Abbott Vaughn Meader (March 20, 1936–October 29, 2004) was an American comedian whose meteoric rise to fame with his The First Family spoof of President John F. Kennedy equalled his meteoric crash into obscurity with Kennedy's assassination in 1963. Meader, a native of Maine, was a singer and piano player who started including Kennedy impersonations in his act. With his New England accent naturally close to the Kennedy's familiar and often-parodied Massachusetts/Harvard accent, he needed to adjust his voice only slightly to sound exactly like his target; Meader also had the advantage of looking much like Kennedy.

Meader was born in Waterville, Maine, during one of the worst floods ever to hit New England. He often said that he was born on "the night the West Bridge washed out." He went into the army directly out of Brooklyn High School in Boston, ending up posted in Germany and marrying a German woman. While in the army, he joined a GI band. After the army, he began a stand-up comedy act in New York City, where his skill at impersonating Kennedy was discovered and he was signed up to do The First Family album.

He recorded the first The First Family album on October 22, 1962, and it became the fastest-selling record in America of all time. By Christmas it had sold a million copies and by the following year had sold an astonishing 7.5 million copies, unprecedented for any album, let alone a comedy album. In his 20s, he was suddenly famous, rich, and in constant demand for appearances. He was profiled in Time and Life magazines, appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, and played to packed houses in Las Vegas.

At the time, most Americans could quote favorite lines from the album, including "The rubber schwan (swan)...is mine," and "Move ahead with vigah (vigor)," the latter a teasing reuse of the President's own line. The parody wasn't biting; instead, it seemed like good-natured teasing from an entertaining friend. Even Kennedy gave copies of the albums as Christmas gifts and once greeted a Democratic National Committee group by saying, "Vaughn Meader was busy tonight, so I came myself." It poked fun at Kennedy's PT 109 history, the rocking chairs that he frequently sat in for his aching back, the Kennedy clan's well-known athleticism, football games, and family togetherness, children in the White House, and Jackie Kennedy's soft-spoken culture and redecoration of the White House, among many other bits of knowledge that the public consumed voraciously.

However, Meader also discovered that he was typecast as a Kennedy impersonator and could find no one willing to hire him for any of his other talents. He recorded a comedy album for Verve Records including sketches on almost anything except the Kennedys; recording finished in early November of 1963.

The First Family album won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1963. Meader followed it in March of 1963 with the First Family 2 album, a combination of spoken comedy and comedic songs sung by alleged members of the President's family and White House staff. However, after Kennedy's assassination in November of 1963, album sales plummeted and stores removed the album from their shelves as the nation went into mourning. Meader and others commented through the years that Oswald's bullet killed not only Kennedy but also Meader (or Meader's career). His act was no longer in demand and even booked appearances—including those for the Grammy Awards show, the Joey Bishop show, and To Tell the Truth—were canceled.

Meader sank into depression as his source of income and employment vanished and as his new-found famous friends and associates stopped calling. His non-Kennedy album and act interested no one because the public associated his face and voice with the late President. He began using his first name, Abbott, rather than his middle name, and vowed never again to do a Kennedy impersonation, a vow that he followed until his death. He said that he began drowning his sorrows in alcohol, cocaine, and heroin.

He tried several times to revive his career, but mostly succeeded only outside show business. He appeared briefly in the 1974 movie Linda Lovelace for President and on the Rich Little comedy album The First Family Rides Again that both parodied Ronald Reagan and paid homage to the original The First Family album.

Eventually he restarted a career in bluegrass and country music, becoming a popular local performer in his native Maine. Meader was married four times, the last for 16 years until his death to his wife Sheila. The couple lived briefly in Gulfport, Florida from 1999 to 2002 but eventually returned to Maine.

External links

• Comedy Stars site biography
• Geocities biography
• Amazon.com album with audio excerpts from a few of the routines