NAMES IN THE NEWS : Funicello Calls Singing ‘Fluke’

Annette Funicello, America’s most-famous Mouseketeer and star of a bevy of beach party movies, said today she was never comfortable singing despite a successful recording career.

Funicello, 46, and five other original Mouseketeers were at Walt Disney World’s MGM Studios this week, shooting an anniversary show. The Mickey Mouse Club, which was resurrected in April, 1989, on the Disney Channel, celebrates its first anniversary next month.

Funicello joined the show at age 12 in 1955 and went on to star in nine movies, six of them beach movies.

During the height of her movie career in the 1960s, she had a series of recording hits, including “How Will I Know My Love,” “First Name Initial” and “Pineapple Princess.”