Frankie Laine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Frankie Laine, born Frank Paul LoVecchio on March 30, 1913, is one of the most successful and influential American singers of the twentieth century. Often billed as "America's Number One Song Stylist," his nicknames include "Mr. Rhythm," "Old Leather Lungs," and "Old Man Jazz."
A clarion voiced pop singer with lots of style, able to fill halls without a microphone, and one of the biggest hit-makers of late 1940s/early 1950s, Laine had more than 70 charted records, 21 gold records, and worldwide sales of over 250 million disks [1]. Originally a rhythm and blues influenced jazz singer, Laine excelled at virtually every music style, eventually expanding to such varied genres as popular standards, gospel, folk, country, western/Americana, rock 'n' roll, and the occasional novelty number. He is known as Mr Rhythm for his driving jazzy style.
The first and biggest of a new breed of black-influenced singers who came to prominence in the post-WWII era, he belted out torch blues while stomping his foot in cutting edge joints like Billy Berg's, Club Hangover and the Bandbox. His innovative style, in which he would bend notes and sing about the chordal context of a note rather than sing the note directly, and place his stress on the downbeat initially made it difficult for him to find acceptance in the music world. But when he finally did hit, he hit big -- making the smooth crooning styles of the day something of an anachronism.
"Frank's style was very innovative, which was why he had such difficulty with early acceptance. He would bend notes and sing about the chordal context of a note rather than to sing the note directly, and he stressed each rhythmic downbeat, which was different from the smooth balladeer of his time." -- Richard Grudens
His 1946 recording of That's My Desire remains a landmark record signalling the end of both the big bands and the crooning styles favored by contemporaries Dick Haymes and Frank Sinatra. Often called the first of the blue-eyed soul singers, Laine's style cleared the way for many artists who arose in the late 40s and early 50s, including Kay Starr, Tony Bennett, Johnnie Ray and Elvis Presley.
"I think that Frank probably was one of the forerunner of .... blues, of .... rock 'n' roll. A lot of singers who sing with a passionate demeanor -- Frank was and is definitely that. I always used to love to mimick him with 'Thats...my...desire.' And then later Johnnie Ray came along that made all of those kind of movements, but Frank had already done them." -- Patti Page
Throughout the 1950s, Laine enjoyed a second career singing the title songs over the opening credits of Hollywood films and television shows, inluding: Gunfight At OK Corral, 3:10 To Yuma, Bullwhip and Rawhide. His rendition of the title song for Mel Brooks' 1974 hit movie Blazing Saddles won an Oscar nomination for Best Song, and on television, Laine's featured recording of Rawhide for the series of the same name became one of the most popular theme songs of all time.
"You can't categorize him. He's one of those singers that's not in one track. And yet and still I think that his records had more excitement and life into it. And I think that was his big selling point, that he was so full of energy. You know when hear his records it was dynamite energy." -- Herb Jeffries
Early years
Frankie Laine was born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio on March 30, 1913 to Giovanni and Cresenzia LoVecchio (nee Salerno). His parents had emigrated from Monreale, Sicily to Chicago's "Little Italy," where his father worked at one time as the pesonal barber for gangster Al Capone.
The eldest of eight children, he got his first taste of singing as a member of the choir in church of the Immaculate Conception's elementary school. He realized he wanted to be a singer when he cut school to see Al Jolson's current talking picture, "The Singing Fool." At 17 he sang before a crowd of 5,000 at The Merry Garden Ballroom to such enthusiastic applause that he ended up performing five encores on his first night. But success as a singer was another 17 years away.
Some of his other early influences during this period included Enrico Caruso, Carl Buti, and, especially, Bessie Smith -- a record of whose somehow wound up in his parents' collection:
"I can still close my eyes and visualize its blue and purple label. It was a Bessie Smith recording of 'The Bleeding Hearted Blues,' with 'Midnight Blues' on the other side. The first time I laid the needle down on that record I felt cold chills and an indescribable excitement. It was my first exposure to jazz and the blues, although I had no idea at the time what to call those magical sounds. I just knew I had to hear more of them!" -- Frankie Laine
Signing as a member of The Merry Garden company, Laine toured with them, working dance marathons during the Great Depression (setting the world record of 3,501 hours with partner Ruthie Smith at Atlantic City's Million Dollar Pier in 1932). Still billed as "Frank LoVecchio," he would entertain the spectators during the fifteen minute breaks the dancers were given each hour. During his marathon days, he worked with several up-and-coming entertainers including Rose Marie, Red Skelton and a fourteen-year old Anita O'Day, who became his protegee.
