She was a big star in Europe - especially Germany, Austria, Swizzerland and Benelux and there was no need for her to share top billing with Bill Haley I guess - afterall it is called showBUSSINESS.
Thanks for the upload... I'm a huge Comets fan also. Johnny Grande's piano playing is really solid here, as always. Did Al Rex play on this recording, or was it Al Pompilli?
I really wish I knew. One story goes that him and Bill got into a fight and suddenly left the band in 1964, never playing another note for the rest of his life. Another said his newfound religion turned him away from rock music. I did hear that he wanted to get a Comets reunion together in the late 70s. Of course, this never came to fruition after Bill died soon after. I really think that would have gotten Bill back on the right track. For unknown reasons, he turned down an invitation to play with the Comets once they finally reformed in 1987.
SlashMan.EXE Thanks for the info! Billy Williamson was the hidden talent of the band. It is rather sad that Bill Haley started drinking. I think that is what ruined his life. Thank you one more time!
Absolutely - when the band started, the piano and steel were the two solo instruments, which then changed to guitar and sax. I'm putting together a tribute video soon of Billy's greatest steel guitar solos, there's plenty to choose from
October 1958. This was a re-recording of a song first Haley first recorded for an album called Rockin' Around the World, but during his fall 1958 tour of Germany, it was decided to shoehorn the Comets into an already-in-production Caterina Valente film called Hier bin ich, hier bleib ich (which was released in 1959, only in Europe). This version wasn't released until the late 1980s, along with a remake of Hot Dog Buddy Buddy from the same film. A 3rd, song a remake of something called Whoa Mabel was possibly recorded for use in another film, but ultimately played in the background during a comedic riot scene in this film inspired by the riots at Haley's concerts. That recording has never been released as of 2024.
