We’ve all heard of the 1960’s British rock invasion of America when British rock bands like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones & The Animals took the United States by storm.
But before 1960, there was virtually no rock bands here in the UK, unless you count skiffle which was a home-grown genre of folk music that took influences from American folk, blues, country and jazz. The most famous proponent of this form of music was Scottish born Lonnie Donegan who became known as the King of Skiffle.
This all changed when in 1957, Bill Haley and his band the Comets arrived on these shores from America.
Bill Haley’s brand of rock and roll had already caused a sensation over the other side of the pond and after crossing the Atlantic on the Queen Elizabeth, he was met with over 5000 screaming fans at Southampton, a few hundred of which travelled with Haley and the Comets on their train ride to London.
Their first gig in the UK was here at the Dominion Theatre on Feb 6th 1957 and Haley, whose popularity in the States had actually been on the wane, was met with ecstatic and enthusiastic audiences. Such was the clamour to see them, that after a brief tour of the rest of the UK, they came back to London and played the Dominion again on March 10th.
Safe to say that artists like Paul McCartney of the Beatles and Peter Townshend of the Who were blown away by Haley and his Comets, and have both been quoted as saying that rock and roll music in England started with their arrival.