And when we meet, it's a good sensation.
The DeFranco Family was an Italian-Canadian Bubblegum Band of Relatives from the mid-1970s, best known for their hit, "Heartbeat, It's a Lovebeat".
The DeFranco Family band consisted of five siblings: guitarist Benny, keyboardist Marisa, guitarist Nino, drummer Merlina, and lead singer Tony. They were discovered by the editor of Tiger Beat, a popular teen magazine of the day, who arranged for them to fly to Hollywood for an audition. Family quintet bands were hot at the time, with The Jackson 5 and The Osmonds being at their peaks of popularity; in addition, as a Canadian band, they gained a lot of airplay from the new Canadian content rules for Canadian radio.
Their first single, "Heartbeat, It's a Lovebeat", reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1973, when Benny was 19 and Tony was only 13. They were popular Teen Idols of the day, especially youngest sibling Tony. Tony (and, to a lesser extent, the rest of the siblings) were commonly shown in Tiger Beat and similar teen magazines. They also showed up frequently on shows like American Bandstand and Dinah!.
Their star came down as quickly as it had risen, as Tony's voice changed and family quintets were replaced on the charts by Disco. They ceased performing in 1978, except for a reunion concert in 2000.
Tropes found in the DeFranco Family's works include:
- Band of Relatives: Five siblings, born from 1953 to 1959.
- Child Popstar: Three of the band members were under 18 when they had their first hit; Tony was only 13.
- Cover Version: Their third and final hit was a cover of "Save the Last Dance for Me", which was also the title track of their second album. It peaked at #18 on the Hot 100.
- Silly Love Songs: Their hits all fall into this category, being about teen love.
- Spotlight-Stealing Title: The band's music was all released as "The DeFranco Family, Featuring Tony DeFranco". The cover of their first album is a picture of Tony taking up almost the entire cover, with a smaller picture of the five siblings at bottom center.
- Teen Idol: Tony especially was a frequent subject of teen magazines of the day.
- Teen Pop: Their songs land quite solidly in this genre as it existed at the time, focusing largely on teen relationships.
