Frankie Laine

Jimmy Crawford (left) and Frankie Laine, around 1947.
Photograph by William P. Gottlieb .

Frankie Laine (born March 30, 1913 in Chicago , Illinois , † February 6, 2007 in San Diego ); actually Francesco Paolo LoVecchio was an American singer , entertainer, and actor .

Life

His career spanned almost 70 years; until 1952 he was more successful in the USA with three number one hits, then in the 1950s more in Europe, especially in the United Kingdom: from 1953 to 1956 he had four number one hits in British singles - Charts . With I Believe , Laine set a chart record that is still current today: the single was at the top of the British charts for 18 weeks in 1953 . As he brought two more songs ( Hey Joe and Answer Me ) to number one a little later , he was in the top position for a total of 27 weeks in 1953.

Three of his best-known songs are theme songs from film and television wests : High Noon - Do Not Forsake Me from 12 noon by Oscar winner Dimitri Tiomkin ( Tex Ritter sang him in the soundtrack , however ), Rawhide from the television series of the same name (in Germany under entitled Cowboys , later broadcast a thousand miles of dust ) and from the film Gunfight at the OK Corral (music by Dimitri Tiomkin), broadcast in Germany under the title Zwei Rechnen ab .

Style and Influences

Frankie Laine's music was never locked into a particular style. His clear, room-filling baritone voice is unmistakable; but in the course of his career Laine has interpreted the whole range of songs from blues to country , from swing to soul , from jazz to rock 'n' roll ; he has even recorded folk songs like Answer Me (little mother) . His influences also came from these various directions.

He allegedly made the decision to become a singer when he saw Al Jolson's sound film The Singing Fool in the cinema . As a teenager he listened to Enrico Caruso and Bessie Smith , later he turned to the music of Bing Crosby , Louis Armstrong , Billie Holiday and Nat King Cole . The beginning of his career marked the mid-20th century, a change in musical tastes - away from the big band - Crooner (as Frank Sinatra ) in the 1940s, back in the 1950s for solo singers like Johnnie Ray or Elvis Presley . He was also one of the pioneers in overcoming the separation of “white” and “black” music towards “white soul”. Laine campaigned for an end to racial segregation; the lyrics of one of his first US hits, "Shine", dealt with the problem of having black skin. Laine was also one of the first white artists on Nat "King" Cole's television show, although he waived his fee because Cole could not find sponsors.

Career

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

One for my baby   US 8th 02/02/1952 (4 weeks) Hell Bent for Leather   UK 7th 06/24/1961 (23 weeks) The Very Best of Frankie Laine   UK 7th  silver 09/24/1977 (6 weeks) Hits   UK 16 06/25/2011 (2 weeks)

Singles

High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me)   UK 7th 11/20/1952 (7 weeks) Sugarbush ( Doris Day & Frankie Laine)   UK 8th 11/20/1952 (8 weeks) The Girl in the Wood   UK 11 03/26/1953 (1 week) I believe   UK 1 04/09/1953 (36 weeks) Tell Me a Story ( Jimmy Boyd - Frankie Laine)   UK 5 05/14/1953 (16 weeks) Where the Wind Blows   UK 2 09/10/1953 (12 weeks) Hey joe   UK 1 10/22/1953 (8 weeks) Answer Me   UK 1 05/11/1953 (17 weeks) Blowing wild   UK 2 01/14/1954 (12 weeks) Granada   UK 9 04/01/1954 (2 weeks) The Kid's Last Fight   UK 3 04/22/1954 (10 weeks) My friend   UK 3 08/09/1954 (15 weeks) There must be a reason   UK 9 10/14/1954 (9 weeks) Rain Rain Rain (Frankie Laine & the Four Lads )   UK 8th 10/28/1954 (16 weeks) In the beginning   UK 20th 03/17/1955 (1 week) Cool Water (Frankie Laine with the Mellomen )   UK 2 06/30/1955 (22 weeks) Strange Lady in Town   UK 6th 07/21/1955 (13 weeks) Humming bird   UK 16 11/17/1955 (1 week) Hawk Eye   UK 7th December 01, 1955 (8 weeks) Sixteen Tons (Frankie Laine with the Mellomen)   UK 10 01/26/1956 (3 weeks) Hell Hath No Fury   UK 28 05/10/1956 (1 week) A woman in love   UK 1 09/13/1956 (21 weeks) Moonlight Gambler   UK 13 03/01/1957 (13 weeks) Love Is a Golden Ring (Frankie Laine & the Easy Riders)   UK 19th 05/02/1957 (5 weeks) Good Evening Friends / Up Above My Head I Hear Music in the Air (Frankie Laine & Johnnie Ray )   UK 25th 10/10/1957 (4 weeks) Rawhide   UK 6th 11/20/1959 (19 weeks) Gunslinger   UK 50 05/17/1961 (1 week)

