Introduction
Bobby Freeman (born in 1940) is an American R&B/soul/pop singer-songwriter best remembered for his 1958 single “Do You Wanna Dance?”. The San Francisco, California-born Freeman began his professional singing/recording career on Dootone Records, with a group called Romancers; and later the West Coast Vocaleers, which Freeman himself formed. Next he moved to Josie label, where he released a self-penned single “Do You Wanna Dance?” It became a huge hit, peaking high on the Top Ten of both R&B and pop charts in 1958. He followed this success with other singles “Betty Lou Got a New Pair of Shoes”, “C’mon and Swim” and “S-W-I-M”, which failed to duplicate the success of “Do You Wanna Dance?”
Bobby Freeman’s early life and rise to success
Bobby Freeman is an American-African soul singer and songwriter known for his late 50s music era hit “Do You Wanna Dance,” today an oldies music favorite.
He was born in San Francisco, California, on June 13, 1940. He was known for his energetic vocals during the height of his career. Freeman started his recording career at the age of fourteen with the band The Romancers who had a brief stay under Dootone Records. Later on, he formed the pop-oriented act West Coast Vocaleers. Although the two groups did not succeed in the music business, the 17-year-old Freeman started to get attention when he released the cut “Do You Wanna Dance” in 1958. Written by Freeman, the song almost topped the R&B chart and reached #5 on the pop chart. In 1964, “Do You Wanna Dance” was remade by the rock & roll singer and songwriter Del Shannon.
Later career
Freeman was back in 1964 with the dance-craze hit “C’mon and Swim,” which went up to #5 on the US Chart. In the same year, the follow-up “S-W-I-M” was a low-charting single peaking at #56. However, he was still engaged in touring over the next few years. By the late 60’s, Freeman’s career started to sink.
In 1974, Freeman did a comeback and released another single under Touch Music “Everyone’s Love” but unfortunately it failed to make a dent on the charts at all. In recent years Freeman has been seen performing at the Bay Area Music (“Bammy”) Awards.