WHAT SUBSEQUENTLY HAPPENED TO BILL HALEY & THE COMETS?
In 1956, Elvis Presley and other younger performers began to challenge Haley’s popularity among the fickle teenage fans. In addition to playing the exciting new music – the performers who followed immediately in Haley’s wake were all much younger. More importantly they all LOOKED much younger than the 30-year-old, twice-married ex-country singer who looked prematurely middle-aged. The next wave of rock ‘n’ roll singers tended to have the youth, looks and attitude redolent of the new cinematic anti-heroes such as James Dean and Marlon Brando. Certainly none of them were on their second marriage – or was the father of four children – as Haley was in 1955. The combination of rock ‘n’ roll with rebel imagery exuded by Presley and others proved to be an appealing combination with teenagers. Haley’s paternal appearance and genial showbiz personality did not reflect the revolutionary qualities of the music that he and the Comets were creating. By 1957 the mainstream American record industry –
