It’s easy to be overwhelmed by Frankie Avalon’s teen idol fame and fail to take into account his actual talent. But the South Philly young man was not the contrived creation of a music industry impresario, with little more than a carefully cultivated image to recommend him. Frankie was an early bloomer and exhibited his musical prowess at a young age, considered a prodigy by many. From music and singing, he segued successfully into movies and also became a favorite with live audiences. And let’s not even mention the fabulous hair.

Frankie—forever ‘Frankie’, even though he’s almost 70—learned to play the trumpet, inspired by Kirk Douglas’s portrayal of a musician in Young Man With A Horn.  He recorded albums for RCA and appeared on The Jackie Gleason Show in the early 1950s. As a teenager, he played trumpet and occasionally sang with the local band, Rocco and the Saints; it was during a stint with that band that he was spotted by music executive Bob Marcucci, who saw great financial potential in the dark-haired youngster. He signed Frankie right away and began releasing singles. Success came with the third single, “Dede Dinah”, which rose to #7 in the pop charts in 1959. Smash hits became de rigueur for Frankie over the next few years; the songs “Why” and “Venus” both reached #1 and he had as many as six hits in the Top 40 in one year alone.

Frankie started acting in the early 60s, appearing in movies like The Alamo and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. He devoted most of his time to his burgeoning film career and hit it big with a string of Beach Party movies starting in 1963. His character—named Frankie, of course—was a happy-go-lucky, wholesome surfer boy, who chased girls and waves but could always be relied upon to do the right thing. Former Mouseketeer Annette Funicello played his on-screen sweetheart and the two became poster kids for fun, sun and sand. There were altogether eight Beach movies in the 60s; among the more notable ones were Beach Blanket Bingo and How to Stuff a Wild Bikini.

In the late 60s and then in the 70s, Frankie appeared multiple times in Las Vegas casinos and guest starred in episodes of The Patty Duke Show, The Lucy Show and The Bing Crosby Show. He continued to tour as well, singing and playing the trumpet. In 1978, Frankie played the Teen Angel in the movie musical Grease and his number “Beauty School Dropout” is one of the most renowned scenes from that film. The “beauty school” fantasy sequence showed that Frankie was an established pop icon, who could nonetheless poke fun at his own teen idol status. Along the same vein, the 1987 movie Back to the Beach, also starring Annette Funicello, followed the misadventures of the aging beach bum couple who find that surf culture in the 80s is quite different from the idyllic days of Beach Blanket Bingo. The movie was a humorous tribute to Frankie’s own bygone fame and featured a spate of famous names like Dick Dale, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Connie Stevens and Pee-wee Herman. Frankie continues to entertain, most recently reprising his Teen Angel role in stage productions Grease and guest starring in TV shows and specials. The hair remains the same.