Bobby
Rydell
Robert
Louis Ridarelli was born April 26, 1942 and grew up in the same
Italian neighborhood of South Philadelphia as Frankie Avalon and
Fabian. In his early years, Bobby would sit in front of the TV
set trying to impersonate performers like Louis Prima, Milton
Berle, and Johnny Ray. His father recognized Bobby's talent and
encouraged him to pursue a show business career.While other children
were listening to the latest hits, Rydell's father was taking
him to listen to the last big bands working the various Philly
clubs.
At five he
began taking drum lessons because he admired Gene Krupa and by
age seven, he had begun to work night clubs in Philadelphia. At
nine, he was a regular on Paul Whiteman's television show that
was broadcast from Philadelphia and performed on it for three
years. It was during this time that Whiteman changed Bobby's last
name to Rydell, because he had trouble pronouncing Ridarelli.
By the time
he was a teenager, Bobby was playing drums in a dance band called
"Rocco and the Saints", that featured Frankie Avalon
on the trumpet. The band played summer bookings in the seaside
resorts around Atlantic City. Rydell also played the guitar and
bass and was a natural comedian.
Frankie Day,
who managed Rocco and the Saints, became interested in Rydell
as a solo act. With Bobby's father's approval, Day began taking
Rydell to different record companies. Day was unsuccessful for
several years, though Rocco and the Saints had backed Frankie
Avalon's first sessions on Chancellor Records.
In late 1958,
Bobby recorded a song called "Fatty Fatty" for Veko
Records in Baltimore. The release went nowhere, the promoters
disappeared with the masters and Rydell's father was left with
the bill for the sessions. Finally, Frankie Day approached Bernie
Lowe, the owner of Philadelphia's Cameo Records, who had been
Rydell's vocal coach when he was ten. In January 1959, Rydell
signed a contract with Cameo and his first single "Please
Don't Be Mad" was released in February, 1959. "Please
Don't Be Mad" did no better than "Fatty Fatty."
Lowe then got him a guest spot on "American Bandstand."
He was only interviewed and didn't sing, but he did manage to
plug "Please Don't Be Mad."
In 1959, Cameo
released his second single "All I Want Is You" but again
the record saw little action. Rydell became discouraged as his
old friend Frankie Avalon had been making hit records for over
a year, "Venus" was one of the biggest hits of 1959
and Fabian too had been having hits since the first of the year.
Rydell had
almost resigned himself as being a drummer in a second rate combo,
when Bernie Lowe came up with a song called "Kissin' Time."
Released in mid-June, the record caught on in Philadelphia, followed
by Detroit and Boston. Dick Clark began playing it on American
Bandstand and within three weeks after it's release, it was a
national hit. Bobby Rydell was just seventeen.
In August,
Rydell appeared on American Bandstand where he lip-synched "Kissin''
Time."and "We Got Love" which was a solid follow
up.
Rydell appeared
at the Michigan State Fair in September, 1959 with a Dick Clark
show. This led to him touring with Dick Clark's first rock and
roll caravan that began on September 18 and was booked for forty-four
shows through the end of October. By then, "We Got Love"
had gone gold and become Bobby's first Top Ten hit.
Rydell's biggest
selling single, over a million copies, "Wild One" was
released in early in 1960. "Swingin' School" was a springtime
hit and third million seller. That summer, Bobby showed his amazing
voice on an song called "Volare". The song had been
pulled from a previous unsuccessful session of songs in a big
band style to introduce Rydell to an older audience.
The next three
years Rydell had a string of hits that sold more than a half million
copies each Several, including "Good Time Baby," "I've
Got Bonnie," "I'll Never Dance Again," "The
Cha-Cha," and "Wildwood Days" even made the Top
Twenty. 1963s "Forget Him" almost made #1 and sold over
a million copies.
Rydell appeared
in the 1963 version of the Broadway hit musical "Bye, Bye,
Birdie." Though the story dealt with a rock and roll singer,
Rydell was cast with Ann-Margaret as a pair of high school sweethearts.
In 1964, the
British invasion began and Rydell, like many American acts, was
shut out from the hit making machinery of the record business.
Receiving
a draft notice, Rydell tried to get out of service as a "hardship
case." He wrote to the board that his father worked for him
and was the sole means of support of his grandparents that lived
with him. When the request was denied Rydell joined a local Philadelphia
National Guard unit. His career was interrupted for six months
of basic training in 1964.
Rydell signed
with Capitol Records but never did anything of interest. In 1969,
he signed with Reprise, a label founded by Frank Sinatra. His
first single, "Lovin' Things" with "It's Getting
Better" on the flip side, received no promotional support.
"Lovin' Things" was covered by the Grassroots and "It's
Getting Better" by Mama Cass, and each became a mid-size
hit. His next single "The River Is Wide" went nowhere,
but the Grassroots version moved up the charts. After, three failed
singles, he quit.
In the late
60s Rydell joined the rock and roll revival shows at Madison Square
Garden. In the 70s, he was a popular entertainer at Hugh Hefner's
Playboy Clubs. He also worked at the Hyatt Regency and Waldorf
Hotel chains and appeared at Disney theme parks.
In the late
70s Rydell tried moving into a "pop" direction pioneered
by Barry Manilow, but met with little success. He appeared in
a summer stock of "Bye, Bye, Birdie," this time playing
the part of the father. He also appeared in a failed pilot comedy-variety
television show, "One More Time" that was to be produced
by the Osmonds.
In the summer
of 1985, he joined his old friends Frankie Avalon and Fabian on
"Boys of Bandstand" tour. The next years saw Rydell
performing in clubs all over the world. He also appeared on a
number of Dick Clark television specials, recalling the early
days of rock and roll era.
In 2000, Bobby
released a new album called "Now and Then", made up
of re-makes of his old hits and some new material. It was his
first new album in over twenty years.
Billboard
Magazine lists Bobby Rydell as earning 34 Top 40 hits, making
him one of the Top 5 artists of his era.
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