Editing Frankie Lymon (section)

===1966–68: Later years===
Over the next four years, Lymon struggled through short-lived deals with [[20th Century Fox Records]] and [[Columbia Records]]. He began a relationship with Elizabeth Mickey Waters, who became his first wife in January 1964 and gave birth to his only child, a baby girl named Francine who died two days after birth at Lenox Hill Hospital.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LcIDAAAAMBAJ&q=Frankie+Lymon+and+child+Jet+1963&pg=PA63 |title= New York Beat |date=September 17, 2011 |work= Jet Magazine |publisher= Johnson Publishing Co.}}</ref> Lymon's marriage to Waters was not legal because she was still married to her first husband at the time. After the marriage failed, Lymon moved to [[Los Angeles]] in the mid-1960s, where he began a romantic relationship with [[Zola Taylor]], a member of the Platters. Taylor claimed to have married Lymon in [[Mexico]] in 1965<ref name="ebony">{{Cite magazine|last=Bennett Kinnon|first=Joy |date=December 1998|title=The Real Story of ''Why Do Fools Fall In Love''|magazine=Ebony|volume=54|issue=2|pages=70|issn=0012-9011|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jXsbJEgguzIC&q=frankie+lymon+heroin&pg=PA68}}</ref> although their relationship ended several months later, purportedly because of Lymon's drug habits. However, Lymon had been known to say that their marriage was a publicity stunt, and Taylor could produce no legal documentation of their marriage. In Major Robinson's gossip column of June 6, 1966, Zola said the whole thing was a joke that she went along with at the time (October 1965).<ref>Robinson, Major (June 6, 1966) ''The Pittsburgh Courier''</ref>

Lymon appeared at the Apollo as part of a revue, adding an extended tap dance number. He recorded several live performances (such as "Melinda" in 1959), but none rose on the charts. Lymon's final television performance was on ''[[Hollywood a Go-Go]]'' in 1965, where he [[lip-synch]]ed to the recording of his 13-year-old self singing "Why Do Fools Fall in Love". On June 21, 1966, Lymon was arrested on a heroin charge and was drafted into the [[United States Army]] in lieu of a jail sentence.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://history-of-rock.com/lymon.htm|title=Frankie Lymon|website=History-of-rock.com}}</ref> He reported to [[Fort Gordon, Georgia]], near [[Augusta, Georgia]], for training.{{Citation needed|date=September 2010}} While in the Augusta area, Lymon met and fell in love with Emira Eagle, a schoolteacher at Hornsby Elementary in Augusta. The two were wed in June 1967, and Lymon repeatedly went [[AWOL]] to secure gigs at small Southern clubs. [[dishonorable discharge|Dishonorably discharged]] from the Army,{{Citation needed|date=September 2010}} Lymon moved into his wife's home and continued to perform sporadically. Traveling to New York in 1968, Lymon was signed by manager Sam Bray to his Big Apple label, and the singer returned to recording. [[Roulette Records]] expressed interest in releasing Lymon's records in conjunction with Big Apple and scheduled a recording session for February 28. A major promotion had been arranged with CHO Associates, owned by radio personalities Frankie Crocker, Herb Hamlett, and Eddie O'Jay. Lymon, staying at his grandmother's apartment in [[Harlem]], where he had grown up, celebrated his good fortune by taking [[heroin]]; Lymon had remained clean ever since entering the Army two years earlier.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}