Born Robert Ridarelli, Rydell hailed – like his fellow pop crooners Fabian and Frankie Avalon – from the prolific city of Philadelphia, and he linked up with trumpeter Avalon as the drummer with Rocco & His Saints.
Bobby delivered three dozen US hits between 1959 and 1965, including Sway (1961, originally a top ten hit in 1954 for Dean Martin), Forget Him (1963) and his biggest hit, Wild One, which reached #2 in 1960.
His major claim to fame these days is that the high school featured in the movie Grease (1978) was named in his honour.
