Eddie Fontaine (March 6, 1927 – April 13, 1992) was an American actor and singer, best known for television roles in the 1960s and 1970s.
Born Edward Reardon in Springfield, Massachusetts, he inherited his looks from his Italian mother rather than from his Irish father, who was far from pleased when Eddie changed his surname to Fontaine, because it was "slicker".Eddie grew up in Rockaway Beach, twenty miles from New York City. With Frankie Laine as his main inspiration, he got his start in the music business singing in bars in New York with a guitar and passing the hat. By the early 1950s Fontaine had graduated to singing in cocktail lounges where he was discovered by bandleader Neal Hefti and Jimmy Hilliard, who was just starting up the new 'X' label, a subsidiary of RCA.
Two weeks later, in the first week of 1955, Eddie found himself in New York's RCA Victor studio, cutting covers of two Henry Glover compositions, "Rock Love" (originally recorded by Lula Reed, but a Top 20 hit for the Fontane Sisters) and "All My Love Belongs To You" (Bullmoose Jackson). It sold well enough to garner a UK release (HMV 7 M 304). Fontaine was part of the first of Alan Freed's rock n roll shows, at the Brooklyn Paramount in April 1955, with LaVern Baker, the Penguins, the Clovers, Red Prysock, the Moonglows, Mickey Baker and others.
Fontaine went into the studio at his own cost and cut a demo of a song he had written (or at least, he has always claimed that he was the sole writer), "Nothin' Shakin'", using guitarists George Barnes and Eddie O'Connor, drummer Cozy Cole and two others. He submitted the demo to publisher Gene Goodman in the hope that he would get the song placed with a record company, but there were no takers initially. Eddie then signed with Tommy Valando's Sunbeam label and rerecorded "Nothin' Shakin'" for them.
Soon after the release of this new version he found out that his original demo had been sold to Chess Records without his knowledge and had acquired three additional writing credits : by Diane Lampert, John Gluck, Jr and Cirino Colacral. This original (and superior) version came out on Argo 5309 in August 1958 and climbed to # 64 on Billboard's Hot 100, the only chart entry of Eddie's career. "Nothin' Shakin'" was also released in the UK and was later recorded by the Beatles (for the BBC), Billy Fury and Craig Douglas, among others. Next, Fontaine spent some time in Cuba, doing a night club act, until Battista was overthrown by Fidel Castro.
Later releases on Warner Bros and Liberty were not successful and Eddie faded from the recording scene, while his acting career took off. 1961 found him in Hollywood playing the part of a singing G.I. in the weekly TV drama "The Gallant Men" for Warner Bros. After the series came off the air in 1963, Fontaine spent the next two decades flitting between night club crooning and TV bit-parts which included Kojak, Baretta, The Rockford Files, Happy Days as Fonzie's dad, The Six Million Dollar Man, 77 Sunset Strip, Baretta and Quincy.
In 1981 he resumed his former mantle as a rock n roll singer and toured Europe. In 1984 he was charged with soliciting the murder of his ex-wife, Pamela. An acquaintance, part-time country singer David Faircloth, told the San Fernando Municipal Court that Fontaine had offered him $ 3000 and, as an additional incentive, an electric guitar in exchange for killing the former Mrs Fontaine. Eddie was sentenced to four years in prison, but apparently he was acquitted by an appeal court in 1985. It is known for sure that he was a free man on March 1, 1987, because he was interviewed by Stuart Colman on that day, on Radio London.
He made his last TV appearance in the series Sisters in 1991, and died in Los Angeles County, California, of throat cancer the following year, 13 April 1992, at age 65.He is listed as a "legend" but not an inductee at the Rockabilly Hall of Fame site.
(Edited from This Is My Story & Wikipedia)