Other artists whose styles began to influence Laine at this time were Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Mildred Bailey and Nat "King" Cole.
His next big break came when he replaced Perry Como in the Freddy Carlone band in Cleveland in 1937. But success continued to elude him and he spent the next 10 years alternating between singing at small jazz clubs on both coasts, and a series of jobs including that of a bouncer, a dance instructor, a used car salesman, an agent, a synthetic leather factory worker, and a machinist at a defence plant. It was while working at the defence plant during the second world war that he first began writing songs ("It Only Happens Once" was written at the plant). At the lowest point of his career, he was sleeping on a bench in Central Park.
"I would sneak into hotel rooms and sleep on floor. In fact, I was bodily thrown out of 11 different New York hotels. I stayed in YMCAs and with anyone who would let me flop. Eventually I was down to my last four cents, and my bed became a roughened wooden bench in Central Park. I used my four pennies to buy four tiny Baby Ruth candy bars and rationed myself to one a day." -- Frankie Laine
In 1943 he moved out to California where he sang in the background of several Hollywood films including "The Harvey Girls," and dubbed the singing voice for an actor in the Danny Kaye comedy "The Kid From Brooklyn." It was in Los Angeles in 1944 that he met and befriended disc jockey Al Jarvis and composer/pianist Carl Fischer who was to be his songwriting partner, musical director and piano accompanist until his death in 1954. Their songwriting collaborations included "I'd Give My Life," "Baby, Just For Me," "What Could Be Sweeter?," "Forever More," and the jazz standard "We'll Be Together Again."
It wasn't until the end of 1946 when Hoagy Carmichael heard him singing at Billy Berg's club in Los Angeles that success finally arrived. Unemployed at the time, Laine would drop in the various Los Angeles nightclubs in hopes that the band playing there would call him up to sing. Not knowing that Carmichael was in the audience, Laine sang the Carmichael-penned standard "Rockin' Chair" when Slim Gaillard called him up to the stage to sing. This eventually led to a contract with the newly established Mercury records. Laine and Carmichael would later collaborate on a song, "Put Yourself in My Place, Baby."
Frankie Laine's early significance is best described by rock critic Jonny Whiteside:
"In the Hollywood clubs, a new breed of black-influenced white performers laid down a bafflingly hip array of new sounds. ... Most important of these was Frankie Laine, a big white lad with 'steel tonsils' who belted out torch blues while stomping his size twelve foot in joints like Billy Berg's, Club Hangover and the Bandbox. ... Laine's intense style owed nothing to Crosby, Sinatra or Dick Haymes. Instead he drew from Billy Eckstine, Joe Turner, Jimmy Rushing, and with it Laine had sown the seeds from which an entire new perception and audience would grow. ... Frank Sinatra represented perhaps the highest flowering of a quarter century tradition of crooning but suddenly found himself an anachronism. First Frankie Laine, then Tony Bennett, and now Johnnie (Ray), dubbed 'the Belters' and 'the Exciters,' came along with a brash vibrance and vulgar beat that made the old bandstand routine which Frank meticulously perfected seem almost invalid."
That's My Desire
Even after Carmichael's discovering him, Laine still was considered to be only an intermission act at Billy Berg's. His next big break came when he dusted off a fifteen-year old song that few people remembered in 1946: "That's My Desire." Frankie had picked up the song from songstress June Hart a half a dozen years earlier, when he sang at the College Inn in Cleveland. He introduced "Desire" as a "new" song -- meaning new to his repertoire at Berg's -- but the audience mistook it for a new song that had just been written. He ended up singing it five times that night. After that, Frankie Laine quickly became the star attraction at Berg's, and the record company executives took note.
