FRANKIE AVALON

Well, we all age, but I'd been taking herbal supplements for a long time.

I wish I could talk to Annette, but she doesn't even correspond at this point.

I was not a trained actor.

The kids have all seen it on DVD or videotape.

It captures a lot of the spirit of the '50s.

Yes, but I don't think of the Teen Angel as of an age.

Kids know me from their Grease DVD, so they instantly respond. You can hear a pin drop when I do my old songs.

I like that because the fans want to see onstage what they know so well from the big screen.

I'll be 65 in September and I work as much as I want to, take cruises with Kay, relax with my family, do everything in moderation, because I want to enjoy my life.

I've been around two years shy of 50 years doing what I do. I am a musician.

I think today's music absolutely stinks. I really do mean that.

These kids today, everything is about hitting a vocal home run.

I learned not to blink in a close-up or move your head at all, because if you did, they wouldn't use it.

They weren't great pictures, but they were fun, and they really represented that period of time well.

They look for the top note to end every song. They don't know what they are singing about. There is no style.

No sooner than I did take it seriously, I had million-selling hits and movies with John Wayne.

Rocco paid me 35 bucks a week at Murray's Inn in South Jersey. People started asking Rocco to have me sing.

When I started to play trumpet I was fortunate to learn very quickly.

For me, the biggest successes I've ever had were the ones I never counted on. I never thought my first big record would be a hit. I thought it was an average song.

I've got eight children, 10 grandkids. I have friends over all the time, and I like to cook.

I still have the tradition of Sunday dinners at my house, and I make all kinds of different Italian foods, and there's a lot of fun going on.

When I was kid, my uncle had a grocery store. I remember the smell of the sawdust on the floor.

I eat pasta every day. It gives me energy. I love the taste.

I recognize them for what they were. 'DeDe Dinah,' 'Ginger Bread,' come on. They're fun things. They're middle of the road. It wasn't really rock and roll. I don't know what it was, but it was something accepted and bought, and people still like them. When I reminiscence on stage, people respond. They really like those songs.

I was trying to become a legitimate trumpet player, and I had a scholarship to Eastman School of Music. I was really on my way. But I didn't take the scholarship. I got sidetracked, because when summers came around, I started playing with a rock-and-roll band.