Ever since the term "teenager" was invented, there's been moves to create the one, a role-model youth who would have the rest of the mob longing either to be them or have them. The first post-war, manufactured, young teen idols (as opposed to bobby soxer magnet Frank Sinatra, who was a mature man of 45 by 1950) were probably Frankie Avalon and Ricky Nelson, who were a 1950's phenomenum and there have been teenage idols in every decade since. Usually the idols were male but females have been on top of the teen pedastal too - Sandra Dee, Gidget and Hayley Mills, just to name a few. However they never had quite the same pulling and selling power as the boys, which yank all the right strings in the tender hearts of tweens.
The concept of teenagers emerged in in the post-war boom period when manufacturers saw an opportunity for a new highly marketable group. Before then you were a child and then a young adult...no in between stuff, at least there was no special term for it.
Although there were teenage idols such as Frank Sinatra, Elvis and James Dean who got the girls screaming, they were not the manufactered, baby haired and baby chested youths who's fame rested largely on pretty looks, boyish charm, a modicum of talent and one god almighty massive media hype machine. The following list is by no means extensive, so if i've left out the sacred pin-up boy of your youth, forgive me...
Image from VideoJug
Frankie Avalon...popular with the girls
Frankie Avalon
In the 1950's the clean cut, well dressed, short-haired young man at right, ignited some serious passions in the teenage heart with his sweet boyish looks and polished singing. Avalon exactly had the right stuff - he stirred the emerging sexuality of adolescent girls but in a non-threatening way. This feature is a characteristic of teenage idols and Avalon was already a seasoned perfomer by the time he was a teenager, as he had won competitions and some notoriety for his trumpet playing. At age twelve he joined dance band, Rocco and the Saints, with Bobby Rydell and had a regular gig at a summer resort as well as various spots around town.
In 1959, when he was still only nineteen, he had hits with the songsVenus and Why after teaming up with songwriter's and publishers, Peter De Angelis and Robert Marucci.
Avalon was teamed up with Mickey Mouse Show icon, Annette Funicello for a series of beach movies and they became the clean cut, all American IT couple during this period. This defied the teen idol blueprint, which usually demanded single status. In fact some teen idols were required to hide their relationships, so they'd still seem 'approachable' to their fans.
Ricky nelson..boy next door
Ricky Nelson
in 1958 Life magazine ran a cover story on Ricky Nelson, coining a new, original phrase to describe what he had become: a "Teenage Idol". This was the first media reference to the term and it resonated with the public.
Nelson's appeal was easy to see. His rich, sultry voice and dark handsome looks were enough to make even a grown woman melt ever so slightly. Check out "A Teenagers Romance" in the video at right and you'll see what I mean.
Like Avalon, Nelson was born in 1940 and rose to prominance playing himself in the hit radio sitcom The Adventures of Ossie and Harriet. When the series moved to TV, he made his debut as a singer and recorded his first single, I'm Walkin' by Fats Domino, in 1957.
From contemporary accounts he had been a shy, introverted kid who suffered from asthma, and was described by producer John Guedal as "mysterious and inscrutable". Nethertheless he must have come out of his shell at some point because he was a major hit professionally. From 1957 to 1962, Nelson had thirty Top-40 hits, an achievement which, at the time, was second only to Elvis Presley's. No doubt his singing career was helped along by his TV success and he made full of the connection, promoting his songs through the medium.
During this period, he made several films, notably Rio Bravo, in 1959, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. From 1961, he called himself "Rick" Nelson in an attempt to shake off the teen idol image and create a more mature persona. Musically he was heading toward the country genre and had always been a big fan of the legendary Carl Perkins. In 1972, he had a hit with the song Garden Party which revived his career. - it was his first million seller in over a decade.
Nelson died too young, in a plane crash at age forty-five and was posthumously inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame as well as the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
Davy Jones revving up the cuteness factor with a finger in the mouth look
Davy Jones
Englishman Davy Jones, one quarter of the TV pseudo rock group, The Monkees, was one of the most popular teen idols of all time. His diminutive size, silky dark hair, quaint British accent and mischievous but nice personality ensured a the highest score on the cute-ometer.
Even today, there's fansites dedicated to the former heart throb and he was declared by Yahoo Music to be the No.1 teen idol of all time - a testimony to the power of his early appeal. Jones was already a seasoned perfomer when he signed up for the Monkees TV show in 1966, having played the Artful Dodger in the musical Oliver in London and on Broadway.
Although his father had wanted him to be a jockey, Jones was drawn to show biz and of all the Monkees, has been the most enthusiastic about reunion tours and performances and said recently: "Before I was an actor I was an apprentice jockey, and now I'm out there racing against boys, sort of the spokesperson for people over 50 that they can do it."
In many ways Davy Jones represented the spirit of the sixties - easy going, colourful, optimistic and fun.
Donny Osmond. Puppy love for tweenies
Donny Osmond
At fifty-something Donny Osmond is not "too young to know" anymore but way back in the 1970's he was as fresh, sweet and guiless as a dew drop trembling on a daffodil petal. Donny began his teen idol career as a part of the Osmond Brothers, which were a kind of fluffy white bread version of the Jackson five.
Later he teamed up with his younger sister Marie, a female mirror image in syrupy goodness. The family were devout Mormons and thus had religious cred with the Mums and Dads of Middle America - their image was squeaky clean with pots of sheen. Donny was hugely popular with the girls for a while there but like most teen idols had no credibility with the hip and groovy set.
