Fergie Frederiksen

Dennis Hardy "Fergie" Frederiksen (born May 25, 1951 in Grand Rapids , Michigan , † January 18, 2014 ) was an American singer .

Career

Growing up in his birthplace, Frederiksen noticed early on that he had a talent for singing and for the stage. As a teenager he sang at many public appearances. In 1975 he moved to Chicago , where he joined the band "MS Funk". Their front vocalist Tommy Shaw was friends with Frederiksen and asked him to replace him as he switched to another band. A short time later he met the very popular producer and songwriter Pat Leonard and formed the band Trillion .

In 1979 Frederiksen left Trillion and joined another rock band. The biggest successes of the band Leroux were the hit single Lifeline and the album So Fired Up , which was released in 1983. During his time at Leroux, he also worked as a singer and songwriter in Los Angeles , among others with his friend, bassist Ricky Phillips and the rock band Survivor .

Phillips was also the 1984 drummer of Toto , Jeff Porcaro , handed a videotape with footage of Frederiksen. Although Frederiksen went to Europe to work in Germany at that time, Toto definitely wanted to hire him as the successor to the retired lead singer Bobby Kimball . So he was called back to America to record their fifth album Isolation (1984) with Toto .

After the isolation tour, Frederiksen and Toto went their separate ways because they had different opinions about working in the studio and the chemistry between him and the other band members was not right. He decided to take a longer break and opened a restaurant. It wasn't until 1994 that he released his next record, Frederiksen / Phillips, together with his old friend Ricky Phillips . His first solo album followed in 1999 - Equilibrium .

Another project that Frederiksen was involved in is the band Mecca , which had respectable success with their album Mecca (2002) and in which he played with old friends like his friend Joe Vana and former Toto bassist David Hungate . Frederiksen also worked with his close friend, guitarist Tommy Denander , on his Radioactive project . This resulted in the albums Ceremony Of Innocence (2001), Yeah (2003) and Taken (2005).

In 2005 Frederiksen was diagnosed with hepatitis C disease. Despite the illness, he worked with Denander on his last album and with Ricky Phillips in the studio. In order to be able to help other people in the fight against the disease, he founded the Fergie Frederiksen Foundation , which collects donations through concerts and supports research. In 2010 it became known that Frederiksen had liver cancer. He succumbed to this disease on January 18, 2014.

Discography

• 1976: MSFunk: Live Recordings
• 1978: Trillion: Trillion
• 1980: Village People: Can't Stop the Music
• 1981: David London: David London
• 1982: Survivor: Eye of the Tiger (Background vocals)
• 1982: Angel: Whips, Troubleshooter, and Should've Known Better
• 1983: LeRoux: So Fired Up
• 1984: Toto: Isolation
• 1984: Toto: Dune Soundtrack (Background vocals)
• 1985: Toto: Live at Castle Hall, Osaka, Japan
• 1986: Toto: Fahrenheit (background vocals)
• 1987: RTZ: Demos
• 1988: Karo: Heavy Birthday (Background vocals)
• 1993: LeRoux: AOR Live (Not released until 2000)
• 1995: Frederiksen / Phillips
• 1997: Joseph Williams: 3
• 1999: Equilibrium
• 2000: World Classic Rockers : World Classic Rockers
• 2001: Radioactive: Ceremony Of Innocence
• 2002: Mecca: Mecca
• 2003: Radioactive: Yeah
• 2004: AOR: Nothing but the Best
• 2005: Radioactive: Taken
• 2005: Northern Light: Northern Light
• 2005: Rock the Bones Vol. 3
• 2007: Frederiksen-Denander: Baptism By Fire
• 2009: Myland: No Man's Land
• 2009: AOR: Journey to LA
• 2011: Fergie Frederiksen: Happiness Is the Road
• 2013: Fergie Frederiksen: Any Given Moment

Web links

• official homepage
• Literature by and about Fergie Frederiksen in the catalog of the German National Library
• Fergie Frederiksen at Allmusic (English)
• Fergie Frederiksen in the Internet Movie Database (English)