Frederick Anthony Picariello, Jr. (born December 4, 1936),[1] better known by his stage name Freddy Cannon, is an American rock and roll singer.

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.

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.

[4] 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.

[4] With lyrics written by his mother, he prepared a new song which he called "Rock and Roll Baby", and he produced a demo which McDermott took to the writing and production team of Bob Crewe and Frank Slay.

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!

[7][8] For the next two years, until early 1962, he continued to have lesser chart hits in the U.S., 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.

13), from Dick Clark's TV show Where the Action Is, which he recorded with top Los Angeles session musicians including Leon Russell, James Burton, Glen Campbell, and David Gates.

[10] Also in 1965, Slay acquired Cannon's Swan recordings and sold them to Warner Bros.[11] 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.

[citation needed] After leaving Warner Bros. Records in 1967, Cannon released singles on several labels, including Sire, Royal American, Metromedia, MCA, Andee, Claridge, Horn, and Amherst.