Movie star Darrell Howe had already appeared in “Young Scarface,” “The Men of Annapolis” and “West Point Story.” when he recorded “Gonna Go Round” b/w “I Made a Wish” for Jamie (Jamie 1136) on September 22, 1959. He appeared on American Bandstand on October 3, 1959 to perform it for a national audience. His singing career started with an audition for an acting part. He was good enough to win the part of the lead, Swivel Hips Jackson, in The Teenage Idol, even though in the audition he sang the only song he knew at that time. It was “Hucklebuck,” which was never released but Jamie found a copy of a vocal of "Hucklebuck" in the archive, which is releasing for the first time on this site.
Darrell Howe was already signed to Jamie and his recording session scheduled when he got a call from his agent. Darrell Howe was urgently needed to fill in for the starring role of the psychopath in Young Scarface. The Young Scarface producer, Boris Petroff, liked the songs Darrell recorded for Jamie while the film was in postproduction and wanted to include them in the movie. As a result, both “Gonna Go Round” and “I Make a Wish” bear the legend, “From the Motion Picture, ‘Young Scarface.’”
An energetic and ambitious Southern Californian who was born in Los Angeles on August 10, 1936, he grew up in Palm Springs, California, where he was co-captain of the Palm Springs High School football team and captain of the tennis team, while also swimming the 100-meter for the school. He took acting lessons with “Have Gun, Will Travel” star Richard Boone.
