Freddy Cannon

Frederick Anthony Picariello Jr. (December 4, 1936 – July 17, 2026), better known by his stage name Freddy Cannon, was an American rock and roll singer. His biggest international hits included "Tallahassee Lassie", "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans", and "Palisades Park".

Early life and education Frederick Anthony Picariello Jr. was born in Revere, Massachusetts, on December 4, 1936, and moved to neighboring Lynn, Massachusetts, as a child. His father worked as a truck driver and also played trumpet and sang in local bands. Freddy grew up listening to the rhythm and blues music of Big Joe Turner, Buddy Johnson and others on the radio, and he learned to play guitar. He attended Lynn Vocation High School.

Career Cannon made his recording debut as a singer in 1958, singing and playing rhythm guitar on a single, "Cha-Cha-Do" by the Spindrifts, which became a local hit. He had also played lead guitar on a session for an R&B vocal group, the G-Clefs, whose record "Ka-Ding Dong" made No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1956. At a young age he joined the National Guard, took a job driving a truck, married, and became a father.

Inspired musically by Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and Little Richard, he formed his own group, Freddy Karmon & the Hurricanes, which became increasingly popular in the Greater Boston area, and began to develop a trademark strained singing style. They rearranged the song, rewrote the lyrics, and offered to produce a recording in return for two-thirds of the composing credits.

Clark suggested that the song be re-edited and overdubbed to add excitement, by highlighting the pounding bass drum sound and adding hand claps and Freddy's cries of "whoo!", which later became one of his trademarks. In the UK, where his early records were issued on the Top Rank label, it reached No. 17. "Tallahassee Lassie" sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA.

He stayed on the Swan label with producer Frank Slay for the next five years and became known as Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon for the thumping power of his recordings. Crewe brought in The Four Seasons to provide instrumental backing for Cannon until the Seasons were able to break through to their own fame. Dick Clark brought him national exposure through his numerous appearances on his television program, American Bandstand, a record of 110 appearances in total.

For the next two years, until early 1962, he continued to have lesser chart hits in the United States, in some cases with versions of old standards including "Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy" and Edward "Kid" Ory's "Muskrat Ramble". His hits also included "Twistin' All Night Long", recorded with Danny & the Juniors and also featuring Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons on backing vocals.

Cannon appeared with Bobby Vee, Johnny Tillotson, and others, in the movie Just for Fun, made in the UK in 1962. Also in 1965, Slay acquired Cannon's Swan recordings and sold them to Warner Bros. He appeared, along with The Beau Brummels, in Village of the Giants, a teen movie with early film appearances by Beau Bridges and Ron Howard, and played himself, performing one of his songs, in the final episode of the teen soap opera, Never Too Young, on June 24, 1966.

Following his departure from Warner Bros. Records in 1967, Cannon released singles on several labels, including Sire, Royal American, Metromedia, MCA, Andee, Claridge, Horn, and Amherst. In the 1970s, he recorded and became a promotional man for Buddah Records, but returned to the lower reaches of the charts in 1981 with a cover of "Let's Put the Fun Back in Rock'n'Roll", recorded with the Belmonts for MiaSound Records,

One notable fan of Cannon's was Box Tops and Big Star singer Alex Chilton; Chilton reportedly had a portrait of Cannon hanging on the wall of his home in New Orleans and had once offered the following comment about Cannon to a friend: "Freddy Cannon's shows always worked, because he moved through life with ease."

Death Cannon's wife and high school sweetheart Jeanette died in September 2024. Cannon died in hospice care in Oxnard, California, on July 17, 2026, following a brief period of cancer. He was 89. He was survived by two sons (one having predeceased him).

