In the late 50s-early
60s, one of the most popular family situation comedies was "The
Donna Reed Show." Anyone who didn't want to be a part of the
Anderson or Cleaver families surely wanted to live with the Stones
in Hilldale.
Dr. Alex Stone and
his wife Donna had two children, Mary and Jeff. After the show's second
season, producer Tony Owen (Reed's then-husband) told the two actors
who played the Stone offspring they would record songs that would
be written into the series' third season scripts, and Colpix, the
record arm of Columbia Pictures, would release those songs.
Shelley Fabares and
Paul Petersen were not thrilled. "Both Paul and I said it was
a great idea, but we couldn't sing. I was adamant. I'm not a singer.
I was a very good, very sweet little girl who was not raised to say
no, so it took a lot for me to say I can't do that."
Owen wasn't prepared
to take no for an answer. He arranged for Stu Phillips to make demos
for Shelley and Paul, and Shelley was convinced hers was so bad the
idea would be dropped. It wasn't. Shelley recorded two solo songs,
"Johnny Angel" and "Where's It Going to Get Me."
She recalls being absolutely terrified during the session. What she
remembers most is the calibre of the musicians (people like Glen Campbell
and Hal Blaine) and the "gorgeous" voices of her backing
vocalists, the Blossoms, led by Darlene Love.
"Johnny Angel"
was written into a script of "The Donna Reed Show," as was
Paul Petersen's song, "She Can't Find Her Keys." Both actors
had several follow-ups; Petersen fared best with "My Dad,"
which went to number six and Shelley's only other hit was "Johnny
Loves Me," which peaked at 21.
In June 1964, Shelley
married record producer Lou Adler. She departed "The Donna Reed
Show" and Paul's sister, Patti, joined the show as an adopted,
younger daughter. In 1965, Shelley was the first artist to release
a record on the new Dunhill label, which was partly owned by Adler.
After "The Donna
Reed Show," Shelley co-starred in three Elvis movies and
Ride the Wild Surf with Fabian. In 1971, she starred as the wife
of the terminally ill football star Brian Picolo in TV's "Brian's
Song." She has since starred in a number of television series:
"The Little People" as Brian Keith's doctor-daughter, "The
Practice" as Danny Thomas' daughter-in-law, "Forever Fernwood"
as Tom Hartman's love interest after Mary left town, "Highcliffe
Manor" as Helen Straight Blacke , "One Day at a Time"
as Bonnie Franklin's business partner and "Coach," with
Craig T. Nelson.
She was born Michele
Fabares on January 19, 1944, and her family called her Shelley. Her
aunt Nanette suggested she spell her last name Fabray, but she preferred
the family spelling despite problems with pronunciation (Fah-bear-ay
is correct).
