Bobby Rydell, the quintessential ‘teen idol’ of the early ’60s who embodied that fame in a starring role opposite Ann-Margret in the 1963 film ‘Bye Bye Birdie’, died today at the age of 79. The cause of death was pneumonia.
His death, just days before his 80th birthday, was confirmed by radio legend Jerry Blavat, Rydell’s longtime friend from the singer’s South Philadelphia precinct. “Of all the children” of that period, Blavat said, “he had the best whistles and was the best entertainer. He told the best stories, did the best impersonations and was the nicest guy.”
Such was Rydell’s fame as the quintessential American teen pop star in the days just before the British invasion of rock that Rydell High School was named after him in the Broadway musical and subsequent film Grease. An actor also portrayed him in a performance scene in the film Green Book.
“It was so nice to know that high school [in ‘Grease’] was named after me,” he said. “And I said, ‘Why me?’ It could have been Anka High, Presley High, Everly High, Fabian High, Avalon High. And they got into Rydell High and all the honors once again.”
The singer had 34 charting singles on the Billboard Hot 100, the most notable of which are “Wild One,” which reached No. 2, and “Volare,” a No. 4 hit. Other top 10 songs included “Swingin’ School” and “The Cha-Cha-Cha”. His streak of top 10 songs began with “We Got Love”, which peaked at No. 6 in 1959, and ended with “Forget Him” in 1964.
Bobby Rydell portraits at home in Bryn Mawr, PA on April 18, 2016 MediaPunch
One of his first hits, “Wildwood Days,” only peaked at No. 17 in 1963, but remains an anthem in the New Jersey area for which it is named. A Rydell mural adorns the boardwalk in Wildwood, NJ.
In a 2020 interview, Rydell recalled how his role on Bye Bye Birdie expanded after it was cast. “I’m looking at the play and I’m looking at Hugo Peabody and he’s not singing, there’s no lines, there’s no dancing, he just stood there. But when I went to start filming, Mr. (George) Sidney saw a kind of magic between Ann-Margret and I, and every day that I went back to Columbia Studios, my script got bigger and bigger and greater. More dialogue, more singing, more dancing. And I’m far from a movie star, but if I had to be in one picture, it would be in a classic like Grease. And I’m really lucky to be a part of something so wonderful.”
Born Robert Louis Ridarelli on April 26, 1942, Rydell began singing and playing the drums at the age of 6. At age 7, at his father’s urging, he began performing professionally in nightclubs in the Philly/South Jersey area.
In 1950, Rydell won a talent show during the television series Paul Whiteman’s TV Teen Club and became a regular on the show. After three years as part of Whiteman’s on-air singing crew, the singer/drummer changed his name to Rydell and began playing for local bands such as Rocco and the Saints (an ensemble that also includes another friend from South Philly , Frankie Avalon, performed as his trumpeter).
After trying his luck with a handful of unsuccessful singles for small independent labels, Rydell signed with Philadelphia’s Cameo Records (later Cameo/Parkway) and charted in 1959 with “Kissin’ Time.” ups, “We Got Love” (his first million-seller), “Wild One”, “Swingin'” and his version of the classic “Volare”, Rydell became a real teen idol.
Ann-Margret, right, and Bobby Rydell dance during a scene from ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ on the film set in Hollywood, California September 14, 1962. It was the first film for 20-year-old actor and singer Bobby and the second for actress Ann -Margret, 21. (AP Photo) ASSOCIATED PRESS
When Rydell performed a show on New York City’s Copacabana in 1961, Rydell became the youngest performer to ever make headlines at the famous nightclub, cementing his status among Rat Pack fans as well as teenagers (he also performed at the festival in 1961 du Rock at the Palais des Sports de Paris in Paris, France, cementing his relationship with European and British audiences, for whom he continues to direct cabaret performances to this day).
