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Frankie Laine
Frankie Paul LoVecchio