You've been hearing us talk about this one for awhile
now ...
It's the brand new autobiography of Freddy "Boom Boom"
Cannon!
And I'm happy to report that this book is now FINALLY
available!!!
Full details are below (by way of
their official press release!)
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"FAMED SINGER FREDDY "BOOM BOOM" CANNON
RELEASES HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY "WHERE THE ACTION
IS!"
Bio Written with Best-Selling Author Mark Bego
for Publish America
Contains an Introduction by Dick
Clark
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Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon, the talented singer of timeless
hits of the '50's and '60's such as "Palisades Park," "Tallahassee Lassie," "Way
Down Yonder in New Orleans" and "Action!," has just penned his
autobiography, Where
the Action Is! (Publish America). It is currently available
internationally through book stores, on the internet and via Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, both as a paperback and electronically as a
Kindle and/or Nook book.
Starting with "Tallahassee Lassie," based on a poem
written by his mother, Cannon charted more than 20 times on Billboard's pop singles chart between 1959
and 1966. He topped the U.K. charts with his debut album, was
a frequent guest on the era's iconic music television shows Shindig, Hullabaloo and Midnight Special as well as becoming
THE most frequent guest performer
on Dick Clark's long-running American
Bandstand show. Clark also tapped him to sing "Action!," the theme
song for the popular '60 music series Where
the Action Is that he was producing, and Cannon ended up with both a
hit record and with featured performer status on the show. He also toured with
Clark's traveling road show of artists called
the Caravan of Stars.
It is no surprise that Cannon's longtime friend Dick
Clark penned the touching introduction to Where the Action Is!
He writes: "I will always remember that 19-year-old kid from Boston who came to the Philadelphia studios where American Bandstand was taped. He was very
excited to have his first hit song pressed onto a 45-rpm record, and he has
never lost that enthusiasm. He has been a wonderful friend of mine since that
very first day I met him in 1959."
The early entry into
rock 'n' roll by the Massachusetts-born (he is originally from Lynn, near
Boston) Cannon gave him a front-row seat at the birth and growth of the medium
itself, and the new book is his candid, informed account of what he saw, heard
and felt. Earning the moniker "Boom Boom" for his frenetic energy, he appeared
on shows promoted by the infamous disc jockey Alan Freed and performed on bills
that included the biggest hit singers of the day: Frankie Avalon, Chubby Checker
and Fabian, among others. He also writes about touring with artists like Bo
Diddley, The Shirelles, The Drifters and Bobby "Blue" Bland during the turbulent
era of segregation. He appeared in two films in the '60's, the 1963 musical film
Just for Fun and the 1965 teen
cult horror film Village of the
Giants, and also saw himself portrayed by actor David Julian Hirsch
in George Clooney's 2002 directorial debut Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. The film
was based on the autobiography of Chuck Barris, who wrote "Palisades Park."
Cannon's music has drawn accolades from famed music artists
who cite him as an influence, among them Mick Jagger ("Freddy inspired 'Brown
Sugar'"), Robert Plant ("I loved 'Tallahassee Lassie'!") and Bruce Springsteen
(who opened his Tunnel of Love
tour with "Palisades Park" as an homage to Cannon).
Freddy Cannon is hardly less active today than he was
decades ago, continuing to tour and make television and radio appearances the
world over. Last year's deluxe reissue of the Rolling Stones' Some Girls album featured the legendary
band's own version of "Tallahassee Lassie," and Cannon's classic hit song
"Palisades
Park" was prominently
featured in the recent box-office smash film X-men: First Class. His most recent CD
release, Boom Boom Rock 'n' Roll: The Best
of Freddy Cannon, features 24 of his memorable hits. He has also been
pursuing his hobby of pencil drawings of colleagues from the music industry as
well as television, film and sports figures that he has been selling in recent
years via his website.
Co-author Mark Bego is a professional writer who is called
"The Number One Best-Selling Pop Biographer" by Publisher's Weekly. With over 10 million
books in print, he has written two New York
Times best-sellers and a Chicago
Tribune best-seller. Bego's books have included the international hit
Michael! (Jackson), Madonna: Blonde Ambition, Cher: If You Believe, Billy Joel: The Biography, Leonardo DiCaprio: Romantic Hero and
Elton John: The Bitch is Back.
His own memoir, entitled Paperback
Writer, was published last year. Bego will be releasing his newly
updated and expanded version of Aretha
Franklin: The Queen of Soul to commemorate the diva's 70th
birthday-March 25, 2012. Where the Action
Is! is his 57th published book.
Where
the Action Is! includes Freddy
Cannon's complete discography and 17 rarely seen photographs from his personal
collection.
*****
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AMONG THE TOPICS DISCUSSED IN WHERE THE ACTION
IS!
● How Freddy Cannon
turned a poem his mother wrote into a song called "Tallahassee Lassie" and how
the pre-fame hitmaker for The Four Seasons, Bob Crewe, turned it into an
international hit record in 1959.
● How Freddy Cannon,
on one of his recording sessions was backed vocally by both Danny & The
Juniors AND The Four Seasons, and
on another song he recorded with The Belmonts (of Dion fame).
● How Elvis Presley
climbed up a dozen floors of the fire escape of Memphis' Peabody Hotel to party with Freddy
Cannon and friends.
● How Freddy Cannon
narrowly escaped death in 1960 by opting out of the cab ride that cost rock
pioneer Eddie Cochran his life and seriously injured Gene Vincent.
● How Freddy Cannon
ended up being the most frequent guest star on American Bandstand.
● How Freddy Cannon
nearly became the king of "The Twist" before Chubby Checker.
● How "Palisades Park" wound up in 2011's No. 1 box-office
hit movie X-Men First
Class.
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