American Idol of 1959: Hottest Youth Stars

Two superstars of 1959: Bobby Darin & Sandra Dee, fiance and fiancee

1. Bobby Darin — scores massive hits with ‘Dream Lover’ (self-penned) and old standard ‘Mack the Knife’, and becoming a credible star actor

2. Ricky Nelson — star of the Nelson family’s hit tv series, and of Howard Hawks’ big-screen Rio Bravo with billing equal to John Wayne and Dean Martin, and biggest record-seller next to Elvis and Fats Domino

3. Elvis Presley — in the Army and no movies released, but still scoring no.1 records: ‘I Got Stung’ in the UK, and in the US ‘A Fool Such As I’ and ‘A Big Hunk of Love’

4. Frankie Avalon — five top 10ers including two no.1s, as promoted by American Bandstand, and filming a supporting role in The Alamo under John Wayne

5. Fabian — four top 10ers, ditto, and starring in Hound Dog Man on the big screen for Fox, top-billed over Stuart Whitman and Carol Lynley

6. Pat Boone — hit records have tailed off, but still a big screen star under Fox, i.e. in the blockbuster Journey to the Center of the Earth

7. Ed ‘Kookie’ Byrnes — a sensation on Warner Bros tv 77 Sunset Strip, a studio starlet with potential on the big screen, and teamed with Connie Stevens has sold nearly two million copies of novelty disc ‘Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb’ by the end of the year

8. Michael Landon — a big cult figure at drive-ins in I Was a Teenage Werewolf, and now at 22 the youngest, prettiest star of hit tv series Bonanza

9. Steve McQueen — solo star of tv’s Wanted – Dead or Alive and making rapid strides on big screen, graduating from The Blob and now paid a top featuring fee of $75,000 for Never So Few with Frank Sinatra and Gina Lollobrigida

10. Fats Domino — five top 20 hits this year among his dozens of million-sellers, tallied to more than 50 million sales by the end of the year, but too fat and black (and now too old) to cross over on screen

— TUNE BACK IN SOON FOR THE GIRLS —