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The Comets

THE COMETS

YEAR

2012

INDUCTED BY

Smokey Robinson

CATEGORY

Performers

The Comets played the soundtrack of the rock and roll revolution.

They became rock’s poster children with the release of their rollicking record “Rock Around the Clock.” Some people credit them with the first rock and roll record ever.

Al Rex

Al Rex

Billy Williamson

Billy Williamson

Danny Cedrone

Danny Cedrone

Dick Richards

Dick Richards

Fran Beecher

Fran Beecher

Joey Ambrose

Joey Ambrose

Johnny Grande

Johnny Grande

Marshall Lytle

Marshall Lytle

Ralph Jones

Ralph Jones

Rudy Pompilli

Rudy Pompilli

HALL OF FAME
ESSAY

By Robert Burke Warren

Bill Haley needed a lot of musical oomph to get from second-string singing cowboy to one of the first rock & roll stars in history. A huge portion of that power came from the appropriately named Comets.

Marshall Lytle, stand-up bassist and songwriter (he co-wrote Haleys first hit, “Crazy Man, Crazy”), had been in Haley’s C&W group, Bill Haley and the Saddlemen. The multitalented Haley actually taught Lytle—initially a guitarist—the basics of percussive slap bass, which Lytle soon mastered.

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Class of 2012
"Rock Around the Clock" was music magic
Smokey Robinson
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