Early life

Fabian Forte is the son of Josephine and Dominic Forte; his father was a Philadelphia police officer. He is the oldest of three brothers.

Discovery

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."

However, when Fabian's father returned from 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.

"They gave me a pompadour and some clothes and those goddamned white bucks", recalled Fabian, "and out I went." "He was the right look and right for what we were going for", wrote Marcucci later.

Singing stardom

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:

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 secure an appearance on Bandstand. Fabian:

I got to meet Dick Clark. He talked to me for a long time, and then put me on the show. The daytime show, before it went national. 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.

The song he sang on Bandstand was "I'm in Love", which Fabian later admitted "was not very good either".

Marcucci then gave Fabian a song written by Mort Shuman and Doc Pomus, "I'm a Man", which Fabian later said he "liked a lot and was very comfortable with, was giving me more experience, but I still felt like a fish out of water." The song made the top 40.

Marcucci then 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 #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 #12 on the US charts. At 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. He kept up his studies and graduated high school in June 1960.

During the payola scandal of the 1960s, Forte testified before Congress that his recordings had been doctored electronically to "significantly improve his voice."

His career in music basically ended when he was 18 after he bought out of his contract with Marcucci for a reported $65,000. "I felt controlled. I felt like a puppet", he said in 1974. "It was frightening, like a three-year nightmare."

Marcucci later admitted to punching Fabian on one occasion when the singer sat in the aisle of a movie theatre, not in the middle of the row liked Marcucci had asked; Fabian was spotted by a teenage fan who screamed. Marcucci was angry that he did not see the film and hit the singer.

In 1963 he signed a contract with Dot Records.

However he spent the next thirteen years concentrating on acting.

Acting

Forte was contracted to 20th Century-Fox beginning with Don Siegel's Hound-Dog Man, based on Fred Gipson's novel. The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film featured a photo of Forte's screen test where he appeared in the same outfit that Elvis Presley wore in Love Me Tender.

"Acting came natural to me", Fabian said later, "I don't know why."

Hound Dog Man was not a financial success but Fox found they could use Fabian in supporting roles such as High Time and North to Alaska. In November 1960 his contract with the studio was amended with an increase in salary - it was a seven-year deal with an option for two films a year. He later said that "acting wasn't like the singing, because it was very private - quiet on the set. No screaming . It was a wonderful experience. I got to meet and work with John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, and Peter Lorre. Elvis came over to meet me when I was on the lot. Marilyn Monroe was on the lot. Natalie Wood. Gary Cooper came over. I was on the plane with Marlon Brando for eight hours coming back from Tahiti."

When Fox temporarily shut down following cost over-runs on Cleopatra, Forte was one of the first actors whose options were exercised after the studio re-opened. He was considered to play the lead in Beach Party (1963) but was unable to do it because of his contract.

Most of Forte's early films were comedies and cast him as a restless teenager with a penchant for singing. However, he received critical acclaim for his performance as a psychotic killer in "A Lion Walks Among Us" for the TV show Bus Stop. This episode was highly controversial due to its violent content, with many affiliates refusing to run the program, and was mentioned in the US Senate. However the show was good for Fabian's acting career, and saw him regarded with more respect.

In October, Fox announced it had picked up Fabian's option to make three more films for the studio, starting with Custer's Last Stand. However that film was not made and Fabian made no further films for Fox.

AIP

In November 1965, he signed a seven-picture deal with American International Pictures and made several movies with them including a role as Pretty Boy Floyd in "A Bullet for Pretty Boy" (1970) and guest starred with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello in the 1966 stock car racing film Fireball 500. He also played Josh Ashley in Little Laura and Big John (1973) for Crown International Pictures.

He performed in John Loves Mary in summer stock in 1962.

Later years

Forte later admitted the pressures of his career and home life caused him to start drinking in the 1960s. From June 1969 onwards he was billed as "Fabian Forte".

In 1973 he began singing again. In order to raise his profile he posed nude for Playgirl magazine. "I knew it was a mistake the minute I saw the thing sold in a paper bag", he said later. "I could barely live with myself." He often performed in Las Vegas in the mid 1970s until he fell into difficulties with the authorities after attacking a Las Vegas district attorney, and resultant bankruptcy.

He retired once more in 1977, then resumed performing in 1981. Forte never regained his teenage popularity, but has continued performing. Recently he has been appearing with Frankie Avalon and Bobby Rydell to perform concerts as The Golden Boys.

The Idolmaker

The 1980 film The Idolmaker, written by Edward Di Lorenzo and directed by Taylor Hackford, was a thinly-disguised biography of Fabian (called "Caesare" in the film), as well as songwriter/producer Marcucci (called "Vinnie Vacarri") and Frankie Avalon (called "Tommy Dee"). In the movie version, singer Caesare—a pretty boy with little singing talent—goes through a whirlwind of success in a short time, and in a fit of pique, he abruptly fires his songwriters and quits his record label.