Teen idolhood can prove to be a curse when the idol finally grows up and apart from looking back and probably cringing, Donny had to contend with his unshakable image as a teeny-bopper prince for much of his adult career, which never came close to the heights he reached as a teen. "Puppy Love" is not a good look for a mature guy. In the end he resigned himself to his boyhood image and at least got some mileage out of it by performing to the nostalgia crowd in middle age.
Shaun Cassidy..poster boy. You can see the crease mark
David and Shaun Cassidy
Like Davy Jones before him, David Cassidy's teen idol staus was propelled along by a TV show and by a domino effect, step-brother Shaun Cassidy's was propelled along by David's success.
David's star rose playing Keith Partridge in the 1970's sitcom about a musical family, The Partridge Family, alongside Susan Day and his real life step-mother and mother of Shaun, singer Shirley Jones, who had married David's father, actor Jack Cassidy, in 1965. His bright personality, blow-waved hair, humour and cute looks made him an instant hit with teenage girls.
David made ten albums with The Partridge Family during the run of the show and produced five solo albums and along the way managed to achieve sellout concerts all over the world., resulting in a kind of mass hysteria among teenyboppers. so much so that the media was moved to term the coin Cassidymania. David still performs, although as this case with many teen idols, he was never able to top the success of his early years.
Riding hot on the coat tails of his older brother, Shaun Cassidy, who had a kind of fluffy blonde huggable appeal, brought out an album in 1977 and scored a Grammy nomination for Best Newcomer as well as a number single with the song Da Doo Ron Ron and soon after starred inThe Hardy Boys/Nacy drew Mysteries, which ran for three seasons on US television.
Shaun's teen idol star flickered only briefly however and in the 1980's and 90's he concentrated on a stage career and more recently, televison production, including credits such asAmerican Gothic, Cold Case and Roar.
David Cassidy, looking through the eyes of love...apparently
Leif Garrett...so pretty
Leif Garrett
If David Hasselhoff and Farrah Fawcett had ever had a love child, it would probably look something like Lief Garrett. Prettier than your average girl, Garret had the kind of beach blonde California looks that were especially big in the late seventies.
Born in 1961, Leif came from a Hollywood show biz orientated family; his mother was a minor actress, his father a stuntman and his sister found a measure of fame playing the deeply annoying "Dodie" (Fred MacMurray's step-daughter)in the TV show My Three Sons.
As a kid, Garret had a few gigs in film and on TV and after his musical career was launched had some chart success with cover versions of I was made for Dancing and the Beach Boy's, Surfin' USA, which suited his California-boy image. Sounds pretty good too.
Sadly, Garrets brief career at the top of the idol tree began to slide after he was involved in a devastating car accident that left his best friend paralyzed for life. Driving his porsche under the influence of drugs and alcohol, just a few days before his eighteenth birthday, he rear-ended another car, causing the crash. Rumour has it he still battles with drug addiction.
Hanson. Some people thought Taylor (far left) was a girl
All grown-up but still pretty
Hanson
All that blonde hair...
From a marketer's point of view there's only one thing better than a teenage idol and that's three teenage idols. Such was the case with nineties band, Hanson, and depending on which side of the fence you stood, a much loved or a much reviled group of young, fairly talented teens.
Their looks were a PR hack's wet dream - pure, blonde, wholesome -they looked as beautiful and natural as angel-winged Swedish children playing in the sunlight. Isaac, Taylor and Zac had a kind of purity about them, as though they wouldn't look out of place in an Amish community and indeed, like the Osmonds, they came from a heavily religious background, having been raised, alongside several more siblings, as evangelical Christians. Reputedly they grew up listening to their father's collection of classic '50s and '60s records.
The band had a major hit with the largely bubble-gum track MMMBop,which achieved saturation point on the radio in various countries around the world. Aged only only 16, 14 and 11, they were heavily marketed and hyped, which tainted their credibility and tended to obscure what was a fair amount of genuine talent; a situation that would later lead to 'creative differences' with their label, Island/Def Jam.
Hanson were heavily criticised for being a "one-hit wonder", despite the fact that they sold over 10 million records worldwide and had 8 top 40 singles in the UK and 6 top 40 singles in the US. The boys are still performing under their own label, 3CG Records.Their 2004 album, Underneath, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Independent Album Chart.
Justin Bieber...the ideal teen idol
Justin Bieber
The latest cab off the teenage idol rank is of course the ubiquitous Justin Bieber, who climbed,or rather, ricocheted to fame and fortune via YouTube. You have to hand it to Justin, he knew what he wanted, seemingly from toddlerhood and the age of web fueled mass communication gave him the avenue to go for it.
Bieber had all the right ingredients for teenage idol status - youth, cuteness, ambition, charm, confidence, some talent and a burning belief in his own charisma.
There's not much to write about Bieber that hasn't been written before and much has been made of his 'ordinariness' and the humble beginnings he single-handedly managed to pull himself out of at such a young age via YouTube. It remains to be seen how long the flame of fame will burn for him but he's become an insprirational force for thousands of would-be teenage idols, at home in their bedrooms dreaming of Bieber-like stardom. As the song goes:
I'll be a teenage idol, just give me a break
I'm gonna be a teenage idol no matter how long it takes
You can't imagine what it means to me
I'm gonna grab myself a place in history
A teenage idol that's what I'm gonna be~ BernieTaupman
I'm gonna be a teenage idol no matter how long it takes
You can't imagine what it means to me
I'm gonna grab myself a place in history
A teenage idol that's what I'm gonna be~ BernieTaupman
