Robert Ridarelli – aka Bobby Rydell’s
autobiography -
Teen Idol on the Rocks – A Tale of
Second Chances (with Allan Slutsky, Doctor Licks Publishing, Cherry Hill, N.J.,
08022) p. 31-35:
“There’s a common misconception
among outsiders that if you grew up in South Philadelphia during the ‘50s, you
must have been on a first-name basis with all the homegrown neighborhood
heroes: Mario Lanza, Eddie Fisher, Joey Bishop, Jack Klugman, James Darren,
Fabian, David Brenner, Al Martino, Frankie Avalon…who live only a few blocks
away from me, but I never got to know them until after my own career was in
full swing. The lone exception to all these missed relationships was Frankie
Avalon. We both shared similar beginnings as performers…”
“My new drums couldn’t have arrived
at a more perfect time because I was starting to get gigs as a drummer. One of
them came from Frankie Avalon, and would prove to be a turning point for me.
Cheech – that was my nickname for him – was in a band called Rocco and the
Saints. One night, they were booked as the opening act at a very popular club
in Somers Point, New Jersey, called Bayshores. Chippie Peters, the band’s
drummer, was ill so Cheech asked me to fill in, sing a few tunes and do my
usual imitations and comedy. The headliner that night was a prominent local act
named Billy Duke and the Dukes, whose bass player was known as Frankie Day.
(His real name was Francesco Cocchi). Frankie must have liked what he saw and
heard because he approached me after our set and said he’d like to manage me. I
had no idea what that even meant so I just said, ‘Talk to my dad. It was the
summer of 1957.”
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