Annette Funicello | Annette Rare Photos | Annette Sings Anka (1959-1960) | Annette Funicello Wallpapers

Annette Funicello was 13 years old when she was discovered by studio head Walt Disney dancing in an amateur production of Swan Lake in Fullerton, CA. Much to the enmity of her Mickey Mouse Club co-stars, Funicello joined the cast late in the show's first season and was not required to audition. However, Disney's impulses proved correct, as she swiftly became the most popular performer on The Mickey Mouse Club
Nevertheless, Funicello's enormous audience base -- mostly teen girls -- was enough to support her through 13 albums released through 1965, all but the first appearing on the Buena Vista label, a record company begun by Walt Disney so that Funicello's records need not appear on the Disneyland imprint. Funicello ultimately got accustomed to making records, and genuinely enjoyed working with Camerata, one of the few forty-something arrangers of the time who "got" the basic building blocks of early rock music. Her albums gradually improved starting with the second one, Annette Sings Anka, probably the first LP to treat the work of a rock songwriter as repertoire.

1959 LP Annette (US Buena Vista BV-3301)

Annette Funicello Rare Photos | Annette Funicello Pictures | Annette Funicello Wallpapers | Annette Funicello Bio

Annette Funicello

The Disneyland Diva

A Stuff 'n' Laura Production
by Don Charles Hampton and Laura Pinto

Who's the fairest Mouseketeer of all? The bitchin'est babe on the beach? The original Candy Girl, years before The Archies minted the name in their million-selling song "Sugar, Sugar?" You don't have to scroll down to the bottom of the page to read the answer: It's Annette Funicello! She neither aspired to become an actress nor a singer (and, according to some critics, she never did), but soon after trading in her mouse ears for high heels, she starred in nine feature films, scored five Top Forty hits, and made history as one of Rock'n'Roll's earliest female stars.

Annette was just four when her family moved from Utica, New York, to southern California, eventually settling in Studio City. During Easter week of 1955, she danced the lead in "Swan Lake" at her ballet school's year-end recital. In the audience was Walt Disney, scouting for talented kids to cast in his forthcoming television show "The Mickey Mouse Club." Mama Funicello's baby girl won the 24th, and final, set of mouse ears. Over the next three years, her supple dancer's body blossomed into womanhood, triggering hormone attacks in pubescent boys all over the country! Millions tuned in every afternoon for the free lessons in feminine anatomy that Annette unwittingly provided.