From Little Italy to Los Angeles

Laine was the son of Italian immigrants and grew up in Chicago's Little Italy neighborhood . As a child he sang in the church choir; as a teenager he performed as a singer in dance halls in his hometown; at 17 he left home to become a dancer. He took part in many dance marathon events, which were popular at the time, and lived on the prize money. With his partner Ruth Smith, he allegedly set a dance marathon world record in Atlantic City in 1932 : the two danced 3501 hours, almost 146 days. If this information is correct, the record could not have lasted long.

Dance and singing performances in clubs and bars across the United States followed. In 1937 he reached his first important career stage in Cleveland : he replaced Perry Como in the local Freddy Carlones Big Band . During the Second World War , Laine worked in an arms company in Los Angeles ; on the side he sang in a small club. There Hoagy Carmichael saw and heard him ; this encounter led to Laine's first recording deal with Mercury Records in 1946 .

First successes in the United States

Frankie Laine's first record was recorded for Mercury Records on August 27, 1946 under the title Ain't That Just Like A Woman / September In The Rain . His first Hitaufnahme for Mercury from the same recording session was in 1947 the Blue song That's My Desire with Manny Klein Combo , a number two in the US charts. Shine followed in the top ten in 1948, two number one hits in 1949, That Lucky Old Sun and Mule Train , and another number one in 1950, The Cry of the Wild Goose (a Terry Gilkyson song). The following year, his move from Mercury to Columbia Records (distributed in the UK by Philips in those years ) also marked a change in style to more poppy and country-influenced songs. This change was not least due to his new producer Mitch Miller . The first collaboration, Jezebel , and their B-side Rose, Rose, I Love You were top 3 hits. The theme tune at twelve noon - a song originally called Do Not Forsake Me (The Ballad of High Noon) , but which became known as High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me) - was incorporated into Laine's interpretation with text changed from the film version Top five hit in the US and first hit in Great Britain and Northern Ireland on November 14, 1952.

Records in the British charts

Frankie Laine - Mule Train

He gained further popularity in the British Isles in the same year through a duet with Doris Day , the novelty song Sugarbush (also Top 10 in the USA). 1953 was the climax of Frankie Laine's career in Great Britain and Ireland. I Believe , a quasi-religious song that was written to give hope to people during the Korean War , brought Laine to number 1 on the UK charts for the first time on April 24, 1953. Until September 11th, the song stayed at the top - with two breaks of one week each - before it was replaced by Guy Mitchell for six weeks . Then came Frankie Laine again: Boudleaux Bryants Hey Joe was his second chart topper, from October 23rd to November 5th. On October 30th, the hit parade, then only a Top 12, consisted of a third of Frankie Laine hits: Hey Joe , I Believe , Where the Winds Blow (a song that "only" made it to number 2) - and Laine's third number one of the year, Answer Me .

Answer Me

Answer Me was the cover version of a German popular hit called Mütterlein, written by Gerhard Winkler and Fred Rauch . Rudi Schuricke , among others, took up this title ; the singer Leila Negra made him popular in Scandinavia , from where he came to the USA. It was there that Carl Sigman wrote the English text. Frankie Laine, Nat 'King' Cole and David Whitfield made the song a hit in 1953: Cole in the US, Laine and the cover of Whitfield in the UK. Laine reached first place - one week after Whitfield - and was able to add eight more weeks to his record at the top. (On December 11, both versions were in first place at the same time.)

As with I Believe , there was controversy about the text, which had a Christian-religious touch; the BBC temporarily refused to play the song - because of the lines Answer me, Lord above, / just what sin have I been guilty of? / Tell me how I came to lose my love, / please answer me, oh Lord! ("Answer me, oh Lord, what sin I am guilty of, that I lost my loved one, please answer me, oh Lord God"), in which God was made responsible for a lost love. The problem was later solved by Laine and Whitfield bringing out a second version with the secularized text that Cole later used for his recording: Answer me, oh my love, / just what sin have I been guilty of? / Tell me how I came to lose your love, / please answer me, Sweetheart! ("Answer me, oh my dearest, what sin I am guilty of in losing your love, please answer me, darling!").

After Answer Me had become a worldwide hit, Fred Rauch wrote a new German text, which is more to the English leaned, and Wolfgang Sauer was Believe me then also in the German-speaking countries a hit.

