Eddie Rambeau

Eddie Rambeau (born Edward Cletus Fluri; June 30, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor.

While performing in a high-school musical he had written, Rambeau met songwriter and musician Bud Rehak, who went on to become his manager.

With Rehak playing the piano, Rambeau sang at record hops and the like, where he impressed deejays with his talent. One of the deejays, Jim Ward from Plymouth, Pennsylvania, set up an audition for Rambeau at Swan Records. He was signed to the label and released his first single, "Skin Divin'", under his new name, Eddie Rambeau, on graduation day in June 1961. Now eighteen, Rambeau moved to Philadelphia, where Swan Records was based.

The following year, 1962, Rambeau recorded two more singles, "My Four Leaf Clover Love" and "Summertime Guy". Just minutes before he was about to debut the latter song on American Bandstand, he was informed by deejay Dick Biondi that, due to a potential conflict of interest, he would have to perform the B side of the record instead. "Summertime Guy" was written by Chuck Barris, who had also composed "Palisades Park" for Freddy Cannon earlier in the year.

Since Barris was employed by ABC at the time, and Bandstand aired on the same network, it was felt that Rambeau's performance of the song might create problems with the FCC. On top of that, the song was pulled from all ABC affiliates nationwide, both radio and television (Barris would later revamp the song as an instrumental to use for his television show The Newlywed Game). In December 1962, "The Push and Kick", written by Rambeau with Frank Slay Jr. and Bud Rehak, became a Top 40 hit for Mark Valentino.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.