Career
Born Edward Reardon in Springfield, Massachusetts, Fontaine signed as a vocalist with Radio Corporation of America in 1954 after serving in the United States Navy. In 1955 he appeared at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater in disc jockey Alan Freed"s first rock and roll show. He also sang in the Jayne Mansfield movie The Girl Can"t Help lieutenant (1956).
Musically he is best remembered for his 1958 single "Nothin" Shakin" (But the Leaves on the Trees)", which was later covered by The Beatles.
He is listed as a "legend" but not an inductee at the Rockabilly Hall of Fame site. Fontaine moved to Van Nuys, California, in the 1960s after singing in night clubs in pre-Castro Cuba.
He landed a role in the World World War II series The Gallant Men, where he played ladies" man PFC Pete Doctorate"Angelo and occasionally sang. In 1984 Fontaine was tried and convicted in a murder-for-hire case.
Fontaine served four years in a California prison.
He had previously been convicted of child molestation and grand larceny. Fontaine appealed his murder-for-hire conviction based on the trial judge"s rulings concerning these earlier offenses. He made his last television appearance in the series Sisters in 1991 and died of throat cancer the following year at age 65.