http://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk SEPTEMBER 2019 HI-FI WORLD 93
AUDIOPHILE BOOK
Paul Rigby reviews a book on early Rock legend Bill
Haley.
B
ill Haley was a weak man
and serial absent father
who constantly and
consistently shirked his
responsibilities and ran
away from his obligations.
His judgement was not only imper-
fect, it could be labelled as incompe-
tent as he not only consistently made
poor decisions in his choice of career
advisors but took disastrous busi-
ness decisions in which he lost large
amounts of money over and over
again. Lessons were never learned.
He was a shallow man who
seemed more enamoured by fame
than the music he played yet he had
an ear for new trends when he chose
to apply it.
He was an alcoholic which
triggered increasing physical and
mental issues as he grew older. He
could be abusive. He suffered violent
blackouts. The man was a flailing, out
of control mess who was lucky to
escape the clutches of the IRS, the
clutches of the mob and the clutches
of his two ex-wives.
He was also insecure and lonely,
which may have been the source
for much of the above. That’s the
conclusion I have after reading this
book.
It’s a hell of a story. And this
is the wrong book to tell it. Why?
Because this book is not about Bill
Haley at all. Haley is in it, yes. His life
is documented – sure – but Haley is
almost used to introduce and provide
a plot frame for the real star of the
story. This book is really about his
second wife, Joan Barbara ‘Cuppy’
Cupchak and her family. She is the
primary focus of this book. She is the
only person in this book who comes
out of the story with any credit at all.
She is the only personality who
is sufficiently mined and examined in
psychological terms. She is the only
person we get to really know in this
tome. She is the real tragic heroine
on this book. And if she isn’t there
in person, she often is in spirit in the
shape of one of her children, sired
by Bill Haley himself. Failing either
of those, ‘Cuppy’ is reflected within
Haley himself, as Haley commits yet
another grievous injustice upon his
second wife.
In short, Bill Haley’s personality is
so retarded in this tome, he ends up
as a co-star in his own biography.
Of course, Bill Haley stands as an
iconic pioneering figure in rock’n’roll
history. Selling seventy-five million
records, with four Top 40 hits to his
credit, Haley is seen by many as the
man who lit the blue touch paper to
a musical revolution.
Yet this book, his book
supposedly, is patchy to say the
least. Frustrating even. Mainly
because every new episode leaves
you with a list of questions. Every
chapter introduces new characters
new events and new problems and
every single time, you are left with
questions, questions, questions.Although author, Peter
Benjaminson, had his hand on the
tiller of the content of this book it is
Billy Haley Sr’s son, Bill Haley Jr who
forms the core of the book and the
source of the research.
Maybe that’s why the text reads
like a Jekyl & Hyde production. One
moment, the text jumps and flies
around your head like a typewriter
on a big spring, the next it flows in a
coherent and sensible manner. Is that
possibly because the book consists
of Haley Jr’s haphazard research
connected by Benjaminson’s own
text fills? I don’t know, but I do know
that the book itself is disjointed.
The book packs in a list of facts
which are rushed through and ticked
off like a list. Many of these facts are
interesting, alarming, amazing and
fascinating. Trouble is, you often want
to pull the author back and ask him
to stop, explain and elaborate. But no.
He fails to look at an issue from all
sides.
This fault is repeated throughout
the book. It declares itself as Haley
Sr’s “first complete biography” but
it is not. It beggars accusations of
misrepresentation.
As is it, this Bill Haley Sr book
is an unsatisfying, frantic, choppy,
haphazard highlights package.Rock Shock
The Bill Haley Story:
Crazy Man Crazy
Omnibus
Price: £20
Although author, Peter