He was soon recording for the fledgling Mercury label, and "That's My Desire" was one of the songs cut in his first recording session there. It quickly took the number one spot on the R&B charts, where Laine was initially mistaken for being black; and made it to the #4 spot on the Mainstream charts. Although it was quickly covered by many other artists, including Sammy Kaye who took it to the #2 spot, it was Frankie's version that became the standard.
"Desire" became Frankie Laine's first Gold Record, and established him as a major force in the music world. A series of hit singles quickly followed, including "Black and Blue," "Mam'selle," "Two Loves Have I," "Shine," "On the Sunny Side of the Street," "Monday Again," and many others.
At Mercury
Frankie Laine's name was synonymous with jazz in the late 40's when, accompanied by Carl Fischer (with whom he wrote the great standard "We'll Be Together Again") and some of the best jazz men in the business, he was swinging standards like "By the River Sainte Marie," "Black and Blue," "Rockin' Chair," "West End Blues" "At the End of the Road," "Ain't That Just Like a Woman," "That Ain't Right," "Exactly Like You," and "Sleepy Ol' River" on the Mercury label. His soulful, masculine style dealt a severe blow to the predominant crooning styles of the day. As jazz vocalist Kay Starr expressed it:
"A crooner is so soft, he could be a girl. Frank sounded like a man -- he just stood there flat-footed and sang, and you've got to admire a man who's that brave. Whether you were listening to a record or watching him on stage, you could feel what he felt."
But Laine had his greatest success after impressario Mitch Miller, who became the A&R man at Mercury in 1948, recognized a universal quality in Laine's voice which he began to exploit via a succession of chart-topping popular songs often with a folk or western flavor.
Laine and Miller became a formidable hit-making team who, almost singlehandedly, established Mercury as one of the most successful record labels of its time. Their first collaboration, "That Lucky Old Sun" became the number one song in the country three weeks after its release. It was also Laine's fifth Gold Record. The song was knocked down to the number two position by Laine and Miller's second collaboration, "Mule Train" which proved to be an even bigger hit. (Making Frankie Laine the first artist to ever simultaneously hold the Number One and Two positions on the charts.) "Mule Train" has been cited as the first song to utilize an "aural texture" that "set the pattern for virtually the entire first decade of rock." (Will Friedwald, "Sinatra! The Song Is You," Da Capo Press, 1997.)
Other Laine/Miller Mercury hits included "Shine," "On the Sunny Side of the Street," "Mam'selle," "Two Loves Have I," "Dream a Little Dream of Me," "All of Me," "Georgia on My Mind," "Blue Turning Grey Over You," "The Stars and Stripes Forever," "Nevertheless" "The Cry of the Wild Goose," "Swamp Girl," "Satan Wears a Satin Gown," and "Music, Maestro Please."
"He was my kind of guy. He was very dramatic in his singing ... and you must remember that in those days there were no videos so you had to depend on the image that the record made in the listener's ears. And that's why many fine artists were not good record sellers. For instance, Lena Horne. Fabulous artist but she never sold many records till that last album of hers. But she would always sell out the house no matter where she was. And there were others who sold a lot of records but couldn't get to first base in personal appearances, but Frankie had it both." -- Mitch Miller
But the biggest label of all was Columbia Records, and in 1950 Mitch Miller left Mercury to embark upon his phenomenally successful career as the A&R man there. Laine's contract at Mercury would be up for renewal the following year, and Miller soon brought Laine to Columbia as well. Laine's contract with Columbia was the most lucrative in the industry until RCA bought Elvis Presley's contract five years later.
At Columbia
Laine began recording for Columbia Records in 1951, where he immediately scored a double-sided hit with the single "Jezebel"/"Rose, Rose, I Love You," confirming his reputation as the premiere hitmaker of the early 50s. Other Laine hits from this period include, "High Noon," "Jealousy (Jalousie)," "The Girl in the Woods," "When You're in Love," "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans" (with Jo Stafford), "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Granada," "Hey Joe!," "The Kid's Last Fight," "Cool Water," "Someday," "A Woman in Love," "Love is a Golden Ring" (with The Easy Riders), and "Moonlight Gambler." A consummate duettist, he also scored hits with Patti Page ("I Love You for That"), Doris Day ("Sugarbush"), Jo Stafford ("Hey, Good Lookin'," "Gambella (The Gambling Lady)," "Hambone," "Floatin' Down to Cotton Town," "Settin' the Woods on Fire," and many others), Jimmy Boyd ("Tell Me a Story," "The Little Boy and the Old Man"), the Four Lads ("Rain, Rain, Rain") and Johnnie Ray ("Up Above My Head").
