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Bill Haley and His Comets music biography continued...

consisted of Haley, pianist and accordion player Johnny Grande. steel guitarist Billy Williamson and bass player Marshall Lytle. In 1953, Haley scored his first national success with an original song called "Crazy Man, Crazy." In early 1954, Haley added Joey Ambrose on tenor sax, and soon after this the band left Essex Records for the larger Decca Records label of New York City. For their first recording session on April 12, 1954, Bill Haley and His Comets recorded "Rock Around the Clock," a tune that would go on to become legendary, selling some 25 million copies. In March 1955, the movie Blackboard Jungle was released, featuring "Rock Around the Clock" on its soundtrack. The song, which was re-released to coincide with the film, rose to the top of the American musical charts that summer and stayed there for eight weeks, the first rock and roll record to do so. At about the same time, the group met with success with "Shake, Rattle and Roll," which actually predated "Rock Around the Clock" as the first major international rock and roll hit, solidifying the group's status as one of the most successful early purveyors of the new sound known as rock and roll.



The band's popularity in the United States began to decline in 1956-57 as bolder, sexier acts such as Elvis and Little Richard began to dominate the record charts. In 1960, the band enjoyed its last new hit in the United States with an instrumental version of "Skokiaan" on Decca. For commercial success in the 1960s, the band had to turn to places outside the United States. The group continued to be a top concert draw in Europe throughout the 1960s, and by the end of the decade began to tour successfully as an oldies revival act in the United States. The group, in various incarnations, would perform together until Haley's death in 1981. In 1987, Bill Haley was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Despite outside efforts, The Comets were not included. But for fans of a certain age Bill Haley and His Comets will always be superstars.