Actress Shelley Fabares, by her own admission, was no singer, yet she had the same number of No. 1 hits on Billboard’s Hot 100 as Dolly Parton. That’s where the comparison ends.
Fabares made her first TV appearance in 1954 and had several small roles in films before she was cast in “The Donna Reed Show” as Donna’s daughter, Mary, in 1958, at age 14. It wasn’t until the show’s fourth season that the producers decided to cash in on the teen music craze, which was heavy on girl groups by the early ’60s.
“Johnny Angel,” written by Lee Pockriss of “Yellow Polkadot Bikini” fame, failed to chart for either of the singers who released it in 1960, but after the TV show’s producers dusted it off for Fabares to perform on screen it soared to No. 1. Ricky Nelson had been showing for years that cross-promotion could boost record sales, and the records could boost the show’s ratings in turn. The suits were hip to the trick – the single’s sleeve credited “Shelley Fabares of the Donna Reed Show.”
When Reed’s husband and producer, Tony Owen, broached the subject of singing with Fabares, she demurred. She later recalled, “Maybe a month later, he came up to me one day and said, ‘Hey, kid. Do you like being on the show? Do you want to be on next year?’ Not seeing the train heading directly toward me, I said, ‘Oh, yes, Mr. Owen. I do.’ Then he said, ‘Sing.’” She got through it with help from backup singers Darlene Love and her group, the Blossoms, who were replaced by white singers for the show.
A few follow-up tunes, including a sequel called “Johnny Loves Me,” couldn’t duplicate its success, so Fabares stuck to acting. She played opposite Elvis Presley in three films, and after a fallow period in the late ’60s appeared on dozens of TV series, several in recurring roles. She’s probably best known to younger audiences for playing Craig T. Nelson’s wife in “Coach” from 1989 to 1997. She died last week at 82.
The first singer to release “Johnny Angel” was Australian singer Georgia Lee, who was almost 40 when she cut the first version in 1960. She sounds a little too savvy to be sitting by the phone waiting for a call from her dreamboat.
