Fabian

by Erika Cox

Fabian was another teen idol in a long list of teen idols from the 1950’s. Fabian was born Fabiano Anthony Forte on February 6, 1943 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Ironically, he grew up around the same area that Frankie Avalon and Bobby Rydell lived, a couple of other teen idols at that time. He even attended the same boys club as Rydell and Avalon.

Unlike some of the other teen idols, he didn’t come from a musical family nor did he have any noticeable musical talents. As a young boy he worked as a janitor’s assistant in the building he lived.

At age fourteen his father had a heart attack and Fabian was forced to bring in an additional income to help his family, so he worked odd jobs around the city. In high school, Fabian did not have physically what was needed to play sports nor did he play any instruments or join any musical groups.

However, what Fabian had was looks and his looks would eventually get him in the door as a teen idol.

After finding Frankie Avalon, Avalon’s managers and producers scoured the Philadelphia neighborhoods looking for talent or perhaps a nice looking face.

Since Fabian had grown up in the same neighborhood as Avalon, Avalon recommended Fabian. Avalon’s managers eventually found Fabian in the neighborhood, approached him with the prospects of becoming a big Rock and Roll star and, of course, Fabian jumped at the chance.

Not only was he a teenager and any chance of becoming a music star would be enticing but also due to his father’s poor health, his family needed the money.

Fabian was the quintessential made up teen idol that producers and managers were hoping to find, he had the looks and the age despite the fact that he did not have the talent or the ability.

His managers, DeAngelis and Marucci, dressed him appropriately to match his looks, changed his hairstyle, used makeup to cover up the teenage acne, and provided him with vocal and style lessons.

It should be noted that Fabian could not sing a note and that the vocal lessons were given in hope that his voice would become manageable.

Signed with Chancellor Records, the same record label Frankie Avalon recorded with, Fabian recorded his first single, “I’m in Love” in 1958, a typical teenage song.

To help promote the song he visited disc jockeys around the country in order to get them to play his song this eventually would end his career after the Payola scandal had been exposed.

However, his big break came in 1958 when he appeared on American Bandstand, although he didn’t sing, the girls went wild over his looks. He made several appearances on American Bandstand and was a big hit due to his looks.

He recorded a few songs that had no success, including “I’m a Man”, which was initially a flop. To get at least one of his records to sell, Fabian appeared on American Bandstand lip-synching his song, “I’m a Man”, finally boosting record sales.

To sell more records, his producers decided to change his image to a more grown up Fabian and his next single, “Tiger” his only big hit, went gold.

Fabian was considered marketable and he starred in a number of movies throughout the late 50’s and 60’s, some he received minor success others were flops.

Although the Payola scandal pretty much ended his career, he tried to make attempts to restart his career in the 1970’s but his fear of the inability to sing would keep him from regaining any success.

He continued his close ties with Dick Clark and along with Frankie Avalon and Bobby Rydell he toured around the country in the 1980’s.

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