Bill Haley & the Comets had the big hit on "Rock Around The Clock" in May of 1955 but they also "covered" the song that was first recorded by Sonny Dae, a black artist.
Actually, Sonny Dae and the Knights were an all white ITALIAN novelty group that played the eastern seaboard in the early 1950's.
One of the song's composers (James Meyers, a.k.a. Jimmy DeKnight) had Bill Haley and the Saddlemen (the Comets, as they were then known) in mind when composing the song. Due to tensions between Meyers and Haley's record producer at Essex (Dave Miller), the song was not allowed to be recorded by Haley while under contract with Essex. As a favor to Meyers, Haley's manager passed it on to Sonny Dae (real name: Paschal Vennitti) to record at the Arcade label.