Return to Rock-and-Roll Page.Tab Hunter has met with success as an athlete, an actor and a singer. He had several top forty songs in the late 50's including one that was a solid #1 hit.
His name at birth in New York City in 1931 was either Arthur Gelien or Arthur Kelm, according to different sources. While growing up he worked very hard at ice-skating and was a champion skater. He later joined the Coast Guard.
In 1952 he turned his attention to acting, both on television and in movies. His singing career began in 1957 and his first hit was by far his biggest. Young Love on the Dot label entered the charts on January 19, 1957 and pushed its way to the #1 position, replacing a version of the same song by Sonny James (there was also another version of it that year by the Crew Cuts). Through a contractual agreement between the Dot label and Warner Brothers, Young Love served to launch Warner Brothers Records, according to Hunter. It remained at #1 for six weeks and helped to establish the artist, who had taken the stage name of Tab Hunter, as a star. He became a teen idol, and his version of Young Love also topped the charts in the United Kingdom.
Tab Hunter put six more records in the top 100 between 1957 and 1959, the most successful of which were Ninety-Nine Ways and (I'll Be With You In) Apple Blossom Time. He continued to make movies, most notably Damn Yankees in which he did well with an excellent cast that included Ray Walston and Gwen Verdon. Tab Hunter had a television series of his own in 1960 and made some B movies. He appeared in Ride The Wild Surf and Lust In The Dust.
In 1972 he made a comeback in the movie The Life And Times Of Judge Roy Bean with Paul Newman. The following year, singer Donny Osmond resurrected Young Love and it returned to the top forty.
In the Fall of 2005 Tab Hunter issued his autobiography Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star, which he co-authored with Eddie Muller. Hunter made a multi-city tour to promote the book. He continues to pursue his passion for horses.
Tab Hunter's place in the entertainment world is best marked by his role in Damn Yankees and his #1 song from early 1957, Young Love. There is no denying the enormous success of his recording of Young Love, and he did quite well as a singer on his subsequent recordings.
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