In 1963 he played the role of Hugo Peabody in the film adaptation of the satirical musical Bye Bye Birdie, starring Ann-Margret and Dick Van Dyke. His role wasn’t that of the titular rock star, but the jealous boyfriend of the girl who wins the chance to meet Birdie before he joins the army. In 2011 Bye Bye Birdie received a digital restoration and Rydell performed with Ann-Margret in a special Academy screening at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater (see video below).
By the next year, Rydell would be leaving Cameo-Parkway Records for Capitol Records, the same label that released his soon-to-be rivals in The Beatles.
In the late ’60s he switched to Reprise, where he had little success. “Mr. Sinatra wanted me on his Reprise label, so of course I said yes, but there was no promotion,” Rydell told Goldmine.
Rydell, Avalon and the rest of the clean teen idol crew have ceded their popularity to everything, becoming lounge singers in Las Vegas and on international tours.
After 1965, Rydell never charted again on the Billboard Hot 100, although he continued to release singles into the mid-’70s and one of his last songs, a 1977 disco number called “Sway,” made a modest impression on the adult present chart .
Rydell wrote a memoir, Bobby Rydell: Teen Idol on the Rocks: A Tale of Second Chances. The subtitle “on the rocks” referred to a bout of alcoholism after his 36-year-old wife died of breast cancer in 2003.
“There was an enormous emptiness in my life and nobody to lay in bed with, talk to, smile with, laugh with, tell stories with,” he said in an interview with the Morning Call when the book came out in Year 2016. “And, you know, I turned to drinking. And Vodka became a very, very dear friend — to the point where it led to a double transplant a few years later. A new liver and a new kidney from all the drinking. … I hope that many people who may have the same type of problem will possibly learn from the book. There are quite a few people who, when writing the review, said, “I wish he had said more about his alcoholism.” Well, maybe that will be another book if God spares.”
After marrying his second wife Linda, he had the double transplant in 2012.
In early July this year, he said, “My wife and I were in bed and I said to her, ‘Listen, honey, we better pack everything up because I can’t make it.’ And… she’d told me a few days earlier, she said, “If you ever get a liver, it’s going to happen around this time of year — the Fourth of July, you know, hit-and-runs, hit-and-runs, DUIs, accidents, etc. And sadly, a young girl.” from Reading, Pennsylvania, Julia – she was only 21 years old, she was hit by a car. And she became my donor. And she not only saved my life, but also seven other people. And I am [blood type] O-positive, which means I can give to anyone, but I can only take O-positive, and Julia was O-positive. It was a miracle how things happened. It was really.”
Rydell has continued to tour as a solo act to date and has been part of the Golden Boys stage production with Frankie Avalon and Fabian since 1985. The three “idols” had prepared a spring and summer tour for 2022.
In a 2020 interview, Rydell spoke about the trio’s endurance as a touring act. “Now we’re doing a show, I’m sure you know it, it’s called ‘The Golden Boys’ and we started this show in 1985 and it was a huge hit,” he said. “And I said to Frankie – and I called him Cheech because Frank is Cheech in Italian – I said, ‘Cheech, that’s great, but how long is this going to take? A year, two years at most, it’s over.’ Well, that was 1985, and we’re moving on in 2021, and we’re still making the show. It is wonderful.”
In his 2016 interview with the Morning Call, Rydell expressed little regret for how his career had gone. “It’s going to be six decades since, my God, 1959 that I had my first hit record. And I’m so happy and blessed to be able to do what I really love again. And it’s my life once again since I was 7 years old. So, no, I have absolutely no complaints about my career. You know, it had its ups and downs, its peaks and valleys, and so on and so on. But I got through it all and continue to do what I really enjoy.
“At 74, I don’t think I’m a teen idol anymore. I mean the fans are still there, bless them. I mean they come out and I guess they remember the 50’s how great everything was. It was really like the TV show Happy Days. … And I think all the fans that still come to the shows remember that and want to think back to those specific years when, yes, Bobby Rydell was a teenage idol. And that’s a nice thing after so many, many years.”
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