 Cover of the first issue of 16 May 1957 | |
| Editor-in-Chief | Gloria Stavers |
|---|---|
| Categories | Teen magazine |
| Frequency | Quarterly, monthly |
| Publisher | 16 Magazines, Inc. |
| Founded | 1956 |
| First issue | May 1957 |
| Final issue | 2001 |
| Country | USA |
| Based in | New York City |
| Language | English |
16 was a fan magazine published in New York City.
Founded in 1956, the first issue of 16 hit the newsstands in May 1957, with Elvis Presley on the cover. [1]
Its longtime editor-in-chief, former fashion model and subscriptions clerk Gloria Stavers, transformed 16 from a standard general-interest movie magazine into a major fan magazine focused on the preteen female as its primary reader base. Stavers was editor from 1958 until 1975. [2] She chose to cater to that particular demographic because of the many fan letters she had read from girls aged nine through 12 writing to popular celebrities in care of the magazine, and she remembered how she felt at that age [3] and developed a formula to increase readership in that demographic.
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16's covers attracted readers by featuring sensational and hyperbole-laden headlines such as "The Day He Almost DIED!", head shots of various male entertainers, and very whimsical artwork. Although the articles were printed on newsprint, 16 featured colorful, glossy pin-up poster art.
Until the 1970s, most of the pin-ups of the celebrities were kept clean-cut, but 16 began to increasingly sexualize the posters they featured, in keeping with the more permissive times. 16 magazine also often offered contests that would award the winner an opportunity to meet with their favorite performer.
Most of the articles and features tended to lean on the lighter side. Rather than asking the artist serious questions about musical influences and social issues, it would offer the readers interviews asking a celebrity about his favorite color or meal, or would have him describe his "ideal girl" or dream date. [4] If he was married, in a long-term relationship, or not heterosexual in orientation, that information was kept out of the magazine, as was any news about the celebrity that even hinted at scandal.
Stavers also attempted to expand the perception of teen idols by featuring such unlikely candidates as Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy and shock rock pioneer Alice Cooper.
In 1997, in honor of its 40th year of publication, former 16 magazine editors Randi Reisfeld and music critic Danny Fields published the commemorative book "Who's Your Fave Rave?", a retrospective of 16 and a biography of its long-time editor styled to resemble an issue of the magazine. There was also an accompanying CD of the same name, featuring many of the pop acts promoted in the magazine throughout the years.
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Despite the lack of serious journalistic content and fierce competition from Tiger Beat and other celebrity magazines, 16 remained the top-selling teen celebrity magazine for many years.
For at least 30 years of its publication, 16 magazine was entirely self-supporting. In 2001, 16 became part of Primedia's Teen Magazines groups and is considered a monthly "specials" issue focusing on a specific topic or act.
Despite this, no regular or special issue of 16 magazine was seen or published since, including online. By this time, newer teen magazines had taken over, such as J14, M Magazine, Popstar! Magazine, and the resurrected Tiger Beat.
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In the 1950s, some of the teen idols featured in the pages of 16 magazine included Elvis Presley, Paul Anka, Dion, and Mousketeer Annette Funicello.
During the 1960s, 16 magazine introduced its readers to a variety of rock and roll/pop music acts, referred to by the editor and readers as "Faves". Some of those acts include The Beatles, Herman's Hermits, Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Monkees, The Cowsills, Jim Morrison, and The Doors. The appearance of the "faves" was highly selective. Some acts such as The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys received very little coverage in comparison to other bands, and many of the popular Motown acts were virtually ignored.
In the 1970s, 16 began focusing primarily on bubblegum and pop acts, such as the Osmond Brothers (with particular emphasis on Donny Osmond), David Cassidy, Bobby Sherman, The Bay City Rollers, Rick Springfield, Jack Wild, Kiss and others. Female celebrities rarely appeared on its covers, but from time to time, a female star such as Susan Dey, Peggy Lipton, Maureen McCormick, or Karen Carpenter might write the occasional beauty or dating advice column.
