50s rock star idolized by Mick Jagger ᴅᴇᴀᴅ at 89 after cancer battle

Music artist Freddy ‘Boom Boom’ Cannon, whose career took off in the late 50s, has died at age 80.

The rock and roll singer known for songs including Tallahᴀssee Lᴀssie and Palisades Park pᴀssed away on Friday after a short battle with cancer.

News of his death was revealed by his friend and iHeart Radio producer Tom Cuddy. 

According to a report from ᴅᴇᴀᴅline, the late singer’s kids Conny Weber and Billy Cannon spent his finals days with him in hospice in California.

Cannon’s rise to prominence was sandwiched between the heyday of Elvis Presley and before the Beatles phenomenon.

He often appeared on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand music series, where he performed his high-energy hits.

Music artist Freddy ‘Boom Boom’ Cannon, whose career took off in the late 50s, has died at age 80; pictured in 1959

The rock and roll singer known for songs including Tallahᴀssee Lᴀssie and Palisades Park pᴀssed away on Friday after a short battle with cancer; pictured in 2018

Cuddy remembered Cannon as a singer who ‘didn’t do ballads.’ 

‘I had never seen a performer who kept his performance so upbeat and fun,’ he recalled, adding, ‘Dick Clark once told me that every time he hosted an oldies concert, he asked Freddy to open it, because he knew Freddy would get the audience on their feet with up-tempo rock ‘n’ roll.’

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Cannon gained the respect and admiration of other musical acts including Mick Jagger and Led Zeppelin.

Jagger has credited the singer-songwriter’s song Tallahᴀssee Lᴀssie with inspiring The Rolling Stones’s 1971 song Brown Sugar.

Meanwhile, author Stephen King referenced Cannon in no less than four of his books.  

Cannon was born Frederick Anthony Picariello Jr. on December 4, 1936.

He was born in Lynn, Mᴀssachusetts, and lived in the state into his teen years.

The star relocated to Philadelphia at the urging of Clark, who suggested edits to Tallahᴀssee Lᴀssie, which later peaked at number 6 on Billboard’s H๏τ 100 in 1959, and at number 13 on the R&B chart.

Cannon’s rise to prominence was sandwiched between the heyday of Elvis Presley and before the Beatles phenomenon; pictured in 1973

He often appeared on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand music series, where he performed his high-energy hits

Cannon pictured in 2002

Cannon’s autobiography Where the Action Is was published in 2011.

He married his high school sweetheart Jeanette, and in addition to the aforementioned Conny and Billy, the couple shared a son named John.

John died in April 2026, and Jeanette previously died in 2024. 

Along with his two living children, the entertainer is survived by his sister Mary Lou, son-in-law Jim, daughter-in-law Beth, five grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. 

Weber said in a statement on behalf of the family, ‘We would like to thank everyone for their love and support throughout our dad’s life. 

‘He will be remembered as a rock and roll icon. His music will live forever in our hearts.’