The golden fifties

After Answer Me , Laine had 13 more singles in the British charts, eleven of which reached the top ten, before he celebrated his next (and last) number one hit in 1956 . A Woman in Love was a song by the composer Frank Loesser , who was particularly successful in the 1940s and 1950s , in turn produced by Mitch Miller.
The 1955 single Humming Bird (# 16 in the British charts) became interesting years later when the song, My Little One , which was only on the B-side , was used in the soundtrack of the 1978 film Popsicle and thus became widely known and gained popularity.

Moonlight Gambler was once again a number three hit in the United States. But with that the great successes were almost over; only Rawhide was able to achieve a top ten listing again in 1959. Laine had made recordings with various artist colleagues; with child star Jimmy Boyd he hit the charts as well as with Jo Stafford , with the Four Lads and with Johnnie Ray . He had his last hit in Great Britain in 1961, with Gunslinger finishing last in the top 50 for a week; in the United States he had a few top 100 listings in the next few years. In 1963 he released two of his songs in German versions: Die Welt Was Never So Schön (Original Don't Make My Baby Blue ) and Ich let Dich go ( I'm gonna be strong ).

Life after the hits

Even after the last chart successes in the early 1960s, Laine did not remain idle. He kept recording records and touring the globe. In 1974 it reappeared in the consciousness of film and music fans. Mel Brooks was looking for an interpreter for the title song of his film Blazing Saddles ( The Wild Wild West ) , a western parody, and wanted someone who should sound like Frankie Laine as possible. Laine personally volunteered and recorded the title.

It was not until the mid-1980s that he and his wife - Laine had married actress Nan Gray in 1950 - retreated to their property by the sea near San Diego . He had to endure several bypass operations. In 1986 he recorded the album Round Up with Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra , with which he now also conquered a place in the classical music charts. His wife died in 1993; In 1999 he re-married to Marcia Ann Kline.

On his 80th birthday, the United States Congress declared him a National Treasure ("National Treasure"). On June 12, 1996, Laine was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Songwriters' Hall of Fame .

Even in old age, Laine released further albums: Wheels of a Dream (1998), Old Man Jazz (2002), The Nashville Connection (2004). Shortly after the terrorist attacks in New York on September 11, 2001 , he recorded a song, Taps / My Buddy . He dedicated it to the New York Fire Department ; the proceeds will benefit this organization at all times .

In 2005, Laine appeared on a television show on the US broadcaster PBS . Although he had recently suffered a minor stroke , he brought That's My Desire across the stage with no problems and in a clear voice.

Frankie Laine in film and television

Since the late 1940s, Frankie Laine has starred in various films, some of them directed by the young Blake Edwards : Make Believe Ballroom (1949), When You're Smiling (1950), Sunny Side of the Street (1951), Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder (1952), Bring Your Smile Along (1955), He Laughed Last (1956) and Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956, German title Viva Las Vegas ). The latter was a music film with Cyd Charisse in the lead role; Laine plays his hit Hell Hath No Fury , and the film gives a glimpse of what his life as a nightclub artist in Las Vegas must have been like in the 1950s. The films were very successful in the UK; in the USA Laine was perceived more as an artist on television, where he moderated his own shows, but also appeared in many shows by other artists.

Trivia

• Laine brought out more than 70 records that were noted in the charts; for this he got 21 gold records . He sold more than 250 million records worldwide.

Discography (selection)