During the 1980s and well into the 1990s, 16 continued to serve up one "boy band" after another, from new wave artists like Duran Duran to N'Sync. However, Destiny's Child broke the racial and gender barrier when they appeared on the cover.
Elvis Aaron Presley, also known mononymously as Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Known as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Presley's energized interpretations of songs and sexually provocative performance style, combined with a singularly potent mix of influences across color lines during a transformative era in race relations, brought both great success and initial controversy.
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm and blues, boogie-woogie, electric blues, gospel, jump blues, as well as country music. While rock and roll's formative elements can be heard in blues records from the 1920s and in country records of the 1930s, the genre did not acquire its name until 1954.
A teen idol is a celebrity with a large teenage fan base. Teen idols are generally young but are not necessarily teenagers themselves. An idol's popularity may be limited to teens, or may extend to all age groups.
New Musical Express (NME) is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a free publication, before becoming an online brand which includes its website and radio stations.
Sir Thomas Hicks, known professionally as Tommy Steele, is an English entertainer, regarded as Britain's first teen idol and rock and roll star.
A cover band is a band that plays songs recorded by someone else, sometimes mimicking the original as accurately as possible, and sometimes re-interpreting or changing the original. These remade songs are known as cover songs. New or unknown bands often find the format marketable for smaller venues, such as pubs, clubs or parks. The bands also perform at private events, for example, weddings and birthday parties, and may be known as a wedding band, party band, function band or band-for-hire. A band whose covers consist mainly of songs that were chart hits is often called a top 40 band. Some bands, however, start as cover bands, then grow to perform original material. For example, the Rolling Stones released three albums consisting primarily of covers and then recorded one with their own original material.
Teen pop is a subgenre of pop music that is created, marketed and oriented towards preteens and teenagers. Teen pop incorporates different subgenres of pop music, as well as elements of R&B, dance, electronic, hip hop and rock, while the music of girl groups, boy bands, and acts like Britney Spears, NSYNC, Backstreet Boys are sometimes referred to as pure pop. Typical characteristics of teen pop music include Auto-Tuned or pitch-corrected vocals, choreographed dances, emphasis on visual appeal, lyrics focused on love, relationships, dancing, partying, friendship, puppy love and repeated chorus lines. Its lyrics also incorporate sexual innuendo. Teen pop singers often cultivate an image of a girl next door/boy next door.
The Osmonds were an American family music group who reached the height of their fame in the early to mid-1970s. The group had its best-known configurations as a quartet and a quintet. The group has consisted of siblings who are all members of a family of musicians from Ogden, Utah, and have been in the public eye since the 1960s.
Mojo is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom, initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title that would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music. The magazine was designed to appeal to the 30 to 45-plus age group, or the baby boomer generation. Mojo was first published on 15 October 1993. In keeping with its classic rock aesthetic, the first issue had Bob Dylan and John Lennon as its first cover stars. Noted for its in-depth coverage of both popular and cult acts, it acted as the inspiration for Blender and Uncut. Many noted music critics have written for it, including Charles Shaar Murray, Greil Marcus, Nick Kent, David Fricke, Jon Savage and Mick Wall. The launch editor of Mojo was Paul Du Noyer and his successors have included Mat Snow, Paul Trynka, Pat Gilbert and Phil Alexander. The current editor is John Mulvey.
Sugar was a British magazine for teenage girls published by Hachette Filipacchi. Its content focused on boys, fashion, celebrities, real-life stories about teenagers and other similar matters. The editor, when it closed in 2011, was Annabel Brog. The brand lived on until 2016 through the website sugarscape.com. Aimed at females 16–24, it was edited by Kate Lucey.
