Along with Frankie Avalon, Chubby Checker and Fabian Forte, Rydell was one of four South Philly teen idols who found a national audience in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
PHILADELPHIA — Bobby Rydell, the singer who rose to fame as a South Philly teen idol with hits like “Kissin’ Time,” “Wild One” and “Wildwood Days” and maintained a career in show business that lasted six decades, has died at age 79.
Philadelphia DJ Jerry Blavat had booked Rydell to perform at the Kimmel Center in January but the singer was unable to perform due to poor health. Blavat said the cause of death was pneumonia, and that Rydell’s wife Linda Hoffman was by his side at Jefferson Hospital. His hits were many: “We Got Love,” was his first million seller, and “Little Bitty Girl” his second. In 1960, he hit big with a cover version of Dominic Modugno’s “Volare,” and “Wildwood Days,” in 1963, became a song of celebration and nostalgia for generations of Philadelphia area Jersey Shore goers.
Rydell’s father, Adrio, began taking him to entertainment venues in South Philadelphia like The RDA Club and Erie Social Club when he was 7 years old, asking if his talented son could sit in play drums with the house band.
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