Shelley Fabares

Joey Heatherton

While Ann-Margret remained the star of the silver screen, Shelley Fabares gained celebrity as television's sweetheart. She played Donna Reed's daughter on the nationally televised The Donna Reed Show and also starred in a few teenage films such as Ride The Wild Surf and Summer Love. 1962 saw the start of Shelley's singing career and with her first single Shelley hit the big time! Sweet and croony, "Johnny Angel" flew into the number one spot, making Shelley Fabares an adored entertainer all 'round. She released over ten 45s and three full-length albums during the sixties. Naturally it was her David Gates produced releases that were her best. David Gates took over production and writing for the upbeat "Football Season's Over" with Shelley's big shot music biz husband, Lou Adler by his side to supervise the recording. Most girl group fans would select "He Don't Love Me" as a favorite - a super teenage track co-written by Jan Berry of surf outfit Jan & Dean.

During the sixties it was not unusual for actresses to balance a career that included both singing and acting. Actresses like Annette Funicello and Shelley Fabares achieved a great deal of fame in the Billboard charts as well as at the box office. Teen stars like Sandra Dee, Tuesday Weld and Patty Duke also released records during their acting days.

As the star of B-movies Eighteen And Anxious, Young And Dangerous and Party Crashes, blonde bombshell Connie Stevens got quite lucky when it came to her singing career. She had two hits with "Sixteen Reasons" and "Kookie Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)," but it was her chart failures that had that extra something special. "Why'd You Wanna Make Me Cry?" written by the Goffin/King team in 1962, only reached #52 in the charts. It's no surprise that the mainstream couldn't handle young Connie fiercely grunting, "Why'd you wanna make me cry for? Why'd you wanna make me blue? Why'd you wanna go and break my heart when I never done nuthin' to you!!" These days Connie Stevens spends her time promoting her skin care products line, Forever Spring. She keeps her foot in the entertainment business by doing the occasional Broadway show and TV appearance.

Now don't be fooled by Joey Heatherton's innocent looks - this girl was nothing but trouble! Like Connie Stevens, Joey Heatherton starred in a number of B-rated films (My Blood Runs Cold, The Happy Hooker Goes To Washington) and recorded a full-length album in 1970. It is solely for the shimmering "Live And Learn" that I mention Miss Heatherton. Recorded in 1966 for Decca Records, this fantastic girl pop disc was written by the Madara/White team (well known for their numerous hits for Lesley Gore). Kind of ironic that Joey would pick a song called "Live And Learn" just before she went off the deep end, turning to a life of drugs, psychiatric wards and other things nice!

Other than devouring the latest Elvis flicks, teen dramas and trashy B-rated movies during the sixties, teenagers turned up for American International Pictures' Beach movies in droves. Films like How To Stuff A Wild Bikini, The Girls On The Beach, and A Swingin' Summer brought surfing, music, and teenagers together on the beach. The obvious Beach film stars were Annette "Dee Dee" Funicello and Frankie Avalon. However, other pop idols like Dick Dale, Jackie DeShannon, Joanie Sommers and Shelley Fabares also made several appearances on the beach.

Step aside Annette Funicello, Donna Loren is next in line! Born Donna Zukor (it is said that she stumbled upon the name Loren in a phone book), she became the official Dr. Pepper girl and starred in five Beach films. No playing naughty on the beach for Donna - she refused to wear a bikini and preferred to play the more prim and proper role. Although a Donna Loren LP called Beach Blanket Bingo was released along with the film, Donna's recording career never really took off. Most of her surf ditties sound pretty cute when she performs them in the Beach flicks, but on record her deep voice falls flat.