Frankie Avalon
(born Francis Thomas Avallone
on September 18, 1940 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) [1] is an American actor, singer, sex symbol, and former teen idol.
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Career
By the time he was 12, Avalon was on
U.S. television for his
trumpet, and as a teenager, played with
Bobby Rydell in Rocco and the Saints. In 1959, "
Venus" (5 weeks #1) and "
Why" went to
number one on the
Billboard Hot 100. "Why" was the last #1 of the 1950s. Avalon had 31 charted
Billboard U.S. singles from 1958 to late 1962, including "Just Ask Your Heart" (U.S. #7), "I'll Wait For You" (U.S. #15), "Bobby Sox to Stockings" (U.S. #8), and "A Boy Without a Girl" (U.S. #10), most hits written and/or produced by Bob Marcucci, head of Chancellor Records.
Teamed frequently with
Annette Funicello, Avalon starred in a number of popular "beach" comedy movies during the 1960s. The wholesome and romantic coupling of "Frankie and Annette" in summer movies such as
Beach Party
and
Beach Blanket Bingo
became iconic figures in American films during that era.
Avalon also had straight dramatic parts in the
John Wayne historical western film
The Alamo
as well as the science-fiction story
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
(1961) with
Barbara Eden.
Materializing as a character called Teen Angel, his performance of "Beauty School Dropout" in the smash-hit 1978 film of the musical
Grease
introduced Frankie to a new generation of viewers.
Avalon appeared in nearly two dozen TV episodes, including
ABC's
The Bing Crosby Show
and
The Patty Duke Show
, appearing often as himself. Later, he became a national television spokesperson for
Sonic Drive-In.
The 1980 film
The Idolmaker
, written by Ed Di Lorenzo and directed by
Taylor Hackford, was a thinly-disguised biography of Avalon ("Tommy Dee" in the film) as well as 1950s teenage star
Fabian (called "Caesare" in the film), as well as songwriter/producer Marcucci (called "Vinnie Vacarri"). In the movie, Dee clashes with the producer and younger singer Caesare, whom he feels threatens his career. Eventually, Dee and Caesare quit the label, but their record careers collapse as the
British Invasion begins. The real Fabian threatened a lawsuit, though the filmmakers insisted the film presented only fictional characters (though Marcucci was a paid consultant). Avalon denied most of the movie's events.
Avalon married Kathryn Diebel on
January 19 1963. She was a former
beauty pageant winner, and Avalon met her while playing cards at a friend's house. He told his friend that Kay was the girl he was going to marry. His agent warned Avalon that marriage would spoil his
teen idol mystique. Still together, they have eight children - Frankie Jr., Tony, Dina, Laura, Joseph, Nicolas, Kathryn and Carla. They have 10 grandchildren. Frankie Jr. is a drummer and Tony, the second oldest son, plays guitar and teaches at the ; both tour with their father.
In 1987 Avalon and
Annette Funicello returned to movies with
Back to the Beach
. Not long afterwards, Funicello was diagnosed with
MS, and retired.
Afterwards, Avalon turned to marketing and created Frankie Avalon Products, a line of health and cosmetic aids. Avalon promotes his products on the
Home Shopping Network with host
Bob Circosta.
He made a cameo appearance as himself with
Robert DeNiro in the 1995 film
Casino
.
In recent years, Avalon has starred in stage productions of
Grease
in the role of Teen Angel (a role he played in the 1978
film adaptation) and
Tony n' Tina's Wedding
as a characterized version of himself. Additionally, in 2007, he performed "Beauty School Dropout" with the four remaining female contenders (Kathleen Monteleone, Allie Schulz, Ashley Spencer, and winner Laura Osnes) for the role of Sandy on the
NBC television reality show
Grease: You're the One that I Want!
.
On April 8, 2009, he performed on
American Idol
.
Avalon is currently on a cross-country national concert tour that begins July 25, 2009 at The Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove, NJ and ends on April 11, 2010 at the Eisenhower Hall Theater in West Point, NY.
