Fabián Forte

Fabian Anthony Forte (born February 6, 1943), professionally known as Fabian, is an American singer and actor.

Forte rose to national prominence after performing several times on American Bandstand.

Fabian Forte was born on February 6, 1943, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

He is the son of Josephine and Dominic Forte.

His father was a Philadelphia police officer.

He is the eldest of three brothers and grew up in the South Philadelphia's Lower Moyamensing neighborhood.

He became a teen idol of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Eleven of his songs reached the Billboard Hot 100.

Forte was discovered in 1957 by Bob Marcucci and Peter DeAngelis, owners of Chancellor Records.

At the time, record producers were looking to the South Philadelphia neighborhoods in search of teenage talents with good looks.

Marcucci was a friend of Fabian's next-door neighbor.

One day, Fabian's father had a heart attack, and, while he was being taken away in an ambulance, Marcucci spotted Fabian.

Fabian later recalled, "He kept staring at me and looking at me. I had a crew cut, but this was the day of Rick Nelson and Elvis. He comes up and says to me, 'So if you're ever interested in the rock and roll business...' and hands me his card. I looked at the guy like he was out of his mind. I told him, 'Leave me alone. I'm worried about my dad.'"

When Fabian's father returned from the hospital he was unable to work, so when Marcucci persisted, Fabian and his family were amenable, and he agreed to record a single.

Frankie Avalon, also of South Philadelphia, suggested Forte as a possibility.

Fabian later said, "They gave me a pompadour and some clothes and those goddamned white bucks and out I went."

"He was the right look and right for what we were going for", wrote Marcucci later.

Fabian was given an allowance from the record company of $30 a week.

He also kept working part-time at a pharmacy as well as studying at South Philadelphia High School, while practicing his singing.

Fabian later said "I didn't know what I was doing, but I knew my goal, to try to make extra money. That meant a lot to our family. I rehearsed and rehearsed, and I really felt like a fish out of water. And we made a record. And it was horrible. Yet it got on Georgie Woods. For some reason, Georgie Woods played it."

The song was "Shivers", which was a local hit in Chicago.

This helped Fabian meet Dick Clark, who agreed to try Fabian at one of Clark's record hops, where singers would perform to teenage audiences.

Fabian lip synched to a song and Clark wrote "the little girls at the hop went wild. They started screaming and yelling for this guy who didn't do a thing but stand there. I've never seen anything like it."

Clark told Marcucci "you got a hit, he's a star. Now all you have to do is teach him to sing."

Clark eventually put the young singer on American Bandstand where he sang "I'm in Love".

Fabian later admitted this song "was not very good either" but "the response – they told me – was overwhelming. I had no idea. All during that period, I was doing record hops. Not getting paid for it, but for the record company promotions. Just lip synching to my records. The response was really good."

Marcucci gave a song written by Mort Shuman and Doc Pomus to Fabian, "I'm a Man" (not the Bo Diddley hit), which Fabian later said he "liked a lot and was very comfortable with. It was giving me more experience, but I still felt like a fish out of water."

Pomus' biographer later wrote Fabian's "labored reading of a macho lyric lent him a vulnerability that couldn't have been missed by his pubescent fans."

The song made the top 40.

Marcucci heavily promoted Fabian's next single, "Turn Me Loose", using a series of advertisements saying "Fabian Is Coming", then "Who is Fabian?"

then finally "Fabian is Here".

It worked and "Turn Me Loose" went into the Top Ten, peaking at number 9.

This was later followed by "Hound Dog Man", (US #9; UK #46), and his biggest hit, "Tiger", which reached No. 3 on the US charts.

It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA.

Other singles that charted included "String Along", "About This Thing Called Love" and "This Friendly World", which reached No. 12 on the US charts.

At age 15, he won the Silver Award as "The Promising Male Vocalist of 1958".

His first album, Hold That Tiger reached the top 15 within two weeks.

In 1959, Forte told a judge he was earning $250,000 a year.

(An earlier report put this at $137,000 ) He kept up his studies and graduated from high school in June 1960.

The song "Think of Me", although it did not chart in the US, was a big hit in some Asian countries including Sri Lanka in 1964.