Connie Francis is the prototype for the female pop singer of today. At the height of her chart popularity in the late '50s and early '60s, Connie Francis was unique as a female recording artist, amassing record sales equal to and surpassing those of many of her post-rock era male contemporaries. Ultimately, she branched into other styles of... [+] Read More

Yes No

Donna Loren enjoyed a brief career as a pop/rock singer, doing girl group type material during the mid-'60s. Born Donna Zukor in Boston in 1947, she made her professional singing debut at age seven with a commercial jingle. From there, she moved on to other commercial work and a guest appearance on The Mickey Mouse Club. She made recordings... [+] Read More

Yes No

Thanks to a series of performances on Dick Clark's American Bandstand, Fabian rocketed to stardom in the late '50s. With his stylish good looks and mild rock & roll, he became one of the top teen idols of the era; luckily, he had the support of the legendary songwriting team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, who provided him with "Turn Me Loose,"... [+] Read More

Yes No

The most commercially successful solo singer to be identified with the girl group sound, Lesley Gore hit the number one spot with her very first release, "It's My Party," in 1963. Produced by Quincy Jones, who fattened the teenager's sound with double-tracked vocals and intricate backup vocals and horns, she reeled off a few more big hits in... [+] Read More

Yes No

Patty Duke, of course, made her main mark in the 1960s as the star of television's Patty Duke Show. Like Shelley Fabares and Annette Funicello, she briefly cashed in on her television stardom to enter the hit parade, although she wasn't much of a singer. "Don't Just Stand There," a Top Ten hit in 1965, was very much in the Lesley Gore mold, if... [+] Read More

Yes No

One of the biggest teen idols of the late '50s, Paul Anka moved to the adult sphere several years later and became a successful performer, songwriter, music businessman, and recording artist, remaining so well into the new millennium. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1941 to parents of Lebanese Christian descent who owned a local restaurant, Anka... [+] Read More

Yes No

The most commercially successful female singer in British chart history, Petula Clark was born November 15, 1932 in Epsom, England. Trained to sing by her soprano mother, Clark embarked on a stage career at the age of seven; soon she was a fixture on British radio programs, and began hosting her own regular show Pet's Parlour -- a series... [+] Read More

Yes No

Shelley Fabares is one -- and maybe the best -- of a handful of young actresses/singers who emerged from the end of the 1950s through the mid-'60s, in an attempt to extend television stardom into action on the pop charts. Most didn't last, and none made the impact of their rivals, the singers who tried acting (Connie Francis, Sandy Stewart,... [+] Read More

Yes No

A New York-born African-American singer, Valerie Carr had cut music for Syd Nathan's King Records in the middle-1950's before signing with Morris Levy's Roulette label in 1958, at age 22. There, she recorded "When The Boys Talk About The Girls," which charted extremely well in England. She was obviously (and justifiably) a favorite of somebody's... [+] Read More

Yes No