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Freddy Cannon, a veteran of the early rock scene whose hits of the late ’50s and early ’60s included the top 10 hits “Palisades Park,” “Tallahassee Lassie” and “Way Down Yonder in New Orleans,” died Friday at 89.
A representative
said Cannon, who lived in Oxnard, California, died at a hospice facility after very recently being diagnosed with cancer, as confirmed by his longtime friend, iHeart Radio’s Tom Cuddy. Cannon had been scheduled to do “what would have been his final interview” on July 11 with legendary DJ “Cousin Brucie” Morrow, but he ended up being taken to the hospital the day before.
Cannon, who was sometimes billed as Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon, was revered by many fans of his original era because, for one thing, he “didn’t do ballads,” said Cuddy. “I had never seen a performer who kept his performance so upbeat and fun. Dick Clark once told me that every time he hosted an oldies concert, he asked Freddy to open it, because he knew Freddy would get the audience on their feet with up-tempo rock ‘n’ roll.
Cannon’s acolytes included Mick Jagger (who said the groove of “Brown Sugar” was Cannon-inspired), Robert Plant (who said Led Zeppelin played “Tallahassee Lassie” in jams when they were just finding their sea legs) and Stephen King (who mentioned Cannon’s music in four of his books).
His first hit, “Tallahassee Lassie,” made it to No. 6 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in 1959, with a No. 13 showing on the R&B chart and a No. 17 peak in the U.K. That same year, he reached No. 3 on the Hot 100 with “Way Down in New Orleans,” which peaked at No. 14 on the R&B chart and went all the way to No. 3 in the U.K.
His third, last and biggest top 10 hit was “Palisades Park” in 1962. It went to No. 3 on the Hot 100, landed at No. 15 on the R&B chart and made it to No. 20 in the U.K. The song, written by future “Gong Show” host Chuck Barris, was subsequently covered by Jan and Dean, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, the Beach Boys (in the 1970s, as a nostalgic throwback on “15 Big Ones”) and the Ramones (on 1989’s “Brain Drain”), among others.
Cannon continued to have hits through 1964’s No. 16-peaking “Abigail Beecher” and 1965’s No. 13 “Action,” released after he switched from the Swan to the Warner Bros. label. In 1981, he made one last return to the Hot 100 with “Let’s Put the Fun Back in Rock N Roll,” which peaked at No. 81. Shout! Factory released a compilation, “Boom Boom Rock ‘n’ Roll: The Best Of Freddy Cannon,” in 2009.
Cannon’s rep said he held the record for the most appearances on Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand,” with 110.
Other screen appearances ranged from “Where the Action Is” (which became the title of his 2011 memoir) to the cult genre film “Village of the Giants” to the soap opera “Never Too Young.”
He was born Frederick Anthony Picariello Jr. on Dec. 4, 1936 in Lynn, Massachusetts. In his late teens, he and his high school sweetheart-turned-wife, Jeanette, moved to Philadelphia at the behest of Dick Clark, the city that then hosted “American Bandstand,” early in that lifelong friendship.
He resisted being grouped with some of his fellow Italians in the pop teen idol grouping. “I think most of them were handed songs, but with me — ‘Tallahassee Lassie,’ I wrote with my mom,” he pointed out in a 2017 interview with the Ventura County Star. “So for me to get started was because of her, and I play guitar, so I can’t put myself with those other people.”
He had a signature expression of exhilaration. “I think I owe a lot of the ‘Whoo’ to Little Richard; you know, Little Richard was doing that way before me like, in 1955 or 1956,” he told the Ventura paper. “‘Tallahassee Lassie’ came out in ’59. I wrote it with my mom in ’58, so I don’t want to take full credit for it, but his ‘Whoo’ was a little different than mine and he held it a lot longer. Mine was just a ‘Whoo.'”
Cannon assessed his influence. “I hope I fit in somewhere. I think I made a little dent in the music business by being a songwriter. There was a few songs I didn’t write but a lot of them, I did. And all I gotta say is that I go back to ‘Tallahassee’ all the time — to that song only because the Rolling Stones covered it; Fleetwood Mac covered the song — all these bands in England covered the song and put it on their albums and everything. It makes me feel a hundred feet tall, you know? I must’ve influenced somebody with that song.”
Cannon continued to work on music in Oxnard right up to his recent hospitalization, the rep said. Among his latter day contributions was “The Svengoolie Stomp,” written for horror-movie TV host Svengoolie, who programmed the singer’s vintage appearance in “Village of the Giants” last weekend.
Cannon is survived by his children Conny and Billy, his sister Mary Lou, his son-in-law Jim and daughter- in-law Beth, five grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. Cannon was pre-deceased by his son, John, in April of this year, and by his wife and high school sweetheart, Jeanette, in September 2024.
“We would like to thank everyone for their love and support throughout our dad’s life,” said Conny Cannon. “He will be remembered as a rock ‘and’n’ roll icon. His music will live forever in our hearts.”
