Frankie Avalon

by Erika Cox

Frankie Avalon was the first of the long list of teen idols in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. He was noted as the most successful of all of them perhaps due to his many appearances on American Bandstand and film appearances with Annette Funicello.

Frankie Avalon was born Francis Thomas Avallone on September 18, 1939 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

As a child, his father taught him how to play the trumpet and encouraged him to perform. He first performed at a local called the CR Club, whose owner encouraged parents to bring in their talented children to perform.

He soon began performing at local talent shows playing the trumpet and even won first place playing in a number of contests.

Frankie’s trumpet playing at a party for another musician got him his first national television appearances on the Jackie Gleason show and from there he went on to appear in a number of other nationally televised shows, mainly playing the trumpet. His first record was an instrumental released on a record label called, X Records, in 1954.

At age 12, he was playing with a band called Rocco and the Saints. The drummer for the band was Bobby Rydell, who eventually became a teen idol himself later on. The band played in various shows, teenage clubs, high school gyms, and even had a regular gig at a vacation resort. At this time, American Bandstand was becoming more popular and a major player in the rise of teenage music and teen idols.

The purpose of the show was to focus entirely on teenagers and their music. Many record producers sought the talent of young people so they could appear on the show and become an instant success.

Although, this sounds good upfront, part of the reason behind this push was money, however, it did provide teenage artists an avenue to get noticed and have a successful career and it also provided teenagers all around the country a common interest.

The show became a way for teens to communicate the new dances and provided other teenage interests as well.

One of these record producers, Peter De Angelis, knew Frankie from a relative and Frankie would often rehearse over De Angelis house. Frankie asked De Angelis for an audition and was signed immediately with De Angelis new record company, Chancellor Records. Frankie changed his name to a more suitable or acceptable name and he also started singing instead of playing the trumpet.

His first couple of records were aimed at teenagers but only sold in Philadelphia, so Avalon’s producers got him and his back up band a performance in the movie, Jamboree, performing one of their songs. Soon after, Avalon appeared on American Bandstand singing “De De Dinah”, which would go on to sell a million copies.

He went on to record and release several more teenage pop songs with a nice beat and simple lyrics and in 1959, Frankie released his biggest songs, “Venus” and “Why” both going to number one on the charts and selling over a million records.

Over a two-year period, Frankie had over seven songs at the top of the charts and in the early 1960’s, he starred in a number of beach related films along with Annette Funicello. After that, his career dried up but he continued to release songs and appeared in a number of films.

In the 1980’s, he toured with Bobby Rydell and Fabian in a tour called the Boys of Bandstand and also reunited with Annette Funicello in a remake beach film. He continues to make appearances in nightclubs and is a spokesman for Sonic Drive-In.

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