The real-life Fabian Forte launched a $64 million lawsuit at the time of the picture's release, claiming the film made him look like "a totally manufactured singer, a mere pretty face without any singing ability or acting talent." The filmmakers insisted that the movie presented only fictional characters (even though Marcucci was a paid consultant on the film).

Forte claimed they settled out of court, where he and his wife received apologies and Marcucci's 7.5% ownership of the film passed to Forte.

He appeared in a 1982 television commercial for The Idols of Rock n' Roll and in the 2005 documentary film The Bituminous Coal Queens of Pennsylvania.

In the 1980s Fabian also developed some sitcoms for TV.

In his latest endeavor, Forte hosts and headlines in the hit show The Original Stars of Bandstand at The Dick Clark Theater in Branson, Missouri. The show stars Forte and Bobby Vee and features The Chiffons, Brian Hyland, Chris Montez and rare footage of the performers and Dick Clark.

Personal life

He was drafted, but rejected, for military service during the Vietnam War. According to USMC Lt. Col. Arthur Eppley, Forte was declared 4F (unfit for service) after presenting a doctor's note stating that induction into the Army could cause him to develop homosexual tendencies.

Race car accident

In 1978 Fabian was participating in a charity racing event in Watkins Glen New York. He was practicing at a Mojave Desert stock car racetrack under the instruction of professional driver Bill Simpson when he rolled his car and suffered minor cuts and bruises.

In 1982 a jury found him 40% liable for the accident (Fabian testified that Simpson repeatedly urged him to drive faster while Simpson testified that Fabian suddenly accelerated wildly in spite of his orders to slow down). He received $32,000 in an out of court settlement.

Also in 1982 Forte was arrested for sticking his cigarette into a passenger who asked him to put out the cigarette in a non-smoking section of an aircraft. The passenger turned out to be a District Attorney but no charges were laid in the end.

Marriages and children

Forte has been married three times. His first marriage was to model Kathleen Regan in September 1966. They had two children together, Christian and Julie, before separating in June 1975. In October 1975, Forte was arrested after an argument with Regan in which he was accused of hitting her. He was put on probation for two years. The couple divorced in 1979. "My fault", said Fabian.

He married Kate Netter in 1980. They divorced in 1990.

In 1998, he married Andrea Patrick, a former Bituminous Coal Queen and Miss Pennsylvania USA. He and Andrea were later sued by the resort where they were married for unpaid bills. Fabian relocated from Los Angeles to Fayette County in Pennsylvania to be closer to his wife's family; he and his wife were sued by the builder of their house, also for unpaid bills.

In 2013 he said he played "25 shows a year. It gets me out of the house.... I've never been happier. I ride my ATV and tractor and cut the grass. Where I grew up, there wasn't any grass."

He and his wife also work for Gladys Magazine.

Philanthropy

Forte and his current wife are actively involved in the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association and Forte has helped raise money for veterans with his Celebrity Golf Tournament in North Carolina. They live on 20 acres (8.1 ha) in Southwestern Pennsylvania in a home which she designed.

Discography

All albums use Forte's mononymous name "Fabian". Before going to Chancellor records, Forte cut two albums on his own, one of which contained the original version of the song Old Time Rock And Roll, but both albums were a commercial failure.

Singles

(Peak position in US charts given in brackets) "Shivers"/"I'm In Love" (1958) "Lilly Lou"/"Be My Steady Date" (1958) "I'm A Man"/"Hypnotized" (1959) (#31, #40 Cashbox) "Turn Me Loose"/"Stop Thief" (1959) (#9, #8 Cashbox) "Tiger"/"Mighty Cold" (1959) (#3, #6 Cashbox) "Come On and Get Me" (1959) (#29, #34 Cashbox) "Got the Feeling" (1959) (#54, 46 Cashbox) "Hound Dog Man" (1959) (#9, #11 Cashbox) "This Friendly World" (1959) (#12, #16 Cashbox) "String Along" (1959) (#39, #35 Cashbox) "About This Thing Called Love" (1960) (#31, #32 Cashbox) "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter"/"Strollin' In The Springtime" (1960) (#85/83 Cashbox)

"King Of Love"/"Tomorrow" (November 1960) (#93 Cashbox) "Kissin' And Twistin'"/"Long Before" (1960) (#91, #86 Cashbox) "You Know You Belong to Someone Else"/"Hold On" (1961) "Grapevine"/"David and Goliath" (1961) "The Love That I'm Giving to You"/"You're Only Young Once" (1961) "A Girl Like You"/"Dream Factory" (1961) "Tongue Tied"/"Kansas City" (1961) "Wild Party"/"Made You" (1961) "Break Down and Cry"/"She's Staying Inside With Me" (1963) "The American East/Ease On Into My Life" (1977) "Turn Me Loose/Hound Dog Man" (1989)

