Rock and Roll
Rock and roll, summer, girls, New Jersey. What’s not to like? Bobby Rydell’s song “Wildwood Days” went to #17 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963.
Bobby Rydell is the professional name of Robert Louis Ridarelli (b.1942), from Philadelphia, PA. For many decades, he has been is a singer, drummer, and performer. Rydell ‘s good looks helped him to become a teen idol, and he had hits starting in 1959 and into the 1960s and 1970s with songs such as ” Kissin’ Time,” “We Got Love,” “Wild One,” “Volare,” and “Sway.” Rydell was a regular on television, appearing on American Bandstand, The Red Skelton Show, Make Room for Daddy, The Milton Berle Show, and many more. He also starred in the film Bye Bye Birdie as Ann-Margret’s boyfriend. Rydell continues to perform internationally.
Wildwood, New Jersey, has been influential in the history of rock and roll. It is also the doo wop capitol of the country. Many of the top performers in the 1950s and 1960s, from Bill Haley and His Comets to Chubby Checker, appeared there. Rydell summered there as a child and teenager. Wildwood is also considered to be the home of “doo wop” architecture, which is that Post-WWII ’50s style of modern design filled with car-culture, space-age, and exotic-themed optimism and humor. And there’s a doo-wop preservation league (please click here) to promote awareness and appreciation of this culture, music, and architecture.
5 Comments
Really like oldies
So glad to hear! Enjoy.
Just found your lovely blog. Doo wop architecture. How funny. That’s really just 1950s stuff. Anyway, love doo wop music.
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