Frankie scored a total of 39 hit records on the charts while at Columbia, and it is many of his songs from this period that are most readily associated with him. His "Greatest Hits" album, released in 1957, has been a perennial best seller that has never gone out of print.
In 1953 he set two more records (this time on the UK charts): weeks at No 1 for a song ("I Believe," which held the number one spot for 18 weeks), and weeks at No 1 for an artist in a single year (27 weeks: a little over half the year, when "Hey Joe!" and "Answer Me" became number one hits as well). In spite of the popularity of rock 'n' roll artists like Elvis Presley and The Beatles, fifty-plus years later, both of Laine's records still hold.
Always exceedingly popular in the U.K., he broke attendance records at the London Palladium in 1952 and gave a Command Performance for Queen Elizabeth II in 1954. By the end of the decade he remained far ahead of Elvis Presley as the most successful artist on the British charts. See the "Chart of All Time" for details. "I Believe" is listed as the second most popular song of all time on the British charts as well.
Throughout the remainder of the 50s and into the early 60s, he released many great theme albums as well including "Rockin'" (with Paul Weston's Orchestra), "Jazz Spectacular" (with jazz trumpet great Buck Clayton), "Frankie Laine And The Four Lads" (a gospel album that truly rocks), "Reunion In Rhythm'" (with Michel Legrand), "Balladeer" (folk songs), "Torchin'" (Torch songs), "Hell Bent For Leather" (western songs), "Call Of The Wild" (outdoor songs), "Wanderlust" (the last four with John Williams' Orchestra), etc.
Each of these albums is good enough to merit its own heading here, and it is during this period that many of Laine's fans consider his voice to have been at its peak. "De Glory Road," from his "Wanderlust" album of 1963 is a vocal tour de force, and one of Laine's personal favorites. Other great Laine album cuts from Columbia include: "You Are My Love," "Because," "I Would Do Most Anything for You," "Blue Moon," "Lover Come Back to Me," "Rocks and Gravel," "On a Monday," "And Doesn't She Roll," "Riders in the Sky," "Serenade," "Bowie Knife," "Wanted Man," "La Paloma," "Midnight on a Rainy Monday," "These Foolish Things," "I Got it Bad," "On the Road to Mandalay," and "Stars Fell on Alabama."
"Frankie Laine was somebody that everybody knew. He was a kind of a household word like Frank Sinatra or Bobby Darin or Peggy Lee or Ella Fitzgerald -- Frankie Laine was one of the great popular singers and stylists of that time. ... And his style ... he was one of those artists who had such an unique stamp -- nobody sounded like he did. You could hear two notes and you knew who it was and you were right on the beam with it right away. And of course that defines a successful popular artist, at least at that time. These people were all very uniquely individual and Frank was on the front rank of those people in his appeal to the public and his success and certainly in his identifiability." -- John Williams
Social Activism
Along with opening the door for many R&B performers, Laine played a significant role in the equal rights movements of the 1950s and 60s. When Nat King Cole's television show was unable to get a sponsor, Laine crossed the color line, becoming the first white artist to appear as a guest (foregoing his usual salary of $10,000.00 as Cole's sustainer show only paid scale). Many other top white singers followed suit, including Tony Bennett and Rosemary Clooney, but Cole's show still couldn't get enough sponsors to continue.
In the following decade, Frankie Laine joined several African American artists who gave a free concert for Martin Luther King's supporters during their Selma to Montgomery marches on Washington DC.
Laine has also been active in many charities as well, including Meals on Wheels and The Salvation Army. Among his charitable works are a series of local benefit concerts and his having organized a nationwide drive to provide "Shoes for the Homeless."
