Freddie Bell was no Ding Dong.

Ever heard of Freddie bell? Might help if you grew up in the 50’s and was into Rock ’n’ Roll!

Freddie started his own group in the very early 50’s and called them the Bell Boy’s, and their one seminal hit everywhere but his native America, was a ditty written by himself called “Giddy up a Ding Dong”. (Although about a horse, it was also another parody on his name!)

Freddy and the boy’s were never that big in America and ended up being a main stay in Vegas. Even after they broke up in the mid 60’s, Freddie played Vegas himself right up into the 1990’s. As well he and the Bellboys appeared as themselves in the 1956 Movie “Rock around the Clock” plus a couple of other Music based films later.

Apart from Freddie’s own personal success, his Group in 1957 became one of the first American rock and roll acts to tour the UK. They began in 1952 and were one of the first white groups to play the R&B hits of the day, and honed their act in the Midwest before landing a booking at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. It was there that they were seen by Elvis and the King was impressed enough by Freddie’s Vegas performances of Hound Dog. So much so, that he famously covered the song (Thereby drowning out Freddie’s cover of it) and took it to number one in the US charts. It has also been suggested that Freddie’s energetic stage presence was another influence on Presley.

It is rather ironic isn’t it, that despite his own person achievements, Freddie is most remembered today, if at all, as the man who introduced Elvis to Hound dog, and not for his own many other achievements

Despite His lack of international or even American wide success, Freddie had a long and sustained career doing what he loved most. Can the same be said about you?

Or are you still stewing over lost opportunities and might have-beens? Whatever the past, it is just that, the past. Now is now, and now is the time to move on! Forget what might have been and move on to what is now available to you and make the most of it and enjoy all the success that you do have. Don’t miss out on any thing simply because your mind is still in the past and unable to enjoy the now. Freddie, as my title indicates, was no Ding Dong, so don’t you be either. He made the most of his situation, so you do the same and have a great life: Walter