i “He called me up again: and a);ain to talk five or 10 minutes over the week-end,” said another officer, who declined to be identified. “He just, wanted someone to talk to.” . "He was lying on a bed in a normal fashion as though asleep,” Mr Thompson said. “He was friendly with me but he was not an outgoing individual. He had problems,” he said. \ A reporter who once went to his house was told he never lived there, although the police confirmed they had dropped him there several times after finding him wandering late at night.

Little was known about Haley’s last years. He had. lived l in- -Rio Grande Valley abou,t six years, leading a semi-reclusive life and refusing requests for interviews.

Haley lived in Europe during the 19605, but was coaxed back to the United States in 1969 for a nostalgic concert. He toured dur? ing the rock ’n roll revival period of the early 1970 s and made'a hit appearance about a year, ago in Johannesburg.

His lyrics were often inspired by phrases he had heard from high school children like a 1953 record? ing called “Crazy Man, Crazy.” That song and “Rock the Joint” before it, jwere moderately successful, J but things improved when, .in 1954, he graduated from a I succession of small labels to I the then-important Decca ‘company. ; His first release for Decca, ’was Jimmy Deknight’s “Rock Around the Clock,” but initially it went nowhere. A second record, “Shake, Rattle and Roll,” — a remake of Joe Turner tune — did much better, making it to the top ten in 1954. Haley became famous i when “Rock Around thei Clock” was used in the 1955 movie, “Blackboard Jungle.”! [and teenagers not only; learned to twist to it but found in it a secret, defiant meaning. Four years earlier, he had written. “Rock-a-Beatin Boogie,” which included the line, “Rock, Rock, Rock, Everybody; Roll, Roll. Roll, Everybody,” Cleveland disc jockey, Alan Freed, who coined the phrase rock ’N roll, is said to have been inspired by that song.

i William John Clifton Haley, Jnr, was born in March, 1927, in Highland Park, Michigan. His mother was a church organist and his father played banjo. Both encouraged him to learn the guitar.-'. At 15, he left home to travel With a country band and.. soon started his own country band, The Saddlemen, which played on a radio- station in Chester, Pennsylvania, and in a 'bar in Gloucester City. New Jersey. ’ As ah experiment, he played a rhythm ’n blues j tune one night. In 1952, he I changed the name of the ‘seven-piece band to Bill . Haley and the Comets and .continued the experiment of combining country with rhythm and blues. There were ' other hit records from 1953 to 1960, including “Crazy Man Crazy”, “Shake, Rattle and Roll”, and “See You Later Alligator.” But Haley’s uni-son-voiced vocal ' approach :soon was considered oldj fashioned, as nasal, harmonied teen-ager epics took ! over and his ideas were i presented with more fire by Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Fats Domino and Chuck Berry. ■ Haley’s success in the United States, was modest compared . to his following aboard, particularly in England, and was relatively fleeting. ; His last record to appear on the United States charts was the obscure “Skokiaan” in 1960.