Remembering Bobby Rydell: The American idol's wild nights at the Jersey Shore

Music legend Bobby Rydell, who according to his management passed away Tuesday, April 5, due to non-COVID related pneumonia complications at Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia, was wild about Wildwood.

But he was also no stranger to the rest of the Jersey Shore.

“It's always a ball for me when I go there,” said Rydell previously to the USA Today Network New Jersey.

In the last decade, Rydell, who was 79, played Tim McLoone's Supper Club on the Boardwalk and the Stone Pony in Asbury Park.

The Pony show, with Boccigalupe and the Bad Boys, was a benefit for the Light of Day, which raises funds in the fight against Parkinson's and related diseases. He performed “Volare” and “Wildwood Days.” The latter song is still heard constantly on the Wildwood boardwalk and each night at Morey's Pier, where it signals that rides are closing, according to the Bucks County Courier Times.

Rydell, born Robert Ridarelli in Philadelphia, was a teen idol who scored late '50s and '60s smashes including “Kissin' Time,” “Wild One” and “Forget Him” on the famed Cameo-Parkway label while rocking a sky-high pompadour and skinny tie.

He was the coolest of the Philly teen idols. He socked Birdie in “Bye Bye Birdie” film. He was the Eagles No. 1 fan, and he enjoyed Philly cheesesteaks.

He also performed for U.S. troops in Vietnam in the '60s as part of USO tours. Decades later he would tear up at the memories of the soldiers.

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Personally, Rydell faced several life challenges in his later years.

“My first wife Camille, died at the age of 60 in 2003,” said Rydell previously to the USA Today Network New Jersey. “We had two great kids, but I was basket case after that and I turned to alcohol. I was told by my doctor in 2010 that I need to quit drinking or in two years I’d be dead. Well he was pretty much on the money because I kept on drinking, and in 2012 he told me that I needed a new liver and kidney. I went into the double transplant operation with a 50/50 chance, and I felt that I had a pretty good life. I was prepared for whatever happened.

"The donor was a 21-year-old woman who had been in an accident and was declared brain dead.” Rydell added. “I have 75 percent of her liver and 25 percent of it went to a 4-year-old girl, Siah. I was thinking about the young girl who received it. I was 70 years old at the time, but she had never really started her life. She’s doing great, and so am I.”

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Rydell advocated for organ transplants.

“I talk about the Liver Foundation while I’m on stage. It is the gift of life,” Rydell said.

Rydell didn't leave his home city of Philadelphia after he became a star, and he credited a city trough with giving him his talent.

“Well, there was a water trough on Ninth and Dickinson Street (in Philadelphia), and if you put your feet into it you became a dancer; if you put your feet into it and you drank some of the water, you became a singer and a dancer,” Rydell said.

“It's Frankie Avalon. It's James Darren, Jack Klugman, Buddy Greco, Al Martino, Eddie Fisher. You can go on forever. I think it was the water trough.”

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Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at @chrisfhjordan; cjordan@app.com

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Bobby Rydell: The American idol's wild nights at the New Jersey Shore