Discography Singles Year A-side, B-sideBoth sides from same album except where indicated Label & Cat. No. U.S. Pop CAN UK Album 1959 "Tallahassee Lassie"b/w "You Know" (from Freddy Cannon's Solid Gold Hits!) Swan 4031Top Rank JAR135 (UK) The Explosive Freddy Cannon "Okefenokee"b/w "Kookie Hat" (Non-album track) Swan 4038 "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans"b/w "Fractured" (Non-album track) Swan 4043Top Rank JAR247 (UK) 1960 "Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy"b/w "Boston (My Home Town)" Swan 4050 "California Here I Come"b/w "Indiana" Top Rank JAR309 (UK) "Jump Over" (US A-side) / "The Urge" (UK A-side) Swan 4053Top Rank JAR369 (UK) Freddy Cannon's Solid Gold Hits! "Happy Shades of Blue"b/w "(Kwa-Na-Va-Ka) Cuernavaca Choo Choo" Swan 4057 "Humdinger"b/w "My Blue Heaven" (from Freddy Cannon Sings Happy Shades of Blue) Swan 4061 "Muskrat Ramble"b/w "Two Thousand-88" Swan 4066Top Rank JAR548 (UK) 1961 "Buzz Buzz A-Diddle-It" / Swan 4071 "Opportunity" "Transistor Sister"b/w "Walk to the Moon" (Non-album track) Swan 4078 Palisades Park "For Me And My Gal"b/w "Blue Plate Special" (from Freddy Cannon Sings Happy Shades Of Blue) Swan 4083 1962 "Twistin' All Night Long"(with Danny and The Juniors)b/w "Some Kind of Nut" (by Danny and The Juniors)" Swan 4092 Non-album tracks "Teen Queen of the Week"b/w "Wild Guy" (Non-album track) Swan 4096 Palisades Park "Palisades Park"b/w "June, July and August" Swan 4106Stateside SS101 (UK) "What's Gonna Happen When Summer's Done"b/w "Broadway" Swan 4117 Freddy Cannon Steps Out "If You Were a Rock And Roll Record"b/w "The Truth, Ruth" (Non-album track) Swan 4122 1963 "Four Letter Man"b/w "Come On and Love Me" (from Freddy Cannon Steps Out) Swan 4132 Non-album track "Patty Baby"b/w "Betty Jean" Swan 4139 Freddy Cannon Steps Out "Everybody Monkey"b/w "Oh Gloria" (Non-album track) Swan 4149 "That's the Way Girls Are"b/w "Do What the Hippies Do" Swan 4155 "Sweet Georgia Brown"b/w "What a Party" (from Freddy Cannon Steps Out) Swan 4168 Non-album tracks "The Ups and Downs of Love"b/w "It's Been Nice" Swan 4178 1964 "Abigail Beecher"b/w "All American Girl" Warner Bros. 5409 Freddie Cannon "Odie Cologne"b/w "O.K. Wheeler, The Used Car Dealer" Warner Bros. 5434 Non-album tracks "Gotta Good Thing Goin'"b/w "Summertime, U.S.A." Warner Bros. 5448 "Too Much Monkey Business"b/w "Little Autograph Seeker" Warner Bros. 5487 "In the Night"b/w "Little Miss a Go-Go-Go" Warner Bros. 5615 1965 "Action"b/w "Beachwood City" Warner Bros. 5645 Action! "Let Me Show You Where It's At"b/w "The Old Rag Man" (Non-album track) Warner Bros. 5666 "She's Somethin' Else"b/w "Little Bitty Corrine" (Non-album track) Warner Bros. 5673 1966 "The Dedication Song"b/w "Come On, Come On" Warner Bros. 5693 Non-album tracks "The Greatest Show on Earth"b/w "Hokie Pokie Girl" Warner Bros. 5810 "The Laughing Song"b/w "Natalie" Warner Bros. 5832 "Run for the Sun"b/w "Use Your Imagination" Warner Bros. 5859 "In My Wildest Dreams"b/w "A Happy Clown" Warner Bros. 5876 1967 "Maverick's Flat"b/w "Run To The Poet Man" Warner Bros. 7019 "20th Century Fox"b/w "Cincinnati Woman" Warner Bros. 7075 1968 "Rock Around the Clock"b/w "Sock It to the Judge" We Make Rock'N Roll Records 1601 "Sea Cruise"b/w "She's a Friday Night Fox" We Make Rock'N Roll Records 1604 1969 "Beautiful Downtown Burbank"b/w "If You Give Me a Title" Sire ST 4103 "Strawberry Wine"b/w "Blossom Dear" Royal American RA 288 1970 "Charged-Up, Turned-Up Rock-N-Roll Singer"b/w "I Ain't Much But I'm Yours" Royal American RA 2 "Night Time Lady"b/w "I Ain't Much But I'm Yours" Royal American RA 11 1971 "Rockin' Robin"b/w "Red Valley" Buddah BDA 242 1972 "If You've Got The Time" Metromedia MM 262 1974 "Rock N'Roll A-B-C's"b/w "Superman" MCA 40269 1975 "I Loves Ya"b/w "Chomp-Chomp, Sooey-Sooey" (By Cannon's Express) Andee 4001 1976 "Sugar"b/w "Sugar – Part Two" Claridge 416 1981 "Suzanne Somers"b/w "Blankcheck's Market" (by Freddie and Connie W. Cannon) Horn HR-8 "Let's Put The Fun Back In Rock N Roll" b/w "Your Mama Ain't Always Right"(with the Belmonts) MiaSound 1002 1983 "Dance To The Bop"b/w "She's A Mean Rebel Rouser" Amherst AM-201 1988 "Rockin' In My Socks"b/w "Rockin' In My Socks" (Instrumental) Amherst AM-327 2013 "The Sox Are Rockin'"b/w "Red Sox Nation"(with Los Straitjackets) Spinout Records SPIN 45-028 2016 "Svengoolie Stomp"b/w "Svengoolie Stomp & Svengoolie Stomp (Sing-A-Long)" Wonderclap Records W7 1002 Sources:

Albums Sources:

The Explosive Freddy Cannon (1960, Swan LP 502 (Mono)/S 502 (Stereo)) – UK No. 1 Freddy Cannon Sings Happy Shades of Blue (1960, Swan LP 504) Freddy Cannon's Solid Gold Hits (1961, Swan LP 505) Palisades Park (1962, Swan LP 507) – US No. 101 Steps Out (1962, Swan LPS 511) Bang On (1963, Stateside Records SL 10013) – European release of Palisades Park The above five albums were issued in mono only Freddie Cannon (1964, Warner Bros. W 1544 (Mono)/WS 1544 (Stereo)) Action (1965, Warner Bros. W 1612/WS 1612) Freddy Cannon's Greatest Hits (1966, Warner Bros. W 1628/WS 1628) – Greatest hits from both Swan and Warner Bros. labels 14 Booming Hits (1982, Rhino RNDF 210) His Latest & Greatest (1991, Critique) The Best of Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon (1995, Rhino) Where the Action Is: The Very Best 1964–1981 (2002, Varese Sarabande) Have a Boom Boom Christmas!! (2002, Gotham) The Best of Freddy Cannon (Collectibles, 2003) Boom Boom Rock 'n' Roll: The Best of Freddy Cannon (Shout! Factory, 2009)