Frankie Avalon
Discussing Frankie Avalon's career as a mover and shaker in 1950s rock & roll with anyone who takes their rock & roll even halfway seriously is to court derision. Avalon was the first of the manufactured teen idols, before Fabian and Bobby Rydell and the myriad of other pretenders to the throne who worked the turf with tight black pants and red, red sweaters to the fore while Elvis cooled his heels in Germany. In the late '50s and early '60s, post-Twist and pre-Beatles, these generally untalented pretty boys were the cardboard no-threat remnants of a post-Elvis age. But Avalon had a real musical background to go with the pretty boy looks, and was no drugstore teenager waiting to be discovered.
Born in South Philadelphia in 1940 as Francis Thomas Avallone, he broke into show business as a child prodigy trumpet player, good enough to win talent contests, get on the Jackie Gleason Show, and make records for RCA Victor's subsidiary, X Records. But as childhood gave way to teendom, Avalon found himself playing backup trumpet in a local band called Rocco & the Saints. When queried by local impresario Bob Marcucci if there might be some local rock & roll singers who would be good enough to record some of his songs, Frankie suggested he check out the group's lead singer, blond-haired-and-blue-eyed Andy Martin. Marcucci came to the gig, but was unimpressed with Martin, feeling that blond-haired singers didn't have the right "look" to connect with females. But once he heard Avalon belt out a couple of tunes, Marcucci knew he had found what he was looking for, and a management contract was inked immediately. It was another six to eight months before Avalon's first single, "Cupid," came out on Marcucci's Chancellor label, and it wasn't until his third release, "Dede Dinah," that he had his first Top Ten hit. From there, it was an unprecedented run of hits, starting with his first number one in 1959, "Venus," placing no less than six more records in the Top 40 in that year alone. Marcucci worked the formula, easing Avalon away from rockers into more "adult," sap-oriented fare like a true pro, and was able to produce similar results with the far less talented but also very pretty Fabian.
By 1962, Avalon's four-year domination of the charts was coming to an end, but his career wasn't. He teamed up with Annette Funicello and reinvented himself as a clean-cut, pretty-boy surfer in a wildly successful batch of Beach Party movies that got him through the '60s in far better shape than most of his colleagues. The series was big enough to bring himself and Funicello back for an update in the '80s, Back to the Beach. Ever the musician, Avalon insisted surf legend (and original cast member) Dick Dale be in this revival. Today, Avalon divides his time between hawking pain medicine on home shopping networks and appearing on the Golden Boys of Rock'n'Roll oldies show with Bobby Rydell and Fabian, looking handsome as ever.
© Cub Koda /TiVo
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25 All-Time Greatest Hits
Pop - Erschienen bei Varese Sarabande am 01.01.2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Venus (Rerecorded)
Pop - Erschienen bei Music Manager am 20.08.2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Greatest Hits
Rock - Erschienen bei Everest Records am 01.05.1960
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Anthology: The Golden Boy (Remastered)
Pop - Erschienen bei Master Tape Records am 17.07.2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Platinum Collection: Frankie Avalon
Rock - Erschienen bei Divitiae am 07.04.2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The First Five Albums
Rock - Erschienen bei Jasmine Records am 11.05.2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Essential Sound of (Rerecorded)
Pop - Erschienen bei Music Manager am 19.06.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Venus (feat. Pete de Angelis et son orchestre) (Mono Version)
Pop - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Best Of...
Pop - Erschienen bei Classic Records am 16.01.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Venus (Digitally Remastered)
Pop - Erschienen bei Hully Gully am 30.10.2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Pop Hits, Vol. 2
Frankie Avalon, Bobby Comstock
Pop - Erschienen bei Shami Media Group 3 am 31.03.2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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The Alamo, par la vedette du film (Mono Version)
Pop - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
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