Haley's father William Albert Haley was from Kentucky and played the banjo and mandolin, his mother Maude Green originally from Ulverston in England was a technically accomplished keyboardist with classical training.

It was then known as Bill Haley's Saddlemen, indicating their definite leaning toward the tough Western style.

Haley made a succession of bizarre, mostly monologue late-night phone calls to friends and relatives in which he seemed incoherently drunk or ill. Haley's first wife has been quoted as saying, " He would call and ramble and dwell on the past, his mind was really warped.

" A belligerent phone call to a business associate was taped and gives evidence of Haley's troubled state of mind.

* A German-language biography was published soon after Haley's death, written by Peter Cornelsen and Harald D. Kain.

* A book on the history of Haley's most famous recording, Rock Around the Clock: The Record That Started the Rock Revolution by Jim Dawson was published in June 2005.

In some groups, the slap bass was utilized as band percussion in lieu of a drummer ; such was the case with Bill Haley & His Saddlemen ( the forerunner group to the Comets ), which did not use drummers on recordings and live performances until late 1952 ; prior to this the slap bass was relied on for percussion, including on recordings such as Haley's versions of Rock the Joint and Rocket 88.

In terms of its wide cultural impact across society in the US and elsewhere, Bill Haley's " Rock Around the Clock ", recorded in April 1954 but not a commercial success until the following year, is generally recognized as an important milestone, but it was preceded by many recordings from earlier decades in which elements of rock and roll can be clearly discerned.

For example, Bill Haley's incompletely bowdlerized cover of " Shake, Rattle and Roll " transformed Big Joe Turner's humorous and racy tale of adult love into an energetic teen dance number, while Georgia Gibbs replaced Etta James's tough, sarcastic vocal in " Roll With Me, Henry " ( covered as " Dance With Me, Henry ") with a perkier vocal more appropriate for an audience unfamiliar with the song to which James's song was an answer, Hank Ballard's " Work With Me, Annie ".

The group's subsequent recording, on the Arcade Records label ( owned by Haley's manager, Jack Howard ), was a regional success, although it sounded very different from what Haley would later record.

The producers were looking for a song to represent the type of music the youth of 1955 was listening to, and the elder Ford borrowed several records from his son's collection, one of which was Haley's " Rock Around the Clock " and this was the song chosen.

In 1982, Haley's original recording was given the Grammy Hall of Fame Award.

An excerpt from the recording was included in " Haley's Golden Medley ", a hastily-compiled single in the " Stars on 45 " mold which made the UK record charts in 1982, reaching number 50.

In 1989, Haley's original Decca recording was incorporated into the " dance mix " single " Swing The Mood ", credited to Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers, but legal considerations forced the album version to substitute a patchwork of re-recordings from the 1950s and 1960s ( in Haley's case, a 1968 version of " Rock Around the Clock " recorded for Sonet Records ).

Since " Swing the Mood " was still on the sales charts going into 1990, it meant that Haley's " Rock Around the Clock ", in one way or another, appeared on UK or US sales charts in five consecutive decades.

Another notable album release entitled Rock Around the Clock was the 1970 Hallmark Records UK release Rock Around the Clock ( SHM 668 ) which was the first British release of a 1968 album entitled Bill Haley's Biggest Hits which had been released in Sweden by Sonet Records.

Bill Haley & His Comets were an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981.

The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets ( and variations thereof ), was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of white America and the rest of the world.

`` No, I don't think so '', said the big man, and it was the final clincher for Ernie.

The final issue of the Englishman, No. 57 for February 15, ran to some length and was printed as a separate pamphlet, entitled The Englishman: Being the Close of the Paper So-called.

While the final combat of the campaign was being worked out at Jonesborough, Thomas, on Sherman's instructions, ordered Slocum, now commanding the Twentieth Corps, to make an effort to occupy Atlanta if he could do so without exposing his bridgehead to a counterattack.

In spite of this catastrophe the final mortality figure from disease in the American Army during World War 1, was 15 per 1,000 per year, contrasted with 110 per 1,000 per year in the Mexican War, and 65 in the American Civil War.

In the final analysis his contribution to American historiography was founded on almost intuitive insights into religion, economics, and Darwinism, the three factors which conditioned his search for a law of history.

As it was, his absence because of his final illness was a blow to the administration.

Mrs. Dwyer's husband, M. Joseph Dwyer, was taking a 10-year-old boy from Union County on the tour of the Capitol during the final weeks of the last session.

One had to believe in final events or one was stranded in the abyss of nothing.

Lublin was the seed of action for the `` final solution '' of the Jewish problem.

But after the doctor's return that night Alex could see, from the high window in his own room, the now familiar figure crouched on a truly impressive heap of towels, apparently giving its egg-hatching powers one final chance before it was replaced in its office by a sure-enough hen.

As was said in Gonzales, `` it is the Appeal Board which renders the selective service determination considered ' final ' in the courts, not to be overturned unless there is no basis in fact.

in the sphere was starting buffer and in the cone was final buffer, 0.50 M in both Af and Tris, pH 4.1.

The final sample was not significantly different from a normal distribution in regard to reading achievement or intelligence test scores.

In I wanted to tell him, but I was afraid to the final to is lightly stressed because it represents to tell him.

By these steps the final AIA list was reduced from 8,000 to 3,500.

The final mailing of the questionnaire was made late in August, 1960, to 4,900 firms consisting of 3,450 from the AIA list and 1,450 from the TR list.

Over 1,000 returns were received within two weeks after the final mailing was made.

The final step was a vote for a $230,000 bond issue for the construction of a sewage system by the 1959 town meeting, later confirmed by a two-thirds vote at a special town meeting June 21, 1960.

If Cynewulf was literate, the Beowulf poet may have been also, and so may the final redactor of The Iliad and The Odyssey.

During the year that followed, Dick co-operated whole-heartedly with the dentist and was delighted with the final result achieved -- an upper row of strong straight teeth that completely changed his facial appearance.

The final proof was a small incident.

The Air Force's, and the game's, final play, was a long pass by quarterback Bob McNaughton which Gannon intercepted on his own 44 and returned 22 yards.

Within a week after the injury, suffered in St. Louis's victory in the final game of the Kentucky tournament, Nordmann was sitting on the Bill's bench doing what he could to help Benington.