Al Rex obit

Pioneering bass player for the Comets passes away

He was not on the list.

As a member of the aptly named Comets, bassist Al Rex supplied the pioneering rockabilly punch and the visual acrobatics that helped launch Billy Haley & His Comets into the rock 'n' roll stratosphere in the mid '50s.

By 1962, when his son was born, Rex was going by his real name, Albert Piccirilli, and had left a brief but promising solo career, as well as his days as a Comet, behind him.

“He retired before I was born. I think he stopped playing in 1960,” Greg Piccirilli said of his dad, who had passed away at his Jeffersonville home on Sunday at age 91.

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Although the Norristown native had left his music renown for a solid job with Alan Wood Steel, raising his family in the Black Horse section of Plymouth Township, he talked about that history-making era often with his son, Piccirelli recalled.

“He was with Bill Haley when he had the Saddlemen in the late 40s. Bill Haley became Bill Haley and the Comets in the early ‘50s when my dad was out on his own, but he rejoined Bill in 1955 when they started having some success and did some movies.”

Al Rex shared the spotlight with Haley and the Comets in the groundbreaking box office smashes “Rock Around the Clock” and “Don’t Knock the Rock” in 1956. His athletic bass playing was featured on the hits “Rocket 88,” “Shake, Rattle and Roll” and “See You Later, Alligator” with Haley and the Comets.

“Over the years he would talk about it all the time. My older brother and sisters say they remember seeing dad on the Ed Sullivan Show and the Arthur Godfrey Show,” Piccirilli noted. “I think the thing why my dad was so influential was his great talent at playing the bass, which acts like two instruments. You hear the bass and you also hearing a slapping, which is almost like a drum, a tap. So his talent was there and there were the things he would do with the bass. He would stand up on the bass. He would lay it on its back, on its side. He was real acrobatic with it. And in those days kids went crazy for that stuff. Years later, people like Jimi Hendrix would play guitar behind his back. Well, that’s influenced partly by my dad.”

Piccirilli’s siblings include Billy, Debbie, Valerie, Beverly, Lorraine, Mindy, Lisa and Christopher

Piccirilli said the fading popularity of the rockabilly style played a role in his dad’s retirement.

“I think the band’s popularity started to decline and they were bigger over in England. And by the time my sister was born in 1961, he had seven kids and felt he had to stay home and get a job. The lifestyle of traveling all the time was getting to him. And I don’t think the money was there for rock stars like it is today. Those guys back then had to work hard to make any money. They weren’t flying jets all around. When my dad started they were loading up old trucks with their gear and hitting all these clubs in Jersey and driving to New York for recording sessions. It was a hard road for all those guys who paved the way for rock and roll today. When he left music, I think my dad saw the writing on the wall with all the competition coming up, that they were kind of old news by then.”

Al spoke of the time an up-and-coming Elvis Presley opened the show for Haley and the Comets.

“Elvis opened for Bill Haley and the Comets in Cleveland and my dad met Elvis backstage. He said Elvis was nervous playing his first concert in the North and didn’t know how all these ‘Yankees’ were going to like him. I think that would have been 1956.

“When you look at the history, I think Bill Haley and the Comets were the first rock and roll band, bar none,”  Piccirilli added. “I think Bill Haley got it started for everybody else to follow him. And they added their own touches to it, like Chuck Berry with his awesome guitar playing, and Elvis Presley … everybody added a little something of their own.”

One of Piccirilli’s most vivid memories was when he attended with his dad the Comets’ induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012.

“It was an amazing night. There was a special committee  designated by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to get the bands whose leaders had already been inducted, to get the bands in there too. Buddy Holly was already in the Hall of Fame, but his band the Crickets weren’t.  Bill Haley was in the Hall of Fame but nobody ever mentioned the Comets. So that night, it was the Comets, the Crickets, the Miracles (of Smokey Robinson fame) and some others. It was a really good night because a lot of pioneers in rock were there to get the recognition they deserved.  My dad felt so honored. I remember the rock stars that I looked up to coming over to my dad, saying what an honor it was to meet him.”

Slash from Guns 'N Roses and Kid Rock were among the admirers who came up to Al, Piccirilli remembered.

“My Dad was really happy that night. I’m glad he lived to see it.”

Al’s wife Mary had passed away in 2018.

The family is planning a private memorial on his birthday, July 13.