Bobby Freeman

Bobby Freeman

Bobby Freeman (born June 13 1940) is an African-American soul singer, songwriter, and record producer who recorded for the Autumn Records label in San Francisco, California. He is best known for his 1958 hit "Do You Want To Dance?", covered later (as "Do You Wanna Dance") by Del Shannon, The Beach Boys, John Lennon and The Ramones, and his 1964 Top Ten hit, "C'mon and Swim". The latter record was written and produced by twenty-year-old Sylvester Stewart, later known as Sly Stone. Bobby Freeman played at the Condor nightclub in San Francisco nightly in 1964 when Carol Doda began go-go dancing there topless.

Freeman began his recording career at age 14 with the Romancers who recorded briefly on the Dootone label. At 17, he scored a hit with "Do You Want To Dance?" and appeared on the pop charts with various follow-ups through 1961. In 1964, he was back in the Top Ten with the dance-craze hit "C'mon and Swim", which reached Number 5. The craze had cooled by the time he released his follow-up "S-W-I-M", but he continued to tour widely over the next few years. Mainly supporting himself as a singer in strip clubs by the late 1960s, he released another single in 1974 on Touch Records, but it met with little commercial success. He has performed at the Bay Area Music ("Bammy") Awards in recent years.

Discography

Notable singles

• 1958 "Do You Want To Dance?" (#5 Pop, #2 R&B)
• 1958 "Betty Lou Got a New Pair of Shoes" (#37 Pop, #20 R&B)
• 1958 "Need Your Love" (#54 Pop, #29 R&B)
• 1959 "Mary Ann Thomas" (#90 Pop)
• 1959 "Ebb Tide" (#93 Pop)
• 1960 "(I Do the) Shimmy Shimmy" (#37 Pop)
• 1961 "The Mess Around" (#89 Pop)
• 1964 "C'mon and Swim" (#5 Pop, #5 R&B)
• 1964 "S-W-I-M" (#56 Pop, #56 R&B)
• 1974 "Everything's Love" (Uncharted)

Albums

• 1958 Do You Wanna Dance (Jubilee)
• 1959 Get in the Swim (Josie)
• 1960 Lovable Style of Bobby Freeman (King Records)
• 1964 C'mon and Swim (Autumn)

References

• "The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll", Pareles, Jon & Romanowski, Patricia, eds., Summit Books 1983