WWilliam John Clifton Haley was a pioneering American rock and roll musician. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and million-selling hits such as "Rock Around the Clock", "See You Later, Alligator", "Shake, Rattle and Roll", "Rocket 88", "Skinny Minnie", and "Razzle Dazzle". His recordings have sold over 60 million records worldwide.
WBlackboard Jungle is a 1955 social drama film about teachers in an interracial inner-city school, based on the 1954 novel The Blackboard Jungle by Evan Hunter and adapted for the screen and directed by Richard Brooks. It is remembered for its innovative use of rock and roll in its soundtrack, for casting grown adults as school children, and for the unusual breakout role of a black cast member, future Oscar winner and star Sidney Poitier as a rebellious, yet musically talented student.
WDon't Knock the Rock is a 1956 American musical film starring Alan Dale and Alan Freed. Directed by Fred F. Sears, the film also features performances by Bill Haley & His Comets, Little Richard, The Treniers, and Dave Appell and the Applejacks.
WEssex Records was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1951 by David Miller primarily to record contemporary country and western, rhythm and blues as well as jazz and gospel. Jack Howard was the promotion manager. The label had little popular success, but is known for releasing early Bill Haley & His Comets recordings such as "Rock the Joint" (1952) and "Crazy Man Crazy", the latter of which was the first rock and roll recording to make the American record charts when it was released in 1953. The label also scored success in 1954 with Eddie Calvert's recording of "O mein Papa".
WMilton Gabler was an American record producer, responsible for many innovations in the recording industry of the 20th century.
WBill 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. 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.
WThe London Rock and Roll Show is a 1973 British-produced concert film directed by Peter Clifton chronicling a Rock and Roll Revival concert held at Wembley Stadium in London, England in August 1972.
WMuscle Shoals Sound Studio is a recording studio in Sheffield, Alabama formed in 1969 by four session musicians called The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section who had left Rick Hall's nearby FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals to create their own recording facility. The group closed the Jackson Highway studio in 1979, moving the operation to 1000 Alabama Avenue. The old studio has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since June 2006. The studio, which is at 3614 Jackson Highway, was partly restored in the early 2000s and sold to the Muscle Shoals Music Foundation in 2013. This group completed a major restoration and the location reopened on January 9, 2017. The Alabama Avenue location ceased operations in 2005 when it was sold to a record label.
WRock Around the Clock is the title of a 1956 musical film that featured Bill Haley and His Comets along with Alan Freed, the Platters, Tony Martinez and His Band and Freddie Bell and His Bellboys. It was produced by B-movie king Sam Katzman and directed by Fred F. Sears.