0
Marshall Lytle
Marshall Lytle
American double-bassist
1
Bill Haley
Bill Haley
American rock and roll music pioneer (1925-1981)
2
Danny Cedrone
Danny Cedrone
American guitarist and bandleader
3
Johnny Grande
Johnny Grande
Rock and roll musician
4
Billy Williamson
Billy Williamson
Rock and roll musician
5
Franny Beecher
Franny Beecher
Rock and roll musician
6
James E. Myers
James E. Myers
American songwriter
7
Max C. Freedman
Max C. Freedman
American songwriter
8
Big Joe Turner
Big Joe Turner
American blues shouter
9
Jesse Stone
Jesse Stone
American rhythm and blues musician and songwriter
10
Billy Gussak
Billy Gussak
American musician
11
Milt Gabler
Milt Gabler
record producer from the United States
12
Buddy Holly
Buddy Holly
American singer-songwriter
13
The Treniers
The Treniers
musical artist
14
Louis Jordan
Louis Jordan
American jazz, blues and rhythm and blues musician, songwriter and bandleader (1908-1975)
15
The Vogues
The Vogues
American vocal group
16
Lucky Millinder
Lucky Millinder
American rhythm and blues and swing bandleader
17
Alan Freed
Alan Freed
American disc jockey, songwriter
18
Sam Theard
Sam Theard
American songwriter, singer, and comedian (1904-1982)
19
Them
Them
Northern Irish band
20
Wynonie Harris
Wynonie Harris
American blues shouter and rhythm and blues singer
21
The Famous Flames
The Famous Flames
American R&B band
22
Royale Monarchs
Royale Monarchs
23
Art Ryerson
Art Ryerson
American musician
24
Goldie and the Gingerbreads
Goldie and the Gingerbreads
band
25
The Zombies
The Zombies
English rock band
26
Bill Monroe
Bill Monroe
American bluegrass musician, songwriter
Bill Haley & His Comets
American rock and roll band

Bill Haley & His Comets

Intro
American rock and roll band
Members, past and present

Bill Haley & His Comets were an American rock and roll band, founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band was also known as Bill Haley and the Comets and Bill Haley's Comets (and variations thereof). 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. The single "Rock Around the Clock" became the biggest selling rock and roll single in the history of the genre and retained that position for some years.

Bandleader Bill Haley had previously been a country music performer; after recording a country and western-styled version of Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats "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 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.