Frankie Avalon Venus

The Frankie Avalon "Venus" is a popular song released in 1959, which became his first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, remaining at the top for five weeks.

The song is about a man who prays to the goddess Venus to send him a woman who is basically her human equivalent. Venus was the Roman goddess of love, beauty, and fertility. This was the first of two US #1 singles by Avalon, the other was "Why."

It was also the first US Top 10 hit that Avalon sang without holding his nose. He recorded two songs earlier, holding his nose, "Dede Dinah" (#7) and the #9 song, "Ginger Bread.

Avalon's recording career started when Chancellor Records president Bob Marcucci signed him up after he saw Avalon sitting on a street curb. In the biginning the general impression was the he was a manufactured star. He became a teen idol, and went on to fame starring in beach movies with Annette Funicello. The record label took almost the exact same formula they wanted Frankie to follow and made a star out of Fabian. 

The difference was Frankie had been appearing on television since age 12 and had performed with Bobby Rydell long before he launched a solo career. Manufactured or not, his record of 31 US chart hits between 1958 and 1962 is an impressive one, even more so when his two number one's are taken into consideration. 

Venus was written by Ed Marshall and became Avalon's first number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Nearly twenty years later materializing as a character called Teen Angel, his performance of "Beauty School Dropout" in the hit 1978 film of the musical Grease introduced Avalon to a new generation of viewers.

Bobby Rydell, Frankie Avalon, and Fabian would later form a touring act and were know as The Golden Boys. Together, the three former teen stars spent years selling out concerts and stealing the hearts of fans all over the world.

Classic oldies music is sometimes hard to keep up with but when you grew up with these Teen Idols from the fifties some things you do remember.

Ricky Nelson's "Poor Little Fool" holds the distinction of being the very first number-one song on Billboard magazine's newly created Hot 100 chart and spent two weeks at the number one spot.

The song "Why" by Avalon went on to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of December 28, 1959, making it the last #1 single of the 1950s. It was Frankie's second and final #1 hit.

Enjoy this #1 song Venus, and really nice performance by Frankie in this 2003 Live Special "Red, White and Rock."

Just as a side note Frankie would have been around 63 at the time of this performance.