She was an involuntary pop star

Shelley Fabares fit neatly into many eras.
In a time of gentle comedies, she was the “Donna Reed Show” daughter. In an age of rock stars, she played the love interest of everyone — Elvis (three times!), Fabian, Peter Noone (of Herman’s Hermits), even Hank Williams Jr.
In better times, Fabares — who died Saturday (Aug. 22) at 82 — played a strong-willed TV newswoman on “Coach” and a villainous sort on “One Day at a Time.” She was a producer on 14 Screen Actors Guild award shows and shared the passionate human-rights causes of her husband, Mike Farrell.
But there was one quirky blip I wanted to mention here: In the anyone-can-do-it era, Fabares was a pop star … sort of against her will.
Drift far enough into the oldies and you’ll find songs by Troy Donahue, Edd “Kookie” Byrnes, Paul Peterson (who played Fabares’ brother on the Reed show), Annette Funicello (Fabares’ long-time friend) and more. They didn’t really have singing voices … but then again, neither did Fabian or Lesley Gore or others at the top of the charts.
As Fabares told me the story, she was informed that she was going to cut a record. “I told them I couldn’t sing. They said, ‘No, you don’t understand: You’re GOING TO make a record.”
They chose “Johnny Angel,” a song that had gone nowhere in two previous versions. Now it had recording-studio wizardry — Donna Love and the Blossoms singing back-up, Glenn Campbell on guitar, lots of echo chambers.
The result was, actually, quite gorgeous. It was No. 1 in the U.S., Canada and New Zealand and sold a million records.
Fabares would record five albums and a string of singles. Two more — “Johnny Loves Me” and “The Things We Did Last Summer” — reached the charts, but many others chronicled teen angst.
There was “Football Season’s Over,” “I’m Growing Up,” “Lost Summer Love” and “Boy of My Own,” plus remakes of “Johnny Get Angry” and “Breaking Up is Hard to Do.”
There was “Ronnie Call Me When You Get a Chance” and “Telephone (Won’t You Ring?).”
It was another era. Then Shelley Fabares went on to bigger and better things.