BILL HALEY
(1925 - 1981) Pioneer American pop singer, his "Rock Around the Clock" set the pace for the advent of rock and roll. Very fine content partly-printed D.S."Bill Haley" twice, 2pp. large legal folio with 4to. sheet attached, Chester, Penn., Apr. 1, 1959, a contract between Bill Halley and His Comets and the Jolly Joyce Agency, signed twice at the bottom by Haley and JOLLY JOYCE. The contract appoints Joyce as the exclusive booking agent for the band for the rate of 10% "Subject to attached rider". The rider, attached to the verso with a staple, stipulates that the agreement would not extend "to any earnings by me or by me and my orchestra, in the field of phonograph records..." except as noted in the last two sections of the rider. The first provision stipulates that "...if any phonograph record containing performances by me and my orchestra, shall be listed as one of the top five records on the Honor Roll of Hits in CASH BOX, VARIETY or BILLBOARD, prior to December 31, 1959, you [Jolly Joyce] shall be entitled to five percent of all earnings by me on that specific record from Decca Records Inc". The other provision reads: "In any new phonograph record contract for me and my orchestra, for the period commencing January 1, 1960 or thereafter, you shall be entitled to ten percent of the total amount received by me under such contract subject...". The document was accomplished at the time that Haley, his popularity declining in the United States, was preparing to leave Decca. Haley would sign with Warner Brothers in 1960 and record for them and a variety of small labels throughout the 1960s. Several folds, marginal tears, else very good.