Bobby Rydell, Pop Idol & ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ Star, Dies at 79

Bobby Rydell, the ’60s-era pop crooner and star of Bye Bye Birdie, died Tuesday (April 5) after a battle with pneumonia. He was 79.

All through his profession, Rydell earned a complete of 29 chart entries on the Billboard Scorching 100, starting with 1959’s “Kissin’ Time.” His follow-up single, “We Acquired Love,” peaked at No. 6 because the singer’s first of six profession prime 10 hits throughout the early Nineteen Sixties. Rydell’s highest-charting monitor was “Wild One,” which landed at No. 2 within the spring of 1960. Different successes included “Volare” (No. 4 in September 1960), “The Cha-Cha-Cha” (No. 10 in November 1962) and “Neglect Him” (No. 4 in January 1964).

The singer’s picture because the poster boy for pre-Beatles pop stardom additionally led to him touchdown the starring position within the 1963 big-screen adaptation of Bye Bye Birdie. Within the film musical, he performed Hugo Peabody, the highschool sweetheart of Ann-Margret‘s Kim McAfee, a teen randomly chosen to get a goodbye kiss from Elvis Presley-style rock ‘n’ roll singer Conrad Birdie earlier than he leaves for the Military. The movie additionally starred Janet Leigh and Dick Van Dyke, and featured Ed Sullivan as himself.

Rydell’s legacy was additionally cemented within the 1971 musical Grease with Rydell Excessive, the college attended by Danny, Sandy and the remainder of the T-Birds and Pink Girls, being named in his honor.

In response to a report by Selection, the singer was remembered following his loss of life by radio DJ and longtime buddy Jerry Blavat, who grew up with him in South Philadelphia. “Out of all the youngsters, he had the most effective pipes and was the best entertainer,” the radio DJ stated. “He informed the most effective tales. did the most effective impersonations and was the nicest man.”

Revisit “Wild One” beneath.