Despite his father’s wishes for him to pursue higher education, Ricky was already earning more than most adults by his late teens. By seventeen, his appearance on the family’s show performing “I’m Walking” launched him as a recording star. The single soared to number four on the Billboard Best Sellers list, cementing his place in music. From there, his career blossomed with hits like Poor Little Fool, Travelin’ Man, Fools Rush In, and Garden Party.

In 1963, he married Kristin Harmon, a Hollywood native and family friend. Together, they had four children: Sam, twins Matthew and Gunnar, and daughter Tracy. Throughout the 1960s, Ricky’s career in the burgeoning rock and roll scene thrived, and he toured widely, despite a well-known fear of flying that