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BOBBY RYDELL, A star of radio, television and the musical film Bye Bye Birdie, has died aged 79.
Rydell died of complications from pneumonia at a hospital in a suburb of his hometown of Philadelphia, according to a statement posted by his marketing and event coordinator Maria Novey.
Rydell credited a 2012 kidney and liver transplant with extending his life.
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, he had nearly three dozen Top 40 singles including Wild One, Volare, Wildwood Days, The Cha-Cha-Cha and Forget Him, a song of consolation for a bereft girl that helped inspire The Beatles’ classic She Loves You.
He had recurring roles on The Red Skelton Show and other television programs, and 1963’s Bye Bye Birdie was rewritten to give Rydell a major part as the boyfriend of Ann-Margret.
He did not want to move to Hollywood, however, and Birdie became his only significant movie role — though the high school in the hit 1970s musical Grease was named for him.
Rydell never strayed far from his Philadelphia roots, living in the area for most of his life. The block of 11th Street where he grew up was christened Bobby Rydell Boulevard by his hometown in 1995.
“I never thought of myself as a celebrity,” he told The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2003. “I was just a guy who went out there and worked.”
He was born Robert Ridarelli in a South Philadelphia neighborhood that would also produce teen idols Darren, Fabian and Avalon. They knew each other as children — Rydell played drums with Avalon on trumpet in a group called Rocco and the Saints.
Rydell’s childhood sweetheart and first wife, Camille, died in 2003.
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RTE have too much power here we are in the middle of a pandemic and they have an army of tv licence inspectors touring the country spreading the virus
@Richard Russell: huh…..
@Richard Russell: lol
@Richard Russell: worst whataboutery ever
@Richard Russell: in fairness tv licence guy works for an post not rte
About time
@Caoimhín O’Cheallacháin: yes, this now paves the way for Chinese companies to take over and be the most powerful and richest companies on the New York Stock Exchange in the next 10-15 years. I’ve a funny feeling China won’t mind them being too big when this happens.
@The Upside-down Triangle: takeovers can be blocked under all sorts of laws
@DJ François: no I mean Chinese companies will surpass American ones as the most powerful. There’s already more Chinese companies listed on the S&P 500 than American ones for the first time in history.
Google is one of the most dangerous companies in the world, with stated aims of directly influencing people to make decisions that they want them to make. They have been found to also be meddling with democracy and interfering with elections. There has and is ongoing cases against them for same. They are also invested in many other activities like oil and gas exploration while pretending to be green.
@Da_Dell: if you haven’t seen or heard of it, look up The Social Dilemma on Netflix.
@Celtic Spirit: Is that the one about Facebook, Ive seen one by PBS ? Truly shocking stuff.
Search, not with google of course for the Google head of UX leaked video, or any of the Google whistleblowers that have been brave enough to leave.
RTE have too much power, we are in the middle of a pandemic and they have an army of tv licence inspectors touring the country spreading the virus
@Richard Russell: you ok hun?
@Richard Russell: An army of them, on tour? Clearly a well planned coup! Tell us more.
@Richard Russell: you can say that again…..
@Rachel O’ Meara: did you not hear it’s part of the new police state. It’s the end of the world. Gemma o d and her cronies warned us. We should of listened. LOL!!
@K C: Clearly we were all wrong, wonder if it’s to do with 5G? That’ll be it you know, tv inspectors in disguise working on behalf of R.T.E going around installing 5G brain chips in us while we’re asleep so R.T.E can control us for the government and big pharma. It’s such a dastardly plan, can’t believe we were lulled into such a false sense of security. Well we all know now so take heed people, sleep with your eyes open from now on that way you’ll see them coming for you. Gemms and her cronies are having panic attacks reading our comments I’d say! Relax lads it’s as made up as the stuff Gemms herself comes out with.
@Rachel O’ Meara: yep it’s 5G and the illuminati. We should make Gemma our dictator and there would be no problems in the country haha
@Richard Russell: bit early to be on the sauce Ricky
That worked so well when they did it with the phone company in America. A couple decades later they all merged back in to a handful of companies who now operate as a single oligarchy.
@Wade Wilson: True, but they have to try, start somewhere.
Break em up!
Oh the hypocrisy…
Microsoft?
have your say