Albums

• "Hold That Tiger" (1959)
• "The Fabulous Fabian" (1959)
• "The Fabian Facade: Young and Wonderful" (1959)
• "The Good Old Summertime" (1960)
• "Rockin' Hot" (1961)
• "Fabian's 16 Fabulous Hits" (1962)
• "Fabulously Grateful" (1963)

Filmography

• Hound-Dog Man (1959)
• High Time (1960)
• North to Alaska (1960)
• Love in a Goldfish Bowl (1961)
• Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962)
• Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962)
• The Longest Day (1962)
• Ride the Wild Surf (1964)
• Dear Brigitte (1965)
• Ten Little Indians (1965)
• Fireball 500 (1966)
• Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs (1966)
• Thunder Alley (1967)
• Maryjane (1968)
• The Wild Racers (1968)
• The Devil's 8 (1969)
• A Bullet for Pretty Boy (1970)
• Little Laura and Big John (1973)
• Soul Hustler (1976)
• Getting Married (aired 17 May 1978) - TV movie
• Katie: Portrait of a Centrefold (aired 23 October 1978) - TV movie
• Disco Fever (1978)
• Crisis in Mid-Air (aired 13 February 1979) - TV movie
• Kiss Daddy Goodbye (1981)
• American Pop (1981)
• Get Crazy (1983)
• Runaway Daughters (aired 12 August 1994) - TV movie
• Up Close & Personal (1996)
• Mr Rock 'n' Roll: The Alan Freed Story (aired 31 October 1999)

Television Drama

• Bus Stop - 2 December 1961 - episode "A Lion Walks Among Us"
• The Gertrude Berg Show - 8 February 1962 - episode "Peace Corps"
• The Dick Powell Show - 9 October 1962 - episode "Run Till It's Dark" with Tuesday Weld
• The Virginian - 23 January 1963 - episode "Say Goodbye to All That" - with Lee J. Cobb
• Wagon Train - 16 September 1963 - episode "Molly Kincaid Story" w/Barbara Stanwyck, Carolyn Jones
• The Greatest Show on Earth - 29 October 1963 - "Uncaged"
• The Eleventh Hour - 22 January 1964 - episode "You're So Smart, Why Can't You Be Good?" - with Fay Wray
• The Virginian - 6 January 1965 - episode "Two Men Named Laredo"
• Daniel Boone - 9 December 1965 - episode "The First Beau"
• The Virginian - 2 October 1966 - "The Outcast"
• The Rat Patrol - 30 January 1967 - "The B Negative Raid"
• Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1967) - episode "Wipeout"
• The F.B.I. - 3 January 1971 - episode "Unknown Victim" - with Tom Skeritt
• Love, American Style - 23 February 1973 - episode "Love and the Crisis Line/Love and the Happy Family/Love and the Vertical Romance" - with Ed Begley, Jr.
• Laverne and Shirley - 22 November 1977 - episode "Laverne and Shirley Meet Fabian"
• The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries - 26 February 1978 - episode "Mystery on the Avalanche Express" - with Deborah Walley
• Fantasy Island (1980) - episode "PlayGirl/Smith's Valhalla" - with Leslie Nielsen
• The Love Boat - 20 February 1982 - episode "New York, A.C./Live It Up/All's Fair in Love and War" - with Edd Byrnes, Jill St John, Bobby Sherman and Annette Funicello
• New Love, American Style - 3 January 1986 - "Love and the Girl of My Dreams"
• The Facts of Life - 21 February 1987 - "62 Pick Up"
• Rags to Riches - 5 April 1987 - episode "Business is Business"
• Amen - 30 March 1991 - episode "Deak Scam"
• The Wild West - 22 March 1993 - documentary (Fabian co-executive produced)
• Blossom - 14 & 21 February 1994 "Beach Blanket Blossom"
• Murphy Brown - 6 April 1998 - episode "Opus One" with Chubby Checker and Lesley Gore

