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The Teen Idols were a pop punk band originally from Nashville, Tennessee. They were formed in 1992 by Phillip Hill and originally broke up in 2003. The band reunited in 2008 in Chicago, Illinois, with a retooled lineup before breaking up again in 2010. [1]
- Johnny Tillotson. Johnny Tillotson was mostly a country artist, but in the early 1960s he was a teen idol pin-up in the pop market. His biggest hit was 'Poetry in Motion', a number one in the UK.
- Mark Wynter. English singer Mark Wynter had a couple of hits in the early '60s as a teen idol: 'Venus in Blue Jeans' and 'Go Away Little Girl'. He later became a successful actor and TV presenter, and continues to tour to fans around the UK.
- Brian Hyland. Brian Hyland's brand of puppy love bubblegum pop cemented him as one of the biggest stars around before the Beatles emerged in the early '60s.
- Bobby Rydell. Bobby Rydell was one of the biggest teen idols of the early 1960s, scoring hits with 'Wildwood Days', 'Volare' and 'Wild One'. Grease also named its high school Rydell High after him, as a tribute to his teen idol status.
- 20 The Little White Cloud That Cried – Johnny Ray, Okeh
- 19 Singing The Blues – Tommy Steele, Decca
- 18 Teen-Age Crush – Tommy Sands, Capitol
- 17 Diana – Paul Anka, ABC-Paramount
- 16 Poor Little Fool – Ricky Nelson, Imperial
- 15 Splish Splash – Bobby Darin, Atco
- 14 I’m A Man – Fabian, Chancellor
- 13 Just A Dream – Jimmy Clanton, Ace
- 12 Endless Sleep – Marty Wilde, Phillips
- 11 Living Doll – Cliff Richard and The Drifters, Columbia
Perhaps it’s because he was one of the first of his kind – before teenagers had a voice and hence before the archetypal image of the ‘teen idol’ – but Johnny Ray is often forgotten amongst their ranks. Unlike many of his fellow heart-throbs, Dallas-born Ray wrote his own songs, including this impassioned croon. The silver lining came in the form of...
Gleefully imbibing the wave of rock’n’roll leaking out of the US, plenty of UK wannabes lined up for a piece. Tommy Steele was one of the first, arriving two years before Cliff Richard’s seminal Move It. Debut single Rock With The Caveman may have slightly aggravated the parents of Britain in 1956, and follow-up Doomsday Rock, a distant cousin of U...
Chicago-born charmer Tommy Sands was managed by Col Tom Parker, Elvis’ manager, from his early teens, who signed him up to RCA. Sands learnt the ropes on the radio and with his high school band, but found overnight success having starred as ‘The Singing Idol’ in one episode of US TV series Kraft Television Theatrein January 1957. It was this jazzy ...
From choirboy to teen idol, Canadian singer Paul Anka cut his teeth with first group The Bobby Soxers, before heading to LA hungry for a record company audition. A debut single on Modern set him in motion, before he took off with this squeaky clean pop item on ABC-Paramount, sliding nonchalantly to No.1 in the US, UK and Canada. Touring with the ‘C...
Gaining notoriety at an early age thanks to family TV show The Adventures Of Ozzie And Harriet, Nelson was one of the better singers of the genre, reflected in his record of hits. His first single, a cover of Fats Domino’s I’m Walkin’, took him straight into the Top Five in 1957. Nelson’s first No.1, Poor Little Fool, written by a 17-year-old Sharo...
A disposable novelty it may be, but Darin’s frivolous hit is simply too big to ignore, making a huge – er – splash, in 1958. Existing snug within the preened peripheries of rock’n’roll, this playful earworm supposedly came into being at New York DJ Murray ‘The K’ Kaufman’s house, after his mother Jean suggested the title and opening line. With lyri...
Fabian never set out to be famous, but grew to embody the archetypal teen-pop sensation. Story goes that a 14-year-old Fabiano Forte was ‘discovered’ by Chancellor Records boss Bob Marcucci while on his porch after his father had been taken to hospital with a heart attack. Marucci, on the search for potential stars, (inappropriately) gave Forte his...
From Clanton’s syrupy meandering tenor and those love-letter lyrics through to the hazy backing harmonies, this is the model swoon-inducing teen ballad. Through the early 60s Clanton struck gold with a succession of hits that encompassed this saccharine soundscape with everything from swooping harps to grand brassy productions. Aside from this US N...
He was the unassuming ukelele-playing Reg Smith before Brit music impresario Larry Parnes swooped in and renamed his next big thing ‘Marty Wilde’. Backed by The Wildcats, a version of Jody Reynolds’ teen-tragedy song Endless Sleeparrived in 1958 and immediately made an impression, reaching a none-too-shabby No.4 in the UK. Soon girls across the nat...
OK, so Cliff And The Drifters’ Move Itis a bona fide UK rock’n’roll classic, but by the time of their third 45, the collars had come down in favour of a far more family-friendly image. Initially, Cliff loathed the attenuated sound of this rock-lite item, but was contracted to sing it in teen flick Serious Charge. As a result, Cliff and his band slo...
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- Frank Sinatra – 1942. In December of 1942 Frank Sinatra was booked for a series of shows at the Paramount Theater in New York City. The 27-year-old singer had recently parted ways with Tommy Dorsey and was unsure if he'd make it on his own.
- Johnnie Ray – 1952. History has not been kind to Johnnie Ray. In the early 1950s the pop singer became one of the first teen idols with huge hits like "Cry" and "The Little White Cloud That Cried" – even though he was partially deaf.
- Elvis Presley – 1956. America had never seen anything like Elvis Presley when he burst onto the scene in the mid-1950s. His dance moves were so sexually suggestive that he was filmed from the hips up during his debut appearance on the Tonight Show.
- Ricky Nelson – 1957. Many parents found Elvis too sexually charged for their children, but they had no problem with Ricky Nelson. America watched Nelson grow up on television as the younger brother on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.
Relive highlights of the Top 10 Teen Idols performances on The Ed Sullivan Show in this video. Subscribe now to never miss an update: https://ume.lnk.to/EdSu...
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- The Ed Sullivan Show
To many avid rock historians, the teen idols -- who were firmly entrenched on the top of the charts between the death of Buddy Holly and the rise of the Beatles -- represent the greatest threat to rock's survival that the music ever weathered.
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