You also have to look at it from the pov that it's really rather pathetic to see some guy way past his prime trying to do what he was doing way back when. Even if you want to, your manager may tell you not to bother and start giving you new material designed to get a new audience because you'll never regain that old audience.

Also, rocknroll was having a hard time surviving in America even by 1958. Everybody was going for Fabian and Pat Boone like that. The true rockers like Gene and Eddie and Buddy were already finding themselves crowded out by these whitewashed, pale imitators. Black rockers were just being ripped-off by watered down white artists who were making a killing off the black artist's material. As an example, listen The Chords' version of "Sh-Boom" and compare it to the one by The Crewcuts. Actually, you can't. There is no comparison. And, heck, Pat Boone's still doing it.

At least in Britain, the rreal rockers could continue their careers. And the British never forgot them. We did.