[2]
Songs
- "Trumpet Sorrento" (1954 instrumental, X label)
- "Cupid"
- "Venus"
- "Why"
- "De De Dinah"
- "You Excite Me"
- "Ginger Bread"
- "What Little Girl"
- "I'll Wait for You"
- "Bobby Sox to Stockings"
- "A Boy Without a Girl"
- "Two Fools"
- "Just Ask Your Heart"
- "Beauty School Dropout"
- "Swinging On A Rainbow"
- "Don't Throw Away All Those Teardrops"
- "Where Are You"
- "Tuxedo Junction"
- "Don't Let Love Pass Me By"
- "Togetherness"
- "The Puppet Song"
- "A Perfect Love"
- "All of Everything"
- "Who Else But You"
- "True, True Love"
- "You Are Mine"
- "Since I Didn't Have You"
Legacy
He was mentioned in the
System of a Down song "
Old School Hollywood." While the specific subject of the song cannot be accurately determined (as System of a Down declines requests to explain songs, as a moral of theirs) it seems that it is about
Daron Malakian's experience in a celebrity baseball game, where he and Avalon were both ignored.
He is also mentioned in "It Takes Two," a song from the hit musical
Hairspray
, sung by the character Link Larkin.
He is also mentioned in a song by the
Wu Tang Clan called "The City". It is referring to his experiences of being a big part of the beach party film genre. "Ride the wave like Frankie Avalon," is what is quoted from this song.
One of numerous obscure cultural references present in Midway's video game
Mortal Kombat 3 was a lo-res image of Frankie Avalon's face that would dart up in the lower right-hand corner of the screen when Goro killed his opponent by knocking him into the spike pit on the Bridge level.
His song "Venus" was featured in
Cranium Command (1989 - 2005), an attraction at
Epcot's
Wonders of Life Pavilion (now closed) at
Walt Disney World. In the attraction, a 12 year old boy named Bobby (Scott Curtis), tries to survive the pressures of life and falls in love with a beautiful girl named Annie (
Natalie Gregory) at school.
He and his song "Venus" are mentioned in
Wendy Wasserstein's 2005 play
Third
. The main character, English professor Laurie Jameson, watches a
PBS reunion show featuring Avalon singing the song, and sings a line of it to her daughter. In stage productions of the show, part of the song is played and a portion of the supposed
PBS special is screened as part of the scenery.
He is also mentioned in
Adam Sandler's 2008 comedy,
You Don't Mess With the Zohan for his haircut, which the Zohan ( Sandler's character) thinks is the latest hairdo.
On
April 8,
2009, he sang "Venus" live on
American Idol's top 8 show in a tribute to
Simon Cowell's
1959 birth year.
[3]
Filmography
- Jamboree
(1957)
- Alakazam the Great
(1960) (voice in English dub)
- Guns of the Timberland
(1960)
- The Alamo
(1960)
- Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
(1961)
- Sail a Crooked Ship
(1961)
- Panic in Year Zero!
(1962)
- Operation Bikini
(1963)
- The Castilian
(1963)
- The Eleventh Hour
as Larry Thatcher in episode entitled "A Tumble from a High White House" (1963)
- Drums of Africa
(1963)
- Beach Party
(1963)
- Muscle Beach Party
(1964)
- Bikini Beach
(1964)
- Pajama Party
(1964)
- Beach Blanket Bingo
(1965)
- I'll Take Sweden
(1965)
- Ski Party
(1965)
- How to Stuff a Wild Bikini
(1965)
- Sergeant Dead Head
(1965)
- Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
(1965)
- Fireball 500
(1966)
- The Million Eyes of Sumuru
(1967)
- Skidoo
(1968)
- The Haunted House of Horror
(1969)
- The Take
(1974)
- Grease
(1978)
- Blood Song
(1982)
- Back to the Beach
(1987)
- Troop Beverly Hills
(1989)
- Twist
(1992) (documentary)
- The Stoned Age
(1994)
- Casino
(1995)
- Charlie Gracie Fabulous
(2007) (documentary)
- The Wages of Spin
(2007) (documentary)
- Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project
(2007) (documentary)
References
- http://www.frankieavalon.com/index.cfm?category=2&pageid=8
- http://www.frankieavalon.com/index.cfm?category=3&pageid=14
- http://www.cricketmx.com/articles/read/american-idol-50s-style:-frankie-avalon-makes-a-surprise-appe