The most popular of the Mouseketeers on the '50s TV program The Mickey Mouse Club, Annette Funicello was herded into the studio at the age of 16 to become the first female teen idol rock & roll star. Billed simply as Annette on most of her records, she hit the Top 20 five times in 1959 and 1960, and continued to record constantly in the early... [+] Read More

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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

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Although she's best-known as the pretty, perky teenager who won the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest with her hit "Poupee de Cire, Poupee de Son," French pop singer France Gall has had a much longer and more varied career than that, having released solid records almost non-stop since the early '60s. Although only a cult figure in most of the rest of... [+] Read More

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A British singer/songwriter of the '60s whose voice was far better suited for reaching the back row of Broadway auditoriums than soul or rock, Jackie Trent nonetheless operated on the fringe of the U.K. pop scene in the manner of other femme belters like Cilla Black, though her efforts were usually even more in the middle of the road. Her one... [+] Read More

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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

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British singer Sandie Shaw had a string of girl group-styled singles in the mid-'60s before she retired in the early '70s. Shaw was discovered by pop singer Adam Faith in 1963, who led her to his manager, Eve Taylor; she released her debut single, "As Long as You're Happy," the following year. It didn't hit the charts, yet her next record,... [+] Read More

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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

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A British one-hit wonder of the mid-'60s that never crossed over to the U.S., Twinkle made #4 in the U.K. at the end of 1964 with her self-penned debut "Terry," a maudlin disc about the death of a (fictional) biker boyfriend. "Leader of the Pack" it wasn't, yet the record caused a furor, accusations of bad taste leading to its ban from the BBC... [+] Read More

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