Bill Haley and the Comets

Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets, c. 1954 Left to right: Joey D'Ambrosio, Dick Richards, Bill Haley
Background information
Also known as	Bill Haley and the Saddlemen, the Kingsmen, the Lifeguards, B.H. Sees Combo
Origin	Chester, Pennsylvania, United States
Genres	Rock and roll, country, rockabilly
Years active	1949–1952 as Saddlemen; 1952–1981 as Bill Haley & His Comets; 1981–present as the Comets, Bill Haley's Comets
Labels	Decca, Brunswick (UK), Atlantic, Keystone, Cowboy, Holiday, Essex, Warner Bros., Orfeón, Dimsa, Newtown, Guest Star, Logo, APT, Gone, United Artists, Roulette, Sonet, Buddah, Antic, London (UK)
Associated acts	The Jodimars
Members	Joey Ambrose Dick Richards David Byrd Jackson Haney Al Rappa Lenny Longo (separate groups called Bill Haley's Comets)
Past members	Bill Haley (deceased) Johnny Grande Billy Williamson Rudy Pompilli Al Rex Franny Beecher Marshall Lytle Ralph Jones Nick Nastos John "Bam-Bam" Lane Joey Welz and more than 100 others

Bill Haley & His Comets were an American rock and roll band, founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known as 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 America and the rest of the world. From late 1954 to late 1956, the group placed nine singles in the Top 20, one of those a number one and three more in the Top Ten.

Bandleader Bill Haley had previously been a country music performer; after recording a country and western-styled version of "Rocket 88", a rhythm and blues song, he changed musical direction to a new sound which came to be called rock and roll.

Although several members of the Comets became famous, Bill Haley remained the star. With his spit curl and the band's matching plaid dinner jackets and energetic stage behavior, many fans consider them to be as revolutionary in their time as the Beatles or the Rolling Stones were a decade later.

Following Haley's death, no fewer than seven different groups have existed under the Comets name, all claiming (with varying degrees of authority) to be the continuation of Haley's group. As of the end of 2014, four such groups were still performing in the United States and internationally.

In the mid-1940s, Bill Haley performed with the Down Homers and formed a group called the Four Aces of Western Swing. The group that later became the Comets initially formed as Bill Haley and the Saddlemen c. 1949–1952, and performed mostly country and western songs, though occasionally with a bluesy feel. During those years Haley was considered one of the top cowboy yodelers in America. Many Saddlemen recordings were not be released until the 1970s and 1980s, and highlights included romantic ballads such as "Rose of My Heart" and western swing tunes such as "Yodel Your Blues Away". The original members of this group were Haley, pianist and accordion player Johnny Grande and steel guitarist Billy Williamson. Al Thompson was the group's first bass player, followed by Al Rex and Marshall Lytle. During the group's early years, it recorded under several other names, including Johnny Clifton and His String Band and Reno Browne and Her Buckaroos (although Browne, a female matinee idol of the time, did not actually appear on the record).