September 18: '60s teen idol Frankie Avalon - "Venus" "Beach Blanket Bingo"- is 73-years-old today.

Francis Thomas Avallone was born September 18, 1940 in Philadelphia. He first appeared on television not as a singer, but playing the trumpet when he was 12. As a teenager, he performed with Bobby Rydell in the group, Rocco and the Saints. Then his career took off.

In 1959, "Venus" - five weeks at # 1- and "Why" also hit # 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Avalon made the Billboard charts 31 times, 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).

Avalon starred in a number of popular "beach" comedy movies during the 1960s often with former Musketeer  Annette Funicello. The wholesome and romantic "Frankie and Annette" starred in summer movies such as Beach Party and Beach Blanket Bingo.

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).

Appearing as a ghost-like 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. He also made a cameo appearance as himself with Robert DeNiro in the 1995 film Casino.

More recently, Avalon starred in stage productions of Grease in the role of Teen Angel and Tony n' Tina's Wedding as a caricature of himself. Additionally, in 2007, he performed "Beauty School Dropout" with the four remaining female contenders  for the role of Sandy on the NBC television reality show "Grease: You're the One that I Want!"

Recommended (Link to Entire Amazon Website):

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For more about Frankie, visit his Website at -

http://frankieavalon.com/

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