Television Variety

• American Bandstand - 19 June 1958 - sang "I'm in Love"
• American Bandstand - 20 June 1958 - sang "I'm in Love" again
• The Dick Clark Saturday Night Beechnut Show - 28 June 1958 - sang "I'm in Love" - with Paul Anka
• American Bandstand - 30 June 1958 - did not sing
• The Dick Clark Saturday Night Beechnut Show - 13 September 1958 - sang "Lilly Lou"
• The Dick Clark Saturday Night Beechnut Show - 6 December 1958 - sang "I'm a Man"
• American Bandstand - 12 December 1958 - sang "I'm a Man"
• The Dick Clark Saturday Night Beechnut Show - 17 January 1959 - sang "I'm a Man" and "Hypnotised"
• The Dick Clark Saturday Night Beechnut Show - 7 March 1959 - sang "Turn Me Loose" and "Stop Thief!"
• American Bandstand - 12 March 1959 - sang "Turn Me Loose"
• The Perry Como Show - 4 April 1959 - sang "Turn Me Loose"
• The Dick Clark Saturday Night Beechnut Show - 18 April 1959 - sang "Turn Me Loose" and "Hold Me in Your Arms"
• Toast of the Town The Ed Sullivan Show - 24 May 1959
• Toast of the Town The Ed Sullivan Show - 21 June 1959
• This is Your Life - Dick Clark - 24 June 1959
• American Bandstand 2nd Anniversary Show - 5 August 1959 - makes congratulatory phone call
• The Dick Clark Saturday Night Beechnut Show - 22 August 1959 - sang "Got the Feeling" and "Come On and Get Me"
• The Red Skelton Show - "Freddie and Fabian" - 11 November 1959 - sang "This Friendly World"
• The Dick Clark Saturday Night Beechnut Show - 14 November 1959 - sang "Hound Dog Man"
• What's My Line? - 15 November 1959 - as the mystery guest
• "Startime" The Dean Martin Variety House - 12 January 1960 - sings "I Love the Love" (with Martin) and "All of Me"
• The Red Skelton Show - 2 February 1960 - appears in a sketch and sings "About This Thing Called Love"
• The Dick Clark Saturday Night Beechnut Show - 12 March 1960 - sings "String Along" and "About This Thing Called Love"
• The Dick Clark Saturday Night Beechnut Show - 27 August 1960 - sings "King of Love" and "Tomorrow"
• The Perry Como Show - 5 October 1960 - sings "Rambling Wreck from Georgia Tech", "Buckle Down Winsocki Buckle Down", "Saturday Afternoon Before The Game" (with Frankie Avalon and Como), "Long Before"
• American Bandstand - 16 December 1960 - sang "Kissin' and Twistin'" and "Long Before"
• Candid Camera - 1961 - goes to Hackensack High School in Hackensack, New Jersey where he is introduced to a female student to see their reaction
• Here's Hollywood - 3 August 1961 - guest on talk show
• The New March of Dimes: The Scene Stealers - 2 January 1962 - guest star on charity revue
• American Bandstand - 30 November 1962
• Pantomime Quiz - 26 August 1963 - Julie London v Fabian
• Fractured Flickers - 1963 - special guest
• American Bandstand - 8 August 1964 - sang "Cream Puff"
• American Bandstand - 22 August 1964
• Hollywood Squares - 1-5 May 1967
• Hollywood Squares - 25-29 September 1967
• Tattletales - 1974: one week/5 episodes with first wife Katie
• Good Old Days - 11 October 1977 - with Dick Clark and Frankie Avalon
• Laverne and Shirley - 22 Nov. 1977
• Rock and Rollers - 1978
• Sorority '62 - 1978
• Hollywood Squares - 1979
• Rock and Roll: The Early Days - 1984
• Good Time Rock'n'Roll - 1985
• Hollywood Squares - 6-10 April 1987
• Hollywood Squares - 14-18 March 1989
• Let's Rock Tonight - 1989
• Lost in the 50s - 6 October 1989
• Remember - 29 June 1991 - PBS
• Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The Early Years (1955-70) - 2 July 2000 (documentary)
• At the Drive In - 28 November 2003 (host)

Unmade projects

• The Beardless Warriors (1960) - for 20th Century Fox based on the novel by Richard Matheson
• A Summer World (1961) - for 20th Century Fox with Dolores Hart and Bradford Dillman about a high school student who falls for an older woman based on a script by Howard Koch from the novel by Richard Dougherty - directed by Franklin J. Shaeffner
• Take Her, She's Mine (1963) - Fabian was originally announced for the male lead
• Robin Hood Jones (1965) - for AIP
• Custer's Last Stand (1965) - an often-postponed film for Fox where Fabian was to play an Indian scout
• a migrant farm labourer in a biopic written by Alex Grasshoff, who had previously made a documentary about him for David L. Wolper - this was a passion project for Fabian who spent weeks researching the film (circa 1967)
• The Oblong Box (1969) - Fabian was originally announced as Vincent Price's co star
• Bury an Angel (1970), film made by Burwalt Productions starring Robert Fuller and Sherry Bain
• Golden Boy (1972) - produced by David Roseman and William Lieberman under the direction of Herbert Hantman from a screenplay by Lory Patrick - also starring Paul Micale and Jacqueline Bosordi - also known as Murder Can Be Fatal
• Fabian was also reportedly considered for roles in West Side Story (1961) and The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]