Film and Television
Beginning in the late 1940s, Frankie Laine starred in over a half dozen backstage musicals, often playing himself; several of these were written and directed by a young Blake Edwards. The films were: "Make Believe Ballroom" - Columbia, 1949; "When You're Smiling" - Columbia, 1950; "Sunny Side Of The Street" - Columbia, 1951; "Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder" - Columbia, 1952; "Bring Your Smile Along" - Columbia, 1955; "He Laughed Last" - Columbia, 1956; and "Meet Me In Las Vegas" - MGM, 1956. The last, a big budget MGM musical starring Cyd Charisse features Laine performing "Hell Hath No Fury" and provides us with a glimpse of what his 1950s Las Vegas nightclub act must have been like.
His films were very popular in the United Kingdom, but to establish him as a movie star in the United States. State side, Laine gained more popularity in the new medium of television.
On television he hosted three variety shows: "The Frankie Laine Hour" in 1950, "The Frankie Laine Show" (with Connie Haines) 1954-5, and "Frankie Laine Time" in 1955-6. The Last was a summer replacement for "The Arthur Godfrey Show" and featured such high-powered guest stars as Ella Fitzgerald, Johnnie Ray, Georgia Gibbs, The Four Lads, Cab Calloway, Patti Page, Eddie Heywood, Duke Ellington, Boris Karloff, Patti Andrews, Joni James, Shirley MacLaine, Gene Krupa, Teresa Brewer, Jack Teagarden and Polly Bergen.
"He had a different sound, you know and he had such emotion and heart. And of course you recognized Frankie, just like Sinatra had that sound that you'd always recognize. That's what made for hit records, as well as being a great singer. But you have to have a real special sound that never changes. He could do it all ... but again, you always knew that it was Frankie Laine." -- Connie Haines
He was a frequent guest star on various other shows of the time including "Shower of Stars," "The Steve Allen Show," "The Toast of the Town," "What's My Line?," "This is Your Life," "Bachelor Father," "The Nat 'King' Cole Show" "The Sinatra Show," "The Walter Winchell Show," "The Perry Como Show," "The Gary Moore Show," "Masquerade Party," "The Mike Douglas Show," and "American Bandstand."
In the 1960s, he continued appearing on variety shows like "Laugh-In," and "The Mike Douglas Show," but took on several serious guest starring roles in shows like "Rawhide," "Burke's Law," and "Perry Mason." His theme song for "Rawhide" proved to be exceedingly popular and helped to make the show, starring a young, unknown actor named Clint Eastwood a hit. Other t.v. series' for which Laine sang the theme song included "Gunslinger," and "Rango."
Frankie Laine performed at three Academy Awards ceremonies: 1950 ("Mule Train"), 1960 ("The Hanging Tree"), and 1975 ("Blazing Saddles"). Only last two of these ceremonies were televised. In 1981 he performed a medley of his hits on "American Bandstand's 30th Anniversary Special," where he received a standing ovation from the many celebrities present. Later appearances include "Nashville Now," 1989 and "My Music," 2006.
At Capitol, ABC, and Beyond
In 1963 Frankie Laine left Columbia for Capitol Records, but his two years there only produced one album and a handful of singles (mostly of an inspirational nature). He continued performing regularly at this time, including a South African tour.
After switching to ABC Records in the late 1960s, he found himself right back at the top of the charts again, beginning with the first song he'd recorded there, "I'll Take Care of Your Cares." Written as a waltz in the mid-1920s, "Cares" had become the unofficial theme song of the Las Vegas call girls but was virtually unknown outside of the strip. Laine recorded a swinging version that made it to number 39 on the national and to number 2 on the adult contemporary charts. A string of hits followed including "Making Memories," "You Wanted Someone to Play With," "Laura, What's He Got that I Ain't Got," "To Each His Own" "Born to be with You," "I Found You," and "Lord, You Gave Me A Mountain" (which was written for him by country legend Marty Robbins. The last song was a number one hit on the adult contemporary charts (#24 national), and proved that Laine was as big a hit-maker as ever.
