By William Kelly
A lot of famous musicians have passed through these parts – Conway Twitty, Levon and the Hawks, Joe Walsh and Stevie Nicks to name a few, and a number have come out of the Jersey Shore, especially Ocean City – such as Jim Croce, Todd Rundgren, Bobby Sheehan, the bass guitarist of Blues Traveler; music reporter Kurt Loder (Rolling Stone-MTV). But none have had the success or endurance of Dick Richards Boccelli, the drummer for Bill Haley’s Comets and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer.
Born on Feb. 12, 1924 in Yeadon, Pa., Boccelli attended West Chester College where he played football, and dated a teenage Grace Kelly before becoming a musician. He took up playing the drums and getting into music following behind his father, a tenor who sang at the Ocean City Music Pier and the Flanders Hotel ballroom, where he supported an association of blind singers and musicians.
With a blind performer he met through his father, Boccelli was playing at the Hofbrau Hotel in Wildwood in the summer of 1953, as an opening act for Bill Haley and His Comets.
Once the frontman for The Saddlemen, a country-western band from Chester, Pa., Haley reinvented himself in 1952, adopting the name Bill Haley and His Comets, inspired by the famous comet, to stay in tune with evolving musical trends.
While playing at the Hofbrau in 1953, Haley lost his drummer, so he asked Boccelli, who used the stage name of Dick Richards, to join his band.
They played a unique mix of country-western and rhythm and blues, and recorded a number of songs that didn’t make it right away, but later hit the charts, including Joe Turner’s “Shake, Rattle and Roll,” “Rock Around the Clock,” “Crazy, Man, Crazy,” and “See You Later Alligator.”
Meanwhile, across the country in Hollywood, Richard Brooks, the director of a new movie about teenagers called “Blackboard Jungle,” visited the home of his star, Glenn Ford, whose young son Peter continuously replayed a song on a 45 rpm record player in another room. The director liked the song, Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock,” and used it as the introduction to the movie, which was released in early 1955.
Because of the movie, the song quickly rose to the top of the pop music charts, the first rock ‘n’ roll song to do so, even though the term “rock ‘n’ roll” had yet to be coined.
When the song became a national sensation, Haley and His Comets moved from playing bars, nightclubs and hotels, to larger theaters and arenas, first playing Wildwood Convention Hall, then Ocean City Convention Hall (then at Sixth Street), and became the first rock ‘n’ roll band to play on “The Ed Sullivan Show” on TV.
Then they went on a nationwide tour. When they arrived in Cleveland, Haley was interviewed on the radio by DJ Alan Freed, who, in describing Haley’s music and his songs – “Shake, Rattle and Roll” and “Rock Around the Clock,” put together the term “rock and roll” and a new style of music was given a name.
And that’s why the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is in Cleveland rather than at the Jersey Shore, where Bill Haley and His Comets were performing when “Rock Around the Clock” became the first rock ‘n’ roll song to make No.1 on the pop charts. “Rock Around the Clock” remained at the top of the pop charts for the entire summer of 1955.
With the money rolling in, Haley and his manager bought themselves new pink Cadillacs, but refused to give the band the $50-a-week raise that they asked for, which caused considerable animosity.
Eventually Joey D’ Ambrosio (aka Joey Ambrose), drummer Dick Richards Boccelli and standup bass player Marshall Lytle quit the Comets and formed their own trio – The Jodimars, taking the name from the first two letters of their first names.
The Jodimars became a Las Vegas lounge act for a while, but then toured Europe where they were recognized and known as the former Comets. Some of their fans, who became The Beatles, performed and recorded one of their original songs, “Clarabella.”
After a few years The Jodimars folded, and Boccelli relocated his family permanently to Ocean City in 1963, also taking a small apartment in New York City where he began acting on and off Broadway and on the TV show “Oz.”
Haley had hired other musicians to replace the ones who left the Comets, but they never had another hit. Haley moved on to Texas and Mexico. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, six years after he died.
Then, in 1973 , Dick Clark brought the original Comets back together for a TV special on rock ‘n’ roll. They had so much fun they decided to stay together and performed under the name, The Original Comets.
Performing at music festivals in Europe, where they were recognized and still popular, they settled into Branson, Mo., the entertainment capital of the Midwest, and also played locally at the Jersey Shore, at the Flanders Hotel for its 75th Anniversary, the now defunct Bubba Mac Shack in Somers Point, and at a block party in Gloucester in South Jersey, where they used to play at a little neighborhood bar – Jack’s before they were popular.
Age began to take its toll, but Dick Boccelli continued performing, often saying, “I’ll rock until I drop,” and he certainly did.
Meeting some local musicians at his favorate breakfast café – Ready’s on Eighth Street in Ocean City, they formed a new trio and called themselves Ready’s Rockers.
Then, in 2012, the Comets were finally given official recognition and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. As his guest Boccelli took along his grandson, an aspiring drummer himself.
Besides Ready’s Café, Boccelli also frequented Gregory’s in Somers Point, especially on Taco Tuesdays, and even, as an octogenarian, found a new girlfriend who he picked up at her nursing home and took to lunch at the Crab Trap.
Although he said he wanted to continue playing music until he turned 100, Boccelli passed away on July 12, 2019 at the age of 95.
A well attended memorial service was held in his honor in the ballroom of Greate Bay Country Club, with all of his family and many of his friends, including former Ocean City policeman and Cape May County Sheriff Jim Plousis, now the head of the Casino Control Commission.
Ready’s Rockers, with Boccelli’s grandson on drums performed, and they recorded a video of recollections for posterity.
