A friend of mine directed me to this story after I posted a link to the article about a book with Tommy Edward's pictures of Bill Haley and Elvis in Cleveland (Brooklyn) on facebook. This is about Bill's not so happy ending and the last part of his life that pretty much remained untold.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/cms/printthis.php?file=feature3.php&issue=2011-06-01

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Wow, so sad, thank you for posting.

a heartbreaking story JV. I'm old enough to remember 1955 Bill Haley and his Comets and how they disappeared from the American music scene that they pretty much created. Any questions that I had were answered, though not in a way I would have wished for Bill et al. Belatedly then, R.I.P. Bill Haley.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Well written and answers alot of questions about Bill. Thanks for posting this article it was quite a read. Very poignant and introspective look at a man who wrestled with his demons and lost.

Sad read, I couldn't finish it, but thank you

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Here's something funny. Albert Piccirilli a Conshohocken native, was the original string bass player for Bill Haley. I eat breakfast with his brother Joe once in a while at a local spot in town. Interesting guy, he's also a guitarist and he's 92 years old and still plays. My brother in law grew up with these guys. My brother in law was also an amazing sax player.

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Life...... It's sexually transmitted and always fatal

I've often thought about Bill Haley.I like most my age was a fan. I never knew much about him, Now after reading this wonderful article I have at least a little understanding of what he was all about. He was without a doubt a Rock Star in my book. Thanks for shearing the story.
----Danny,

That's a sad story indeed.It makes you wonder if some stars choose to go out in a blaze of glory in their prime than to just fizzle out and wither away like a burntout candle.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Those days were about having fun and making music if you were a teenager or kid,my Uncle and his buddies played music in the late 50s early '60s and I was a little kid,they were ten years older,I hung around and watched them practice....it's sad to read about Bill Haley,especially when you can remember the early years of R&R.

That is very sad I love his music and I really love Rock around the clock solo which was done by Danny Cedrone who received $21 dollars pay for a guitar solo and tragically died from a fall less than a month after the recording session.

Thanks for posting that, great read.

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--- John

Great story James thanks for posting, sad the way it ended for Bill would make a great film I reckon though I could see why his wife sorta laid it all to rest all those years

His isn't the first rags-to-riches-to-grave story and it won't be the last.

Remember Hank Williams, Bobby Darin, Judy Garland, Kim Novak, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, et al?

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

thanks so much for sharing. I have to tell you, i worked at a Bob Evans as a manager for a few years and this type of story is fairly common. Obviously not the rock star part but the alone and confused. Often the counter club would talk about things and you didn't know how much was real and how much was the figment of a deteriorated mind. One soldier from WWII would come in and talk to me from time to time. His stories made me realize how horrible war is, he was one of the street sweepers that would go house to house in germany. He couldn't drink because the demons of those he killed would visit him when he drank. My grandfather acted the same way confusedly going to some restaurant each day and driving into the arizona desert for no reason. Pretty rough.

One of the saddest things I've seen was a friend of mine from high school,who was an award winning songwriter and was homeless on the streets of Nashville,when he recognized me through the haze in his mind he ran off before I could help him...another musician friend of mine was with me,and he knew the guy,he told me he never saw the guy again after that day,I've always wondered what his fate was...he wrote this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nmuw4EToWE