Along with James Darren, Fabian and Frankie Avalon, Rydell was among a wave of wholesome teen idols who emerged after Elvis Presley and before the rise of the Beatles. Between 1959 and 1964 ...

His breakthrough single, “Turn Me Loose” (1959), shot up the charts, solidifying him as one of the top teen idols alongside ... tours with other ’50s and ’60s icons. These days, he lives ...

Darren was born James Ercolani in 1936 and grew up in South Philadelphia, not far from such fellow teen idols of the 1950s and ’60s as Fabian and Frankie Avalon. Singing came easy to him ...