How Many Records Did Bill Haley Sell? Bill Haley (1925-1981), was a U.S. pop singer and bandleader. He made his first recording in 1945, but his fame dates from Rock Around the Clock (1954). He was the first popular success in white rock-and-roll music.
Born William John Clifton Haley on July 6, 1925 in Highland Park, Michigan, Bill’s fascination with music came at a young age.
His father, William Albert Haley played the mandolin and banjo, and his mother, Maude Green was a classically trained pianist and piano teacher.
Because of the effects of the Great Depression on the Detroit area, his father moved the family to Boothwyn, Pennsylvania, near the town of Chester, when Bill was seven years old.
Haley told the story that when he made a simulated guitar out of cardboard, his parents bought him a real one. Bill got his first professional job at the age of 13, playing and entertaining at an auction for the fee of $1 a night.
Very soon after this he formed a group of equally enthusiastic youngsters and managed to get quite a few local bookings for his band.
After performing for Queen Elizabeth II at a command performance in 1979, Haley made his final performances in South Africa in May and June 1980.
Prior to the South African tour, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and a planned tour of Germany in the fall of 1980 was canceled.
How many records did Bill Haley sell? In the weeks before his death, he was seen wandering around the South Texas brush country mumbling to himself, a tragic and lonely end for a once-articulate singer who had sold some 60 million records.
Haley was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, and in 2012 the Comets were inducted as well.
While the full value of his contributions to popular music may be somewhat underappreciated, Haley’s legacy is indisputable.
Dubbed “The Father of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” Haley maintains devoted fans around the globe who celebrate his career and music catalog.
With his unmistakable vocal styling and ‘kiss curl’ hairstyle, Bill Haley has paved the way for generations of stars across genres.
Formal recognition of his impact on music history arrived posthumously in 1987 when he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and again in 2018 when “(We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock” was inducted into the National Recording Registry, an archive maintained by the Library of Congress to preserve culturally significant recordings.
Content for this question contributed by Michelle Wallock, resident of Albany, Albany County, New York, USA
