Bobby Sherman, '60s teen idol from music and TV, dies at 81

Bobby Sherman, the vocalist and histrion whose boyish bully looks and saccharine if unshowy vocals made him a teen idol successful the overlapping worlds of tv and popular euphony successful the precocious 1960s and aboriginal 1970s, has died. He was 81.

His decease was announced Tuesday by woman Brigitte Poublon Sherman via person John Stamos’ societal media.

“It is with the heaviest bosom that I stock the passing of my beloved husband, Bobby Sherman,” she wrote. “Bobby near this satellite holding my manus — conscionable arsenic helium held up our beingness with love, courage, and unwavering grace done each 29 beauteous years of marriage. I was his Cinderella, and helium was my prince charming. Even successful his last days, helium stayed beardown for me. That’s who Bobby was — brave, gentle, and afloat of light.”

No origin of decease was given, nor was a circumstantial day of death. The erstwhile teen idol had been battling Stage 4 kidney cancer, his woman said successful April.

A textbook heartthrob of the shaggy-haired SoCal variety, Sherman enactment 4 singles successful the Top 10 of Billboard’s Hot 100 successful little than a year, starting with “Little Woman,” which peaked astatine No. 3 successful October 1969; aft that came “La La La (If I Had You),” which got to No. 9 successful January 1970, “Easy Come, Easy Go,” which deed the aforesaid presumption 3 months later, and “Julie, Do Ya Love Me,” which reached No. 5 successful September 1970. The cheerful, catchy tunes — each a certified gold-seller — helped specify the bubblegum popular dependable that besides encompassed the Archies, Tommy Roe and the Ohio Express.

At the aforesaid clip that helium was scaling the charts, Sherman starred connected ABC’s “Here Come the Brides,” a occidental drama bid acceptable soon aft the Civil War successful which helium played 1 of the owners of a household logging concern determined to find emotion interests for the company’s lumberjacks. The multimedia vulnerability drew the adoration of the era’s teenyboppers, who raced to walk their allowance wealth connected T-shirts, luncheon boxes and magazines featuring the look of Bubblegum Bobby, arsenic helium was known.

“I could person sang ‘Auld Lang Syne’ and they would person bought it,” helium said of his rabid fanbase successful a 1989 interrogation with The Times. “My assemblage was truthful young and impressionable, they would bargain everything associated with Bobby Sherman.”

Robert Cabot Sherman Jr. was calved July 22, 1943, successful Santa Monica and grew up successful Van Nuys, wherever helium played shot astatine Birmingham High School. When helium was a sophomore astatine Pierce College, Sherman went to a Hollywood enactment celebrating the premiere of 1965’s “The Greatest Story Ever Told” and ended up singing with a set that included respective guys he’d gone to precocious schoolhouse with; among the party’s guests were Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo and Jane Fonda, whose praise led to a palmy audition for Sherman to beryllium a vocalist connected the TV assortment amusement “Shindig!”

In 1967, Sherman made a cameo connected “The Monkees” arsenic a teen idol named Frankie Catalina — a not-so-veiled notation to the real-life Frankie Avalon — and successful 1971 helium appeared successful an occurrence of “The Partridge Family” that acceptable up a short-lived spin-off bid called “Getting Together” successful which Sherman played a songwriter.

Sherman’s philharmonic vocation cooled astir arsenic rapidly arsenic it had heated up. “Together Again,” the past of his 10 entries connected the Hot 100, topped retired astatine No. 91 successful February 1972. “It was inevitable,” helium told The Times, blaming the “oversaturation” of the bubblegum market. He continued acting successful TV shows including “The Mod Squad” and “The Love Boat” but aboriginal recovered a 2nd beingness successful nationalist work successful the 1980s and ’90s, serving arsenic a unpaid paramedic and teaching archetypal assistance to recruits astatine the Los Angeles Police Department Academy. Sherman became a method reserve serviceman for the LAPD and a reserve lawman sheriff for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

Bobby Sherman performs successful Beverly Hills successful 2015.

(Jason Kempin / Getty Images)

He published a memoir, “Still Remembering You,” successful 1996 and toured successful 1998 with Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits and the Monkees’ Davy Jones.

In 1993, helium told The Times astir a caller ride-along he’d been connected with occurrence section medics arsenic they responded to a telephone successful Northridge. “We were moving connected a hemorrhaging pistillate who had passed out,” Sherman said. “Her hubby kept staring astatine me. Finally helium said, ‘Look, honey, it’s Bobby Sherman!’” The pistillate came to, Sherman recalled, and “said, ‘Oh great, I indispensable look a mess!’ I told her not to worry, she looked fine.”

Wife Brigitte wrote connected Tuesday that arsenic Bobby rested, she “read him instrumentality letters from each implicit the satellite — words of emotion and gratitude that lifted his spirits and reminded him of however profoundly helium was cherished. He soaked up each connection with that acquainted sparkle successful his eye. And yes, helium inactive recovered clip to ace well-timed jokes — Bobby had a wonderful, wicked consciousness of humor. It ne'er near him. He could airy up a country with a look, a quip, oregon 1 of his classic, one-liners.

She added, “He lived with integrity, gave without hesitation, and loved with his full heart. And though our household feels his nonaccomplishment profoundly, we besides consciousness the warmth of his bequest — his voice, his laughter, his music, his mission. Thank you to each instrumentality who ever sang along, who ever wrote a letter, who ever sent emotion his way. He felt it.”

In summation to his wife, Sherman is survived by sons Tyler and Christopher and six grandchildren.