From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Wed Mar 6, 2002  1:15 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Eddie Fontaine

EDDIE FONTAINE

Born Edward Reardon, 6 March 1927, New York City, NY
Died 14 April 1982, Los Angeles, California

Eddie Fontaine liked to tell people that he was born in 1937.
In reality he was ten years older. He is probably best remembered
for his cameo appearance in "The Girl Can't Help It", the legendary
1956 movie in which he sang "Cool Baby", spilling co-star's Tom
Ewell's drink in the process.
His first release, a cover version of "Rock Love" (1955), paved the
way for ten years of label hopping, from X and Vik to Jalo, Decca,
Chancellor (for which he cut the excellent "Goodness It's Gladys"),
Argo, Sunbeam and Liberty. During that period he recorded everything
from ballads to pop to pure rock 'n' roll that included his other signature
tune, "Nothin' Shakin'" (his only chart entry, peaking at # 64 in 1958,
on the Chess subsidiary Argo). Eddie claimed that he wrote the song
all by himself, though co-writing credit goes to Diane Lampert.
Fontaine (co-) wrote several other songs, including "Pop Let Me Have
The Car" for Carl Perkins. His break as an actor came in 1961 and
throughout the seventies and eighties he was regularly seen on the
small screen in fixtures like "Kojak", "The Gallant Men" and "Happy
Days" (as Fonzie's dad). Then in 1981 he resumed his former mantle
as a rock 'n' roll singer and toured Europe. Part of the eighties was
spent in jail, charged with soliciting to murder his ex-wife.
A terminal form of throat cancer ended his life in 1992.

Further reading: "Repeating Echoes" in Now Dig This 221 (August
2001), p. 14-18.
Recommended listening: "Who's Eddie?" (Big Beat). A French
release from 1989, with 25 tracks from the fifties.