Bill Haley & His Comets (Official Thread)

barton

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Wow, didn't know they were still going at it as late as 1979.

My mom has this really sad anecdote, she went to see them in some small Dublin club, which was like, in the basement of a house or something, I believe in the mid to late sixties. When he got on stage his first words were "good evening, I'm the man that used to be Bill Haley"

That breaks my heart a little every time I think about it
 

METALPRIEST

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This is soooo cool! The original Comets in the 21st century...listen to their stories!!! :grinthumb

 

METALPRIEST

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Yeah I got a big kick out of that and HAD to share. Great stories and I have a lot of respect for our elder/senior musicians (rock and rollers) and always will.
 

METALPRIEST

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Marshall Lytle, Bill Haley’s Bassist, Dead at 79

haley1.jpg

SOURCE LINK



Marshall Lytle, who played bass in Bill Haley and the Comets, has died at the age of 79. He passed away on Saturday, May 25, in New Port Richey, Fla., of lung cancer.

Lytle (who’s pictured far right in the above photo) played on some of the earliest rock ‘n’ roll hits, including ‘Rock Around the Clock’ and ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll.’ Lytle was the Comets’ bassist during their biggest years, from 1951 through 1955.

Haley found Lytle working at a rival radio station in Pennsylvania and asked him to join his band, which was called Bill Haley and the Saddlemen at the time (they’d change their name to the Comets in 1952). Lytle didn’t know how to play bass, but Haley showed him the basics in about half an hour. (Lytle reminisces about those days in a 2011 radio interview you can listen to here.)

And it’s Lytle’s swingin’ bass-slapping style that anchored so many of the group’s pioneering rock hits, including ‘Rock Around the Clock,’ generally considered to be the first No. 1 song of the rock era. He was also a showman. According to Rolling Stone, Lytle used to throw “his bass into the air, lifting it over his shoulder and riding it like a horse.”

Lytle and other members of the Comets quit the group in 1955 and formed their own band, the Jodimars, which played in Las Vegas. But he rejoined the Comets (without Haley, who died in 1981) in 1987. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 along with five other backing bands.
 

Hurdy Gurdy Man

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Along with "I Want To Hold Your Hand","Rock Around" is possibly one of the two most important rock singles ever.
 

Hurdy Gurdy Man

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Always a rip roaring swingin' good time with Bill and the boys.A greatest hits set here would bring someone back from brink of suicide..
 

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