Helping build his popularity was his performing style, which might not seem overly smooth when compared to today's packaged acts. But his clean-cut good looks - complete with dimples - soon had girls buying his records and lining up for his shows.
His next release was an even bigger hit and crossed over to the pop charts too. "My Special Angel" became his signature song - or at least one of them - and it's also the song I most remember the female members of my family swooning over. However, his next best-seller is probably more familiar these days because of it's seasonal aspects — "Jingle Bell Rock" has been a holiday tradition for many years.
Bobby had a few more good-selling country songs in the years after that, and an occasional minor hit, but gradually his sales diminished. He continued performing and recording throughout the next several decades and produced his last album, Pop-A-Billy, in 1983. He died in 1997, one of several Hoosier members of the Rockabilly Hall Of Fame.
Article comments