"Seventeen" is a
popular song, recorded by
Boyd Bennett
Boyd Byron Bennett (December 7, 1924 – June 2, 2002) was an American rockabilly songwriter and singer.
His two biggest hit singles, both written with John F Young and performed by him (Boyd) were "Seventeen (Boyd Bennett song), Seventeen" ...
and His Rockets in 1955. It was composed by Bennett, John F. Young, Jr., and Chuck Gorman.
Three versions of the song charted in 1955 in the
United States. The original version, recorded by Bennett's band with a vocal by Jim Muzey (the latter credited on the label as "Big Moe"), reached No. 5 on the
US ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''
chart
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...
.
The Fontane Sisters made a close-harmony
cover version, which did even better, reaching No. 3.
Rusty Draper
Farrell Haliday "Rusty" Draper (January 25, 1923 – March 28, 2003) was an American country and pop singer-songwriter and radio and TV host who achieved his greatest success in the 1950s.
Biography
Born in Kirksville, Missouri, United Stat ...
's version charted at No. 18. A fourth version was recorded in 1955 (as the "B" side of a single) by 1940s boogie-woogie singing star
Ella Mae Morse, backed by Big Dave Cavanaugh's orchestra.
In the
United Kingdom,
Frankie Vaughan recorded a version of the song. It peaked at No. 18 in the
UK Singles Chart in December 1955.
The Boyd Bennett disc of "Seventeen" "changed record-producing/buying and marketing forever," wrote musicologist Robert Reynolds: "As Boyd Bennett had predicted, teenagers bought 'Seventeen' in droves and other record companies soon began producing songs aimed specifically at the teen market. The record hung around the Top Ten for five weeks. When all was said and done,
ennett's'Seventeen' had sold three million copies."
[Robert Reynolds, ''Hepcats & Rockabilly Boys'', 2018, .]
References
External links
Song lyricYouTube
Songs about teenagers
1955 songs
1955 singles
The Fontane Sisters songs
{{1950s-pop-song-stub