Bill Haley

To me, Bill Haley is one of those pioneers history conveniently overlooks. He didn't have Elvis's looks or Little Richard's wild charisma, yet "Rock Around the Clock" lit the fuse that everyone else later rode. Coming out of yodeling and country in Highland Park, Michigan, he stitched together a brand-new sound largely by instinct, and that creative nerve impresses me far more than polish ever could. Someone has to walk through the door first, and Haley did. His 1987 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction was overdue recognition. Dying at 56 felt far too soon for a man who genuinely changed music.

Name (English)

Bill Haley

Name (Japanese)

ビル・ヘイリー

Reading

びる・へいりー

Born

July 6, 1925 – February 9, 1981

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Cancer / Ox

Origin

Highland Park, Michigan, United States

Occupation

singer / bandleader / conductor / yodeler / composer

Awards & achievements

• star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
• 1987 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

• Official sitehttps://www.bill-haley.com/
• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill%20Haley
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%93%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BB%E3%83%98%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q202319

Tags

• Michigan
• singer
• bandleader
• conductor

Last updated

2026-06-20

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.