Crazy Man, Crazy: The Bill Haley Story

by Bill Haley Jr., Peter Benjaminson

Crazy Man, The Bill Haley Story is the first complete biography to uncover the mystery of the world’s original rock’n’roll superstar. Combining extensive interviews conducted with family members, ex-Comets and his father’s business associates with decades of exhaustive research, Bill Haley Jr. illuminates both the public and private lives of his famous father for the first time. Bill Jr and veteran rock writer Peter Benjaminson explore every aspect of Haley’s career, including his unlikely transition from a yodeling Hillbilly entertainer and disc jockey to a chart-topping performer, as well as the racism, rebellion and delinquency that surrounded his rise. Examining Bill Haley’s precipitous fall from the top of the charts, his abandonment of two ex-wives and six surviving children and his prolonged descent into alcoholism, ending with his tragic and shocking demise at the age of 55, this moving story is the definitive account of the original King of Rock’n’Roll.

288 pages, Hardcover

Published June 30, 2019

Reviews

[Maurice Tougas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listening to the innocuous, almost innocent Bill Haley and the Comets songs today (Rock Around the Clock, Shake, Rattle and Roll), it's hard to believe that this music was considered seriously subversive, and a threat to the morals of teenagers.
Teens went wild over Haley's early rock and roll; in Britain in particular, riots occurred when kids got out of hand, daring to dance in the aisles of the theatres. The film Rock Around the Clock (I've seen it; it's almost comically innocent) was outright banned in some countries, and teens just couldn't get enough of it. Haley and the Comets were mobbed around the world. He and the Comets sold 75 million records and had 40 Top 40 hits. But newcomers like Elvis overtook Haley, and his slow and tragic slide into obscurity and brutal alcoholism ended with his death at age 55, a mostly forgotten figure.
Crazy, Man, Crazy was co-written by Haley's son, Bill Jr., who takes the unusual approach of writing about himself in the third person. It's a little weird, and I'm not sure why he took that route. But otherwise, Crazy, Man, Crazy is a competent and quite comprehensive look at a different era in music, and society.

[Mike Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good telling of one of those at the birth of rock and roll. Haley was a man on a mission. Driven. He experienced tragedy and overcame. Like most, I knew Haley for Rock Around the Clock and a few others. What I didn’t know is just how big he was for a short time. Happy to recommend this book, written by his son.

[Bobby Daugherty · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first and only book I have read on Bill Haley. It seems like a hit piece. It paints a very negative picture of Haley. Pretty depressing.