Freddie Bell: Early in 1956, Elvis Presley was booked to make his debut in Las Vegas. It was then that he saw the Philadelphia-born Italian-American Freddie Bell, who was playing the lounge of the Sands casino-hotel.
At the Sands, Bell and his five-piece Bellboys had been learning their craft, helped by advice from the likes of stars passing through such as Nat King Cole, Jerry Lewis and Sammy Davis jnr. The Bellboys had honed a highly choreographed act similar to that of a rival Vegas performer, Louis Prima, but although Prima was arguably the more original artist, the much younger Bell had been better placed to join the rock'n'roll bandwagon as it began rolling in 1955. The group had even featured that year on TV's Colgate Comedy Hour.
Among the work Bell, who has died of complications from cancer aged 76, featured in his Vegas show - and on his group's first single - was Hound Dog, a raucous song written for the black singer Big Mama Thornton by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the composing and producing duo. Presley was so taken by the Bellboys' arrangement that, in the words of his guitarist Scotty Moore: "We stole it straight from them."
By summer 1956, Presley's recording of the song was a million-seller. Bell was philosophical, telling an interviewer: "I didn't feel bad about that at all. In fact, I encouraged him to record it." The success of records by Bill Haley and his Comets and others inspired Hollywood producer Sam Katzman to plan a quickie movie that would exploit the new trend.
He recruited Haley and his Comets, the Platters and Freddie Bell and the Bellboys. Rock Around the Clock was shot in a fortnight in early 1956 and included Bell and the group lip-synching their way through Giddy-Up-A-Ding-Dong, a novelty song co-written by Bell that was featured in the stage act ("ding dong", unsurprisingly, was Bell's nickname), and a hastily written number, Teach You to Rock.
Rock Around the Clock caused a sensation in cinemas in the US and Europe. In Britain its release in July 1956 was greeted by dancing in the aisles - in contravention of fire regulations. Giddy-Up-A-Ding-Dong was issued in Britain to coincide with the movie and reached No 4 in the charts. Although it was followed by such tracks as The Hucklebuck and Rockin' is My Business, it was Bell's only hit. There was another movie that year too, Rumble On the Docks.
Rock Around the Clock's success meanwhile sent promoters scrambling to book its stars. In February 1957, Haley arrived in Britain, followed in May by Bell and his group. They headlined a tour that also featured Tommy Steele, Britain's first home-grown rock'n'roll star. The tour included one week residencies in Liverpool, London, Glasgow and Cardiff. By the end of the run, Steele rather than Bell was closing the show, but the two singers became close friends.
Bell and the group went on to play the Paris Olympia and soon after toured the far east and Australia. But by then, the Presley phenomenon, Chuck Berry and other more charismatic singers had left the less photogenic Bell and the Bellboys behind.
They headed back to Las Vegas, and their residency. Their last film was Get Yourself a College Girl (1964).
Bell was born Ferdinando Bello and his parents were shopkeepers. He grew up in New Jersey, learning the trombone, bass and drums. His first professional engagements were with a band led by jazz saxophonist Ernie Ventura but, aged 20, Bell formed his own band. A primary influence was the witty, swing-inflected jump blues of the small group led by black singer and saxophonist Louis Jordan. Then, after a tour of the midwest, came the Vegas engagement.
The Bellboys split in the mid-1960s, but in later years Bell and his various bands were in demand to appear at rock'n'roll revival shows and festivals, especially in Europe.
Married four times, he is survived by four daughters, two sons and a stepson.
Freddie Bell (Ferdinando Dominick Bello) born July 29th, 1931; died February 10th, 2008.