Charlie Gracie

With his emphatic, hiccuping vocal style, strong and elemental guitar work, and engaging personality, Charlie Gracie was one of the first truly international rock & roll stars, rising to fame in the United States as well as Great Britain.

Embracing a style that mixed pop, rockabilly, and R&B, Gracie was also Philadelphia's first rock & roll star, the first successful artist on that city's famed Cameo Records, as well as an early regular on American Bandstand.

Gracie was still in high school when he began performing at local talent shows, parties, and social events, and he released his first single in 1953.