Ben Is Dead was a Los Angeles–based zine published from 1988 through 1999. Its creator, Deborah "Darby" Romeo, got its name from a dream she had about her husband Ben, a Frenchman she divorced not long into the magazine's run. Romeo would later write that during the magazine's early days Ben found the title amusing, and would introduce himself to people as "Ben, from Ben is Dead."
"Love Letters" is a 1945 popular song with lyrics by Edward Heyman and music by Victor Young. The song appeared, without lyrics, in the movie of the same name performed by Dick Haymes, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1945 but lost out to "It Might as Well Be Spring". The song has been covered by a number of artists, most notably by Nat King Cole (1957), Ketty Lester (1962), Elvis Presley (1966), and Alison Moyet (1987).
Gloria Stavers was the editor in chief of 16 Magazine. Her personality gave this teen celebrity magazine its stamp for many years. Stavers is credited with being one of the first women rock-and-roll journalists, but male editors, detractors and those who scoffed at teen or celebrity magazines sometimes called her "Mother Superior of the Inferior".
Look-in was a children's magazine centred on ITV's television programmes in the United Kingdom, and subtitled "The Junior TVTimes". It ran from 9 January 1971 to 12 March 1994. Briefly in 1985 a BBC-based rival appeared called BEEB; another was launched in 1989, Fast Forward, which went on to outsell Look-in.
Elvis Is Back! is the fourth studio album by American singer Elvis Presley, released on April 8, 1960 by RCA Victor. It was Presley's first album of new material since 1958's King Creole soundtrack, as well as his first to be recorded and released in stereophonic sound. The album marked Presley's return to music after his discharge from the U.S. Army.
Elvis Herselvis is the stage name of the American actor and singer Leigh Crow, whose rise to international exposure was performing as a female Elvis Presley impersonator. Crow still performs as Elvis Herselvis on occasion as well as sings, acts and performs regularly; including performing with the all female rockabilly band called The Mighty Slim Pickins.
Welcome Home Elvis is a 1960 television special on the ABC Television Network starring Frank Sinatra and featuring Elvis Presley in his first televised appearance following his military service in West Germany. The special, commonly known as Welcome Home Elvis, was officially titled It's Nice to Go Traveling, a reference to the Sinatra song "It's Nice to Go Trav'ling". This was Presley's first TV appearance in three years. This was also Frank Sinatra's fourth and final Timex sponsored outing for the 1959–60 television season.
Bravo is the largest teen magazine within the German-language sphere. The first issue was published in 1956.
May Mann, born May Vasta Randall, was a Hollywood columnist and freelance writer. She wrote a syndicated column about Hollywood gossip and wrote articles on celebrities for fan magazines. Her "Going Hollywood" column was syndicated to 400 newspapers, and contributed to movie magazines Movie Mirror, Silver Screen, Movie Teen, Screenland, and Photoplay. Her columns often featured photos of herself with the celebrity she profiled. She befriended several celebrities like Marilyn Monroe and wrote books about Elvis Presley, Clark Gable, and Jayne Mansfield. She was known as "Hollywood Date Girl" since she wrote about parties that she attended with Hollywood celebrities.
TeenSet was an American music and fan magazine published by Capitol Records. Beginning in 1964 as a free album insert for fans of the Beach Boys, the magazine was sold separately in 1965 and it grew in popularity. It was introduced as a vehicle to promote the Beach Boys and other Capitol artists, but in the hands of editor Judith Sims, the magazine broke new ground, rising above its fan club origin. Quickly establishing itself as the gateway to the inner circle of the Beatles at the height of Beatlemania, TeenSet parlayed this trust to introduce their readers to new artists, in the process greatly increasing the visibility of Buffalo Springfield, the Doors, Janis Joplin and the Mothers of Invention. The magazine benefited from articles by music critic Sue Cameron, London correspondent Carol Gold, psychedelic maverick Robert Shea, and photographs from Jim Marshall and Michael Ochs. It began as an early teen girls' magazine but by 1968 was shifting to focus on late teen girls and young women in their early twenties.
