From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Thu Jun 13, 2002  1:33 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Bobby Freeman

BOBBY FREEMAN (By Shaun Mather)

Born 13 June 1940, San Francisco, California

Bobby Freeman made his name thanks to a couple of danceable hits and a
lively stage show which featured his formidable dancing. He formed and
played piano for his first band the Romancers when he was 14 and later
created the West Coast Vocaleers. He signed for the Josie label and had
a massive hit in 1958 with his first record, Do You Want To Dance (# 5 pop,
# 2 R&B). Follow up singles fared less successfully although the highly
enjoyable Betty Lou Got A New Pair Of Shoes reached the top 40 and
Need Your Love made the number 54 spot. Shame On You Miss Johnson
was another strong number from the period. All these songs were his own
compositions.
He returned to the Top Forty in 1960 with (I Do The) Shimmy Shimmy on the
King Records label, but things quietened down until he signed to Sly Stone's
Autumn label. He reached number five on the pop and r&b charts in 1964
with C'Mon and Swim which took advantage of the current Swim dance craze.
He was unable to repeat the success with S-W-I-M which barely dented the
charts. It was his final chart entry. Bobby moved into the soul field during the
70's.
Do You Want To Dance has been recorded with success by a variety of artists:
Cliff Richard took it into the UK charts in 1962 (in Holland Cliff's version was
a
# 1), Del Shannon made # 43 in 1964, The Beach Boys were charting with it in
1965 (# 12), The Mamas and the Papas went to # 76 in 1968, Bette Midler to
# 17 in 1973 and The Ramones to 86 in 1978.

Recommended listening;
The Best of Bobby Freeman - Sequel NEM 621
C'Mon and S-W-I-M - Ace