Seeking greater artistic freedom, Laine left ABC for the much smaller Amos Records, where he cut two exciting albums in a modern, rock-influenced vein. The first album contained contemporary versions of his greatest hits, such as "Your Cheatin' Heart," "That Lucky Old Sun," "I Believe," "Jezebel," "Shine," and "Moonlight Gambler." The new arrangements work surprisingly well and many of the cuts can stand alongside of the originals. His second album for Amos was called "A Brand New Day" and, along with the title song, features all new material including "Mr. Bojangles," "Proud Mary," "Put Your Hand in the Hand," "My God and I," and "Talk About the Good Times." It's one of Frankie Laine's most exciting albums and one of his personal favorites. Unfortunately Amos, which was soon to fold from lack of funds, couldn't adequately promote them at the time, however they have developed a following through CD rereleases. After Amos folded, Laine started his own label, Score Records, which is still producing albums today.
Later years
His career slowed down a little in the 1980s due to triple and quadruple bypasses, but he nevertheless continued cutting some terrific albums including "Wheels Of A Dream" (1998), "Old Man Jazz" (2002) and "The Nashville Connection" (2004).
In 1986, he recorded an album, "Round Up" with Eric Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, which made it to the classical charts -- a fact which Mr. Laine seems to have taken some amusement in.
He recorded his last song to date, "Taps/My Buddy," shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attack on America. The song was dedicated to the New York City Fire Fighters, and Mr. Laine is donating profits from the song, in perpetuity, to the NY Fire Fighters.
Frankie Laine's 70-plus year career spanned most of the 20th century and has continued into the 21st. Laine was a key figure in the golden age of popular music, and remains, quite possibly the greatest singer of all time. On June 12, 1996, he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 27th Annual Songwriters' Hall of Fame awards ceremony at the New York Sheraton. On his 80th birthday, the United States Congress declared him to be a national treasure.
Marriages
His first marriage was to actress Nan Grey, (June 1950 - July 1993) and Laine adopted her daughters from a previous marriage, Pam and Jan. Following a three year engagement to Anita Craighead, he married Marcia Ann Kline in June 1999.
Frankie Laine Today
Although Frankie Laine lives in semi-retirement in the Point Loma area of San Diego, California, he still continues to perform. He will be appearing in an upcoming PBS "My Music" special recorded in 2005 and will be headlining "The Branson Follies" for 3 1/2 months at the end of 2006.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankie_Laine
Mule Train :: Frankie Laine
MULE TRAIN.
MULE TRAIN, MULE TRAIN
CLIPETTY CLOPPING OVER HILL AND PLAIN
SEEMS AS HOW THEY'LL NEVER STOP
CLIPETTY CLOP CLIPETTY CLOP
CLIPETTY CLIPETTY CLIPETTY CLIPETTY
CLIPETTY CLOPPING ALONG
THERE'S A PLUG OF CHAW TOBACCY
FOR A RANCHER IN COROLLA
A GUITAR FOR A COWBOY WAY OUT IN ARIZONA
A DRESS OF CALICO FOR A PRETTY NAVAHO
GET ALONG MULE GET ALONG
MULE TRAIN, MULE TRAIN
CLIPETTY CLOPPING ON THE MOUNTAIN CHAIN
SEEMS AS HOW THEY'LL NEVER STOP
CLIPETTY CLOP CLIPETTY CLOP
CLIPETTY CLIPETTY CLIPETTY CLIPETTY
CLIPETTY CLOPPING ALONG
THERE'S SOME COTTON THREAD AND NEEDLE
FOR THE FOLKS WHO'S WAY OUT YONDER
A SHOVEL FOR A MINER WHO LEFT HIS HOME TO WANDER
SOME RHEUMATISM PILLS FOR THE SETTLERS IN THE HILLS
GET ALONG MULE GET ALONG
MULE TRAIN, MULE TRAIN
CLIPETTY CLOPPING THROUGH THE WIND AND RAIN
THEY'LL KEEP GOING TILL THEY DROP
CLIPETTY CLOP CLIPETTY CLOP
CLIPETTY CLIPETTY CLIPETTY CLIPETTY
CLIPETTY CLOPPING ALONG
THERE'S A LETTER FULL OF SADNESS
AND IT'S BLACK AROUND THE BORDER
A PAIR OF BOOTS FOR SOMEONE
WHO HAD THEM MADE TO ORDER
A BIBLE IN THE PACK FOR THE REVEREND MISTER BLACK
