Bobby Rydell

Bobby Rydell (born Robert Louis Ridarelli; April 26, 1942 – April 5, 2022) was an American singer and actor, who mainly performed rock and roll music. In the early 1960s, he was considered a teen idol. His most well-known songs include “Wild One” and “Volare” (cover), and he appeared in the movie Bye Bye Birdie in 1963.^[1]

Career[edit]

Rydell was born on April 26, 1942,^[1] the son of Jennie (Sapienza) and Adrio “Al” Ridarelli.^[2] In 1950, he won a talent show on the television series Paul Whiteman‘s TV Teen Club and gained a spot in the cast, where he remained for several years. He changed his name to Bobby Rydell and played in several bands in the Philadelphia area. After three unsuccessful singles for small companies, he signed a recording contract with Cameo Records. After a couple of flops, “Kissin’ Time” reached the charts in 1959.^[1] In May 1960, Rydell toured Australia with The Everly Brothers, Billy “Crash” Craddock, Marv Johnson, The Champs, and The Crickets, recording an Australian version of “Kissin’ Time” for the event.

His second success, “We Got Love“, was his first million-album seller, gaining gold disc status. “Wild One”, backed with “Little Bitty Girl“, was his second million-selling single; his successes continued with “Swingin’ School” backed with “Ding-A-Ling“, and the million-album selling Volare later that year.^[3] He performed at the Copacabana in New York City in 1961, where he was the youngest performer to headline at the nightclub.^[1][3] In February 1961 he appeared at the Festival du Rock, at the Palais des Sports de Paris in Paris, France.^[4]

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.^[5]

Rydell released the song “Wildwood Days” in 1963; it reached Number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and remained on the chart for nine weeks.^[6] A mural on the Wildwood, New Jersey boardwalk (painted in 2014) honors Rydell, whose song placed the community in the national spotlight.^[7]

That same year, he played Hugo Peabody in the movie version of Bye Bye Birdie with Ann-Margret and Dick Van Dyke.^[1] The original stage production of Bye Bye Birdie had no real speaking role for the character of Hugo, but the movie script was rewritten specifically to expand the part for Rydell. In 2011, Sony Pictures digitally restored this film. Rydell and Ann-Margret were in attendance at the restoration premiere in Beverly Hills by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

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 5 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.^[3]

Rydell left Cameo-Parkway Records later in 1964 and signed with Capitol Records.^[8] By this point, the British Invasion had arrived and acts such as Rydell suffered a dramatic decline in popularity.^[9]

During this time, he performed on many television programs, including the Red Skelton Show, where a recurring role was written for him by Red Skelton as Zeke Kadiddlehopper, Clem Kadiddlehopper’s younger cousin. 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.^[1]

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.^[10] It was also during this time, Rydell served in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard‘s 103rd Engineer Battalion (United States).

In January 1968, it was announced in the U.K. music magazine NME that Rydell had signed a long term recording contract with Reprise Records company.^[11] He continued to perform in nightclubs, supper clubs and Las Vegas venues throughout the 1970s and 1980s, but his career was hampered by Cameo-Parkway catalog owner ABKCO Records‘ refusal to reissue Rydell’s music, so the entire catalog was unavailable until 2005 (although he re-recorded his hits in 1995 for K-tel Records).^[12] He would have one more hit after 1965, a disco re-recording of “Sway” which reached the adult contemporary music chart in 1976.

Later life[edit]

Rydell was married to his first wife, Camille Quattrone Ridarelli, from 1968 until her death in 2003. He remarried in 2009, to Linda Hoffman. Rydell continued to perform as a solo act and has toured as part of The Golden Boys stage production since 1985 (with Frankie Avalon and Fabian). However, Rydell cancelled his 2012 Australia tour because his health had deteriorated significantly and he was in need of urgent major surgery.^[13] On July 9, 2012, he underwent a double organ transplant to replace his liver and one kidney at Thomas Jefferson University in his hometown of Philadelphia.^[14] In January 2013, six months after double transplant surgery, Rydell returned to the stage in Las Vegas for a three night engagement to a sold out audience. He continued to perform internationally and returned to tour Australia in 2014.

