Teen Life - September 1970

Bobby - The Kisses He Gives Away!

Do you want to get one?  For the first time, Bobby tells how...plus the way he feels about this very important topic!

Some kisses are once-in-a-lifetime things.  Like your first kiss, the kisses you exchange on your wedding day and those other special-occasion kisses.  Well, Bobby Sherman's had his share of kisses like that, and he'll treasure them forever.  But Bobby's enjoyed lots of other kisses too - so many that it seems as if he just gives them away!

But just because Bobby's given so many kisses to so many different girls doesn't mean he takes them lightly.  Far from it!  Bobby never kisses a girl just for the fun of it.  Every kiss Bobby gives means something very special to him - and to the girl he kisses.

Believe it or not, though, kissing doesn't come easily to Bobby.  He's always been a warm, loving person, but when he was younger, Bobby was painfully shy.  He was so shy, in fact, that when he used to go along with his father to help deliver milk for the company Mr. Sherman worked for, he'd "keep the bottles quiet so people wouldn't come out" and he wouldn't have to talk to them.

Needless to say, Bobby didn't find it easy to talk to girls either, much less ask one for a date.  And as for actually kissing a girl - well, that was beyond Bobby's wildest dreams!

Although Bobby spent a lot of lonely hours during his high school years, he didn't just sit around thinking about how unhappy he was.  Instead he began developing his many talents in ways that really paid off later.

Bobby's always loved music.  He learned to play his first instrument, the trumpet, at the age of eight, and when he was thirteen he started playing drums.  And during those dateless, kissless times, Bobby spent hours practicing many other instruments, including French horn, trombone, bass guitar, harmonicas and piano.  Even now Bobby still tries to find time to practice his instruments as often as he can.

Bobby started developing his natural singing voice too.  And at an early age he even began learning how to make his own records.  He did some "fooling around" with television and movies too, making several short films and experimenting with photographic techniques.  And he set up his own television monitor so he could watch himself working.

All this hard work eventually led Bobby to a fantastic singing and acting career, as you know.  But that's not all it did.  It also helped him overcome his shyness and begin dating girls.  Today, those years of shyness and loneliness seem far away to Bobby.  Now he's not afraid to meet and become friends with people.  And he's gotten to know and love a lot of girls.

And a wonderful thing's happened to Bobby that he never dreamed would.  When he really cares about someone, he's able to show his affection - with a kiss.

For Bobby, no kiss is just like another, any more than one girl is like someone else.   Every kiss is something special, something unique.  So in one day, Bobby may give many different kinds of kisses.

If Bobby sees a girl do something kind and helpful to another person, he wants to do something more than just say, "That was a nice thing to do."  So he may give her a gentle kiss on the cheek that  says, "You're wonderful," better than any words.

A girl may say something funny to Bobby that's more than just a good joke.  She may say something that Bobby knows is really true and that he never thought of before.   Just laughing or smiling isn't enough.  So Bobby gives her a kiss right on the tip of her nose!

Fans often wait hours just for one glimpse of Bobby.  And Bobby's very touched by their love and wishes he had hours to spend getting to know every one of them.  But though that isn't possible, Bobby still wants to show them how much he cares.  And what better way than with a kiss?  He may not actually go around kissing dozens of girls on the hair, the forehead, lips or hands every second, but he does pretty well over-all.  No one thinks her kiss doesn't matter just because Bobby's kissing other girls though.  A girl this lucky knows that when Bobby kisses her, he's telling her something very special, something for her alone.  He's showing her that she's an important part of his life, and that he hopes he's part of hers.

Yes, Bobby does give away lots of kisses to lots of girls.  But a kiss from Bobby isn't just a meaningless gesture.  It's a precious gift - a part of his heart.