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Frankie Avalon opens 2006-07 season at Potter Center

Jackson Community College welcomes legendary performer Frankie Avalon to the Potter Center stage at 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15. Frankie Avalon is remembered as one of the first teen idols of the 1950s and early 1960s, and his career continues today, spanning three generations of music, television and motion pictures.

Born in Philadelphia, Pa., Avalon first gained public notice at the young age of 12, when he began making appearances on U.S. television playing the trumpet. In the mid-1950s, he appeared on many television and radio shows. As a teenager, he played with Bobby Rydell in a band known as Rocco and the Saints. Avalon signed to Chancellor Records and in 1958 his third single for them, “DeDe Dinah,” reached the Top 10, the first of his 25 U.S. chart entries. In 1959, his songs “Venus” and “Why” both went to No. 1 on the Billboard magazine’s Hot 100. “Why” was the last No. 1 hit of the 1950s.

In the 1960s, he starred with Annette Funicello in a string of beach films, including “Beach Party,” “Bikini Beach,” “Muscle Beach Party” and “Beach Blanket Bingo.” Dramatic roles in “The Dark,” “The Alamo,” and “Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea” followed. In “Grease” Frankie appeared in a cameo role where he sang “Beauty School Dropout.”

Avalon has since made the transition from teen idol to mature professional. His nightclub career has taken him around the world. He continues his nightclub performances six months out of the year and has appeared on almost every top variety show on television making several guest appearances on dramatic series.

In the summer of 1985, Avalon began touring with Bobby Rydell and Fabian as “The Golden Boys of Bandstand.” The 50-city tour was a huge success with Public Television “On Stage at Wolf Trap” airing on January, 1986 was built around the show as well as a retrospective of their careers. This lead to a reunion with Annette in 1987’s “Back to the Beach,” a film parody of their earlier beach movies.

Avalon now resides in the Los Angeles area. He considers his greatest personal achievement “being a father.” He has four sons and four daughters with his wife, Kay, whom he married in 1963.

Tickets for Frankie Avalon are $30, $27 and $24, and are available by calling either the Potter Center Ticket Office at 517.796.8600, or online at www.jccmi.edu/events.