I’m talking about JUSTIN BIEBER’S HAIR, people! Have you seen it? OMG. Now, he looks like he’s 17 instead of 7. What on earth ever shall we do?
Well, I am here to advise the “Tween” girls of today. Ladies, I’ve been there, and I know what you’re going through. This, too, shall pass. Trust me.
Way back in 1976, during a whole 'nother millennium, when I was your age, there was a total fox named “Tony DeFranco.” And you know what? He was from Canada! Ontario! His whole family was musical, too. AND … this boy loved hockey, could dance and had the face and voice of an angel. But, more importantly, he had the HAIR of an angel.
Tony and his brothers and sisters, the DeFranco Family, burst onto the scene when they were discovered by Tiger Beat magazine. Yes! Tiger Beat magazine in Hollywood. We had it in the old days, too, believe it or not. So, when Tony was only 13, he had a huge hit with a dreamy song called, “Heartbeat, It’s a Lovebeat.”
I was 10, and I was in love with a capital “L.” I slept, dreampt, ate and breathed Tony DeFranco. I even had my hair done like his beautiful wavy brown 'do for my big brother Bob’s wedding. I was also an Official Tiger Beat DeFranco Family Area Promoter for Peoria, Ill. -- meaning, the next time they performed in Peoria, I would get to meet Tony and the rest of the family backstage!!!
Then, suddenly, in the spring of 1976, as Tony’s 17th birthday approached, the story broke in Tiger Beat. See, back in those days, we didn’t have the Internet, Facebook, My Space, Twitter, IPods, cell phones, video games or even cable television, let alone entire TV networks full of shows aimed at girls my age! Yes … that is hard to wrap your brain around, but please try, and listen.
So, anyway … My April issue of Tiger Beat came in the mail. I subscribed, of course. What’s that? Well, the magazines were much like those you buy at Wal-Mart now-a-days, but instead of looking at them on your world wide web, we had to either buy them at stores or, with a $7.95 check from your mom, you’d get a whole year’s worth, PLUS a book called “Tony’s Secret Photo Album!” OMG.
I opened the magazine, and there it was … Tony with CURLY hair. I mean, what we called “an afro.” Yep. I closed that Tiger Beat in a hurry until I had a minute to think.
The story was, Tony had gone swimming with his family in the ocean, and he let his hair “air dry.” See, till this point, Tony had always very carefully blown his hair dry with an old-fashioned, hand-held dryer and, I imagine, a round “straightening” brush.
Well, this led to months and months of internal debate for me. I consulted my Mom. “He’s a cute boy,” she said. She found it safe to ride the fence.
I showed my Dad side by side pictures to get his opinion. “Shhhh!” he said. “The weather’s on!”
I asked my big brother, Mike, while he was fixing his bike in the driveway. “Who cares?” he said. “He’s fat, and he looks like a girl either way.”
No help there. I consulted my closest girlfriends, but alas, they were with the opposite camp --- Donny Osmond and his brothers. Every Tiger Beat reader knew we would never see eye-to-eye on that particular issue. My 57 DeFranco pen-pals were split pretty much down the middle.
That’s when it hit me! This was Tony DeFranco we were talking about! MY Tony. My future husband. Who cared how he wanted to wear his hair? By the time Tony’s 17th birthday rolled around at the end of that August, I had accepted Tony just the way he was, curly Canadian white-boy afro and all.
And you know what, girls? Tony and his family never had another record as big as “Heartbeat” after that. We watched him lose to Donny, and we took it with our chins in the air and our shoulders held high.
You know what Tony’s doing today? He’s a very happy family man, a very successful real estate agent in California, and guess what? He’s still a total fox!
So … see? Nothing to worry about!
www.tonydefranco.com
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