FRANKIE LAINE
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
........In 1947 they got it, along came a young man by the name
of Frankie Laine. He didn't have the flashy good looks of say Frank, or
Dick, or Perry or even Bing. What he did have was a unique voice that could
hit a high note the others could only wish for. He would take a song, tear
it apart and then put it back together again so that it would never sound
right sung by anyone else.
..........Frankie had a style all his own, he didn't just stand there and sing into a mike. No, he stamped his feet and waved his hands and moved to the beat. His hard driving rhythmic style gave rise to his nickname of "Mr Rhythm".
....Frankie always thought of himself as a Jazz Singer, and
in his heart he always will. His first recordings were of old standards
that he gave a new life to and was mostly backed up by small musical groups.
Mitch Miller convinced the young singer to broaden his musical style
and do some newer material. This caused an explosion of hits, including
3 number #1 hits in a row.
.........Frankie has had hits in almost every musical style.
Jazz, Pop, Rock, Country and Western, Frankie has done it all. In fact
a few years ago he found a CD he was on listed on the Classical Charts.
But to the younger crowd, who only know him from the re-runs of "RAWHIDE",
they may think of Frankie as just a cowboy singer.
.........His first hit recordings, came after years of
struggle in 1947. His last charted record was in 1969.
Through the years he has amassed 21 Gold Records, and
has sold about 250 million records around the world. This includes 115 million in the states. This was at a time when to sell a million of anything was a great achievement.
As the years mounted up, Frankie hardly slowed down, entertaining his fans in concerts all over the country and
making new recordings well into his eighties. He put out CD's of new material as late as 2002. His last public appearance was in
Oct 2006 for PBS on TV.
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----- On Feb 6 2007, the music did die; the man known by millions of fans as Mr Rhythm, died of heart failure in San Diego. He was 93 years old.
Click Here To Read The Washington Post Obituary
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NEW- SEE AND HEAR FRANKIE SING
A TRIBUTE TO FRANKIE LAINE (Author unknown)
GO TO LINKS TO SOME OF FRANKIE'S CONTEMPORARIES
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