Bill Haley was the unsung hero of rock and roll while people like Elvis Presley have been made comfortable in the rock and roll history books and has been transformed into a constellation, his music has been respected by the record-buying pubic.

Living rock and roll legends like Chuck Berry has given his debt to the music industry. Haley was playing rock and roll before it had been named and was selling it in suffcient amounts out of small record label long before Elvis started recording and yet, Bill has been barely represented by a dozen singles.

He has also been treated as a mere footnote in the development of rock and roll, even through Bill and his band, The Comets released the first rock and roll song in 1954, "Rock Around The Clock" created rock and roll and stayed on the charts for 8 weeks.

More interesting, Bill started a lot earlier than most people realize and he went on making good music for years until his death in 1981. As a pioneer of rock and roll, Haley's influence has reached far and wide from Cliff Richard and Johnny Kidd to The Beatles.

Posted by Andrew on Sunday, 02/3/2013 @ 22:54pm

R.I.P., Franny Beecher.

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2014/02/25/rock-guitarist-franny-beecher-dies-in-philadelphia-area-nursing-home/

Posted by Zach on Tuesday, 02/25/2014 @ 19:08pm