Rydell died from complications of pneumonia at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia on April 5, 2022, at the age of 79.^[15]

Media[edit]

In both the Broadway musical drama Grease and the film Grease, the high school was named “Rydell High” after Rydell.^[16]

In 2000 in the book The Beatles Anthology (pg. 96), Paul McCartney said: “John (Lennon) and I wrote ‘She Loves You‘ together. There was a Bobby Rydell song out at the time and, as often happens, you think of one song when you write another. We’d planned an ‘answering song’ where a couple of us would sing ‘she loves you’ and the other ones would answer ‘yeah yeah.’ We decided that was a crummy idea but at least we then had the idea of a song called “She Loves You”. So we sat in the hotel bedroom for a few hours and wrote it—John and I, sitting on twin beds with guitars.”

No specific song title is given in The Beatles Anthology, but Bob Spitz writes in The Beatles: The Biography that McCartney originally modeled “She Loves You” on the Rydell “answering song” called “Swingin’ School” (and not “Forget Him”, as is commonly cited).^[17]

In the Oscar-winning film Green Book (2018), Rydell is portrayed in the opening scenes by actor Von Lewis.

Albums discography[edit]

^[18]

• We Got Love (1959)
• Bobby Sings, Bobby Swings (1960)
• Bobby’s Biggest Hits (1961) (U.S. No. 12)
• Bobby Rydell Salutes the Great Ones (1961)
• Rydell at the Copa (1961) (U.S. No. 56)
• Bobby Rydell/Chubby Checker (1961) (U.S. No. 7)
• Twistin’ (1962) Venise (also includes tracks by Barry Norman and Stephen Garrick)
• All the Hits (1962) (U.S. No. 88)
• Bobby’s Biggest Hits Vol. 2 (1962) (U.S. No. 61)
• All the Hits Vol. 2 (1962)
• Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
• Wild (Wood) Days (1963)
• Chubby Checker & Bobby Rydell (1963)
• Top Hits of 1963 (1963) (U.S. No. 67)
• Forget Him (1964) (U.S. No. 98)
• 16 Golden Hits (1965)
• Somebody Loves Me (1965)
• Born With a Smile (1976)(1999)
• Best of Bobby Rydell (1976) (AUS No. 87^[19])
• Bobby Rydell at His Best: Today and Yesterday (1983)
• Best of Bobby Rydell (2000) Prestige
• Now and Then (2000) Para Group International
• The Complete Bobby Rydell on Capitol (2001) Collectors’ Choice
• Cameo Parkway 1959–1964: Best of Bobby Rydell (2006)
• Bobby Rydell Salutes the Great Ones/Rydell at the Copa (2010) Ace
• Chubby Checker and Bobby Rydell (2012) Hallmark
• Very Best of Bobby Rydell (2012)
• Return of the Original American Idol (2014)
• All the Hits (2017) Eclipse
• Seven Classics Albums PLus (2017)
• All the Hits/Bobby Rydell and Chubby Checker (2017) Liberty Bell
• Bobby Rydell Salutes the Great Ones (2017) Liberty Bell
• Bobby Sings/We Got Love (2017) Liberty Bell
• Wildwood Days (2017) Liberty Bell
• Bobby Rydell Sings /Strand
• Starring Bobby Rydell /Spin-O-Rama

Singles discography[edit]

† Chubby Checker and Bobby Rydell

Selected filmography[edit]

• The Lady from Peking (1975)
• Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
• Combat!: The Duel (1964)
• Mr. Rock ‘n’ Roll: The Alan Freed Story (1999)

See also[edit]

• List of people from Philadelphia
• History of the Italian Americans in Philadelphia
• List of acts who appeared on American Bandstand
• List of Italian American entertainers
• List of stage names

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bobby Rydell.

• Bobby Rydell official website
• Bobby Rydell at Billboard.com
• History-of-rock.com
• Cameo Parkway history, pictures, lists
• Bobby Rydell obituary on Best Classic Bands