Fran Frey

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Fran Frey (* Washington , Indiana ) was an American jazz singer , alto saxophonist , songwriter , composer and band leader in the field of early jazz and popular music .

Live and act

Fran Frey began his music career in the early 1920s with the American Harmonists , who performed as the house band at the Colonial Theater on North Illinois Street in Indianapolis . Frey later moved to New York and became a member of the George Olsen Orchestra , who led a popular Charleston- era dance band that also appeared in Broadway productions such as the Ziegfeld Follies .

With George Olsen & His Music , Frey's first recordings and radio shows were made. Frey played alto saxophone in the band and could also be heard as a baritone singer on 26 pages with Olsen's band, which were formed in the mid to late 1920s; " The Varsity Drag " (1927) became a national hit. other well-known titles of the Olsen Orchestra with Frey were "Miami (from Big Boy )" (1925), "Let's Make Up" (1926), "Big City Blues", "The Breakaway" (1926), " Makin 'Whoopee !" , "Because My Baby Don't Mean Maybe Now", "Ten Little Miles from Town" (1928), "Seventh Heaven", "A Garden in the Rain" (1929), "The Moon Is Low" (1930) and "All American Girl" (1931). Frey usually sang in a duo or trio with Bob Borger and Bob Rice.

In addition, Frey worked as a freelance musician and also strove for a career as a soloist. He was also active as a songwriter and in 1929 wrote "Never Gettin 'No Place Blues" with Al Bernard and J. Russell Robinson . In the early 1930s he recorded his song "Crazy People".

During this time, Frey also appeared in a vocal trio on the Broadway show Good News , which ran for 18 months. After the Olsen band broke up in the early 1930s, Frey worked with various groups with whom he recorded songs. In the 1930s he recorded six pages under his own name for Columbia ("Puddin 'Head Jones") and worked as a vocalist on recordings of Ben Selvin ("Moonstruck", "Sittin' on a Log Pettin 'My Dog"), Bunny Berigan , Lee Wiley (1932), the Boswell Sisters and Victor Young with; as an alto saxophonist he played in Leo Reisman's orchestra . As a singer he then appeared on Jack Benny's radio show. In the period after the Second World War he was forgotten as an interpreter. He was still active in the music business: in 1959 he was a composer for the television series The Alaskans ; in the 1980s he is said to have been the musical director of a Chicago radio station.

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personal data
SURNAME Frey, Fran
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz singer, saxophonist and songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH 19th century or 20th century
PLACE OF BIRTH Washington, Indiana
DATE OF DEATH 20th century