Music career
Rydell played in several bands in the Philadelphia area. As a 14 year old he was the drummer for the Enamons (NoNames spelled backward) which included his childhood friend Pat Azzara on guitar. Azzara later took on the stage name Pat Martino and became the Jazz guitar legend.[5] Another band was Rocco and the Saints, in which he sang and played drums.[4] After releasing three unsuccessful singles for small companies, he signed a recording contract with Cameo Records. This was run by Bernie Lowe, who had been the pianist accompanying him on TV Teen Club.[4] After a couple of flops, "Kissin' Time" made the charts in 1959.[2] In May 1960, Rydell toured Australia with The Everly Brothers, Billy "Crash" Craddock, Marv Johnson, The Champs, The Crickets, and Lonnie Lee.[6]
His second success was "We Got Love". The album of the same name, his first, sold a million copies and obtained gold disc status. "Wild One" was followed with "Little Bitty Girl" which was his second million-selling single. He continued releasing hit songs with "Swingin' School" backed by "Ding-A-Ling" and "Volare" later in 1960, which also sold over a million copies.[7] It is estimated he sold over 25 million records in total.[4]
In 1961, he performed at the Copacabana in New York City, where he was the youngest performer to headline at the nightclub.[2][7] In February 1961, he appeared at the Festival du Rock at the Palais des Sports de Paris in Paris, France.[8]
Rydell's success and prospects led his father, Adrio, a foreman at the Electro-Nite Carbon Company in Philadelphia, to resign in 1961 after 22 years to become his son's road manager.[9]
In 1963, Rydell released the song "Wildwood Days," which reached Number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and remained there for nine weeks.[10] A mural on the Wildwood, New Jersey, boardwalk, painted in 2014, honors Rydell, whose song placed the community in the national spotlight.[11]
That same year, Rydell portrayed Hugo Peabody in the film version of Bye Bye Birdie, also starring Ann-Margret and Dick Van Dyke.[2] The original stage production of Bye Bye Birdie had no real singing role for the character of Hugo, but the movie script was rewritten specifically to expand the part for Rydell.[12] In 2011, Sony Pictures digitally restored the film. Rydell and Ann-Margret were in attendance at the restoration premiere in Beverly Hills, hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[13]
During the 1960s, Rydell had numerous hit records on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. His recording career earned him 34 Top 100 hits, placing him in the top five artists of his era (Billboard). They included his most popular successes: "Wild One" (his highest scoring single, at number 2), "Volare" (number 4), "Swingin' School" (number 5), "Kissin' Time" (number 11), "Sway" (number 14), "I've Got Bonnie" (number 18), and "The Cha-Cha-Cha" (number 10). His last major chart success was "Forget Him", which reached number 4 on the Hot 100 in January 1964. The song, written by Tony Hatch, was his fifth and final gold disc winner.[7]
Rydell left Cameo-Parkway Records later in 1964 and signed with Capitol Records.[14] By that point, the British Invasion had arrived and acts such as Rydell suffered a dramatic decline in popularity.[15] Bands such as The Beatles became more popular, and Rydell unwittingly contributed to his own downfall by inspiring John Lennon and Paul McCartney to write "She Loves You", a song which catapulted their success way beyond his.[4]
During that time, he performed on many television programs, including The Red Skelton Show, where a recurring role as Zeke Kadiddlehopper, Clem Kadiddlehopper's younger cousin, was written for him by Skelton. He also appeared on The Danny Thomas Show, Jack Benny, Joey Bishop, and The George Burns Show. He was a regular on The Milton Berle Show and was a panelist on To Tell the Truth in 1964. On October 6, 1964, he made a guest appearance on the episode "Duel" of the television series Combat!. It was Rydell's first dramatic acting role.[2]
In 1963, Rydell starred in an unsold television pilot called Swingin' Together produced by Desilu Productions, which featured him as the frontman for a four-piece rock 'n roll band seeking their big break.[16] Also during that time, Rydell served in the 103rd Engineer Battalion of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.[17]
In January 1968, it was announced in the UK music magazine NME that Rydell had signed a long term recording contract with Reprise Records.[18] He continued to perform in nightclubs, supper clubs and Las Vegas venues throughout the 1970s and 1980s, but his career was hampered by the refusal by ABKCO Records to reissue Rydell's Cameo-Parkway catalog, so it was completely unavailable until 2005, although he did re-record his hits in 1995 for K-tel Records).[19] He had one more hit after 1965, a disco re-recording of "Sway", which reached the Billboard Easy Listening chart in 1976.[12]
Rydell continued to tour for the remainder of his life, often with Frankie Avalon and Fabian Forte, performing under the name "The Golden Boys".[20] His autobiography was published in 2016.[20]