"Seventeen" is a popular

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

, recorded by Boyd Bennett and His Rockets in 1955. It was composed by Bennett, John F. Young, Jr., and Chuck Gorman. Three versions of the song charted in 1955 in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The original version, recorded by Bennett's band with a vocal by Jim Muzey (the latter credited on the label as "Big Moe"), reached No. 5 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

. The Fontane Sisters made a close-harmony

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

, which did even better, reaching No. 3. Rusty Draper's version charted at No. 18. A fourth version was recorded in 1955 (as the "B" side of a single) by 1940s boogie-woogie singing star Ella Mae Morse, backed by Big Dave Cavanaugh's orchestra. In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Frankie Vaughan Frankie Vaughan (born Frank Fruim Abelson; 3 February 1928 – 17 September 1999) was an English singer and actor who recorded more than 80 easy listening and traditional pop singles in his lifetime. He was known as "Mr. Moonlight" after his ...

recorded a version of the song. It peaked at No. 18 in the UK Singles Chart in December 1955. The Boyd Bennett disc of "Seventeen" "changed record-producing/buying and marketing forever," wrote musicologist Robert Reynolds: "As Boyd Bennett had predicted, teenagers bought 'Seventeen' in droves and other record companies soon began producing songs aimed specifically at the teen market. The record hung around the Top Ten for five weeks. When all was said and done, ennett's'Seventeen' had sold three million copies."Robert Reynolds, ''Hepcats & Rockabilly Boys'', 2018, .

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YouTube

Songs about teenagers 1955 songs 1955 singles The Fontane Sisters songs {{1950s-pop-song-stub