Biography of Shelley Fabares

When Shelley Fabares was co-starring in The Donna Reed Show on television in the early '60s, she was reluctantly coerced into the recording studio to capitalize on her acting career. Her debut single, "Johnny Angel," went all the way to number one, and is an archetype of sorts for the entire teen idol era. One of the relatively few female idols, Fabares had a slight, innocuous voice, fleshed out with plenty of female backup singers and expert, if somewhat antiseptic, arrangements. The sequel to "Johnny Angel," "Johnny Loves Me," just missed the Top 20, and she had a few much smaller chart singles in 1962 and 1963. ~ Richie Unterberger