| With his thick New York sounding accent many believed John was the poster boy for Brooklyn, Bronx or Queens, but in fact he was born in New Jersey. By the age of 12 Travolta had already joined an area actors' group, and was soon appearing in local musicals and dinner-theater performances. He also took tap-dancing lessons from Gene Kelly's brother Fred. By age 16, he had dropped out of high school to take up acting full-time, relocating to Manhattan to make his off-Broadway debut in 1972 in "Rain." A minor role in the touring company of the hit musical "Grease" followed, and in 1973 Travolta appeared opposite the Andrews Sisters in the Broadway musical "Over Here!" In 1975, he also made his film bow with a bit role in the horror picture "The Devil's Rain." Also that year he landed the role that made him a household name, Vinnie Barbarino in "Welcome Back Kotter." As with all good teen idols the obligatory recording contract followed. Travolta had a hit (#-10) with "Let Her In" in 1976. With the disco boom and his role in Saturday Night Fever" he recorded "A Girl Like You" in 1979. The song was pleasant and thanks to arrangements by John Davis and production by Eric Matthews it had a certain respectability. But it failed to crack the top forty, but that didn't matter because thanks to his role in "Grease: The Movie" he had already been to the #-1 spot with "You're The One That I Want" in 1978. As the 1970's ended so too did his recording career and his acting career faltered in the early 1980's only to rebound later in the decade. Thankfully John has chosen to leave the singing to the singers. |