• September in the Rain / Ain't That Just Like a Woman (Mercury 5003), August 1946
• That's My Desire / By the River Saint Marie (Mercury 5007), March 1947
• Mam'selle / All Of Me (Mercury 5048), May 1947
• Two Loves Have I (Mercury 5064), November 1947
• Black And Blue (Mercury 1026), November 1947
• Shine / We'll Be Together Again (Mercury 5091), November 1947
• Monday Again (Mercury 5105), April 1948
• Baby, That Ain't Right / May I Never Love Again (Mercury 5114), April 1948
• Ah, But It Happens / Hold Me (Mercury 5158), August 1948
• Singing the Blues / Thanks for You (Mercury 5174), November 1948
• You're All I Want For Christmas (Mercury 5177), December 1948
• That Lucky Old Sun / I Get Sentimental Over Nothing (Mercury 5316), August 1949
• Now That I Need You (Mercury 5311), September 1949
• Mule Train (Mercury 5345), November 1949
• You're All I Want For Christmas (Mercury 5177) November 1949
• Mule Train / Carry Me Back to Old Virginney (Mercury 5345), November 1949
• Satan Wears A Satin Gown / Baby, Just for Me (Mercury 5358), January 1950
• The Cry Of Wild Goose / Black Lace (Mercury 5363), February 1950
• Swamp Girl (Mercury 5390), April 1950
• The Stars And Stripes Forever / Thanks for Your Kisses (Mercury 5421), May 1950
• Music Maestro, Please! / Dream A Little Dream Of Me (Mercury 5488), August 1950
• Nevertheless (I'm In Love With You) (Mercury 5495) November 1950
• If I Were A Bell / Sleepy Ol 'River (Mercury 5500), November 1950
• Metro Polka (Mercury 5581), April 1951
• Jezebel / Rose, Rose, I Love You (Columbia 39367), May 1951
• Pretty Eyed Baby (Columbia 39388) with Jo Stafford, May 1951
• In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening (Columbia 39466) with Jo Stafford, August 1951
• The Girl In The Wood / Wonderful, Wasn't It? (Columbia 39489) August 1951
• Hey, Good Lookin '/ Gambella (The Gamblin' Lady) (Columbia 39570) with Jo Stafford, October 1951
• Jealousy (Jalousie / Flamenco) (Columbia 39585), November 1951
• Hambone (Columbia 39672) March 1952
• The Gaudy Dancer's Ball / When You're In Love (Columbia 39685), March 1952
• Sugarbush / How Lovely Cooks The Meat (Columbia 39693) with Doris Day, June 1952
• High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me) / The Rock Of Gibraltar (Columbia 39770), June 1952
• Tonight We're Setting The Woods On Fire (Columbia 39867), October 1952
• Chow, Willie (Columbia 39893) with Joe Stafford, January 1953
• I'm Just A Poor Bachelor / Tonight You Belong To Me (Columbia 39903), January 1953
• I Believe / Your're Cheatin 'Heart (Columbia 39938), February 1953
• Tell Me A Story / The Little Boy And The Old Man (Columbia 39970), March 1953
• I Let Her Go (Columbia 39979), May 1953
• Hey joe! / Sittin 'in the Sun (Columbia 40036), August 1953
• Blowing Wild / Answer Me, Lord Above (Columbia 40079), October 1953
• Way Down Yonder In New Orleans (Columbia 40116) November 1953
• Grenada (Columbia 40136), January 1954
• The Kid's Last Fight (Columbia 40170) March 1954
• Some Day (Columbia 40235), July 1954
• Rain, Rain, Rain / Your Heart, My Heart (Columbia 40295), September 1954
• Jazz Spectacular (Columbia 1956) with Buck Clayton Orchestra feat. Urbie Green , Dickie Wells , Budd Johnson , Al Sears , Hilton Jefferson , Sir Charles Thompson , Milt Hinton , Jo Jones
• 3:10 To Yuma / theme song from the film of the same name. (German title Count to three and pray ) 1957
• Blazing Saddles / theme song from the film of the same name (German title Der wilde wilde Westen (Alternative title: Is' was, Sheriff? )) 1974

Web links

• Frankie Laine's website
• Claudia Luther: Frankie Laine: 1913-2007 / Pop singer sang "Rawhide" theme . San Francisco Chronicle Web Portal , Feb. 7, 2007; Obituary
• "Rawhide": US entertainer Frankie Laine dies . Spiegel Online , February 7, 2007; obituary
• Biography Songwriters Hall of Fame
• Songwriters Hall of Fame Award Winner
• Frankie Laine on All Music
• Frankie Laine in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Charts UK
2. ↑ Music Sales Awards: UK
3. ↑ According to the Guinness Book of Records , the record of 173 days was set on November 30, 1932, but the name Frank LoVecchio does not appear in these records. In: Tim Rice / Rice / Paul Gambaccini : The Guinness Book of Number One Hits . 2nd ed., P. 15, 1988, ISBN 0-85112-893-9
4. ↑ Deborah Allison, "Do Not Forsake Me: The Ballad of High Noon" and the Rise of the Movie Theme Song , Senses of Cinema, 2003; sighted on May 6, 2008
5. ↑ The Republic of Ireland has only had its own charts since 1962. An indication that the same music was heard in Dublin as in Great Britain and Northern Ireland is provided by Bill Egan on his Florence Mills website : “I grew up in Dublin, Ireland, born February 27, 1937. As an introverted 16 year old high schooler in the early fifties I was addicted to popular music on the radio. My tastes were unsophisticated; the latest Top Twenty songs - Doris Day, Guy Mitchell, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Frankie Laine etc. I listened to local stations in Ireland, and the BBC, plus Radio Luxembourg, a commercial service aimed at England. ”, viewed February 10th 2009
6. ↑ Kokomo AllFaith site , spotted 10 February 2009
7. ↑ on the story of Mütterlein / Answer Me see also Poparchives Australia
8. ↑ to markalson2.com ( Memento of the original from November 18, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.