Pioneer Haley almost forgotten in Harlingen

HARLINGEN - Though he lived his final years in Harlingen, there is little today to mark Bill Haley's presence in Harlingen.

The father of rock ‘n' roll, the man who recorded "Rock Around the Clock" and "Shake Rattle and Roll," passed away at his home on South First Street in 1981 but you might never know.

Haley is buried in an unmarked grave due to privacy concerns. Having seen the grafitti and hysteria surrounding graves of rockers such as  Jim Morrision, Haley's wife Martha decided to keep it's location secret.

A 2004 mural dedicated to Haley is gone. The present owner of the building at Jackson and A Streets demanded the city remove it. A downtown restaurant that had a display dedicated to the Father of Rock 'N' Roll recently closed.

Just over 50 years after his music shook the world and changed it forever, Harlingen has almost forgotten Bill Haley.

Haley was already a musical legend when he moved to Harlingen in 1977.

His "Rock Around the Clock" had gone from an obscure B-side of a single to one of the biggest-selling and most influential songs of all time.

The father of rock 'n' roll and his third wife Martha had come to South Texas seeking a quiet place to raise their children that was close to Martha's native Mexico.

The Haley's three children, Pedro, Martha and Georgina, knew their dad was famous but had no idea that he traveled from their house on South First Street to perform for the likes of Queen Elizabeth II.

For the most part, the Haleys kept a low profile in Harlingen. Bill Haley still toured the world as rock's elder statesman. But his Rio Grande Valley performances were limited to just he and a guitar in the back room of a music store.

When his mailman found him dead of a heart attack on Feb. 9, 1981, most of those who knew he lived here thought he was retired. Others only remembered him as a solitary figure in a back booth at Sambo's Restaurant. A hard drinker whose fame had run out.

But Haley still had plenty of fame left when his heart gave out. Just a few years before the TV series "Happy Days" made "Rock Around the Clock" a hit all over again. The single has sold more than 25 millione copies to date. Only Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" and Elton John's Princess Diana version of "Candle in the Wind" have sold more. Haley was getting ready for another tour of Europe when he died, according to Pedro Haley.

Pedro Haley was 15 before he ever saw his father perform at anything other than a family get together.  It was on film at a New York Ceremony six years after Haley's death. Dressed in his uniform from Marine Military Academy, Pedro represented his father when Haley was inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame.

 "I remember being incredibly moved by the performances and how vibrant and
so exciting they were," Pedro said in a 2004 interview. Pedro had never seen his father perform with a band in front of an audience.

Pedro was only 9 when his father died.

"There was never a time when I didn't know what he had done. That he sang
"Rock Around the Clock" and "Shake, Rattle and Roll,' " Pedro said by phone
from his home in Dallas. "It was hard for me to really grasp what kind of
a profound impact he had on popular culture. Only later, when I was a teenager, did that hit home."

That night, performers like Sting and Creedence Clearwater Revival's John
Fogerty approached Pedro and told him how much Haley's music had influenced
them.

If Elvis was the King of Rock 'n' Roll, then Bill Haley was surely its father. While some may argue about the origins of the music, Haley scored several firsts. In 1951, Haley became the first white artist to record a rhythm and blues hit, "Rocket 88." His recording of Jimmy Preston's "Rock The Joint" inspired legendary disc jockey Alan Freed to coin the term "rock and roll."

Haley's "Crazy, Man Crazy" was the first rock song to make the Top 20 on Billboard's Pop Charts.

In 1954, Haley and the Comets earned another first as "Shake, Rattle and
Roll" became the first rock record to sell a million copies.

But it was another record that was to truly make Haley and the Comets
music immortals.

"Rock Around the Clock" was the B-side of a single when it was first released in 1954. A year later, it was the opening theme to "Blackboard Jungle," a scandalous (at the time) film about juvenile delinquents.

It sold a million copies in two months and continues selling today.

Pedro and his sister Georgina are both trying their hands at music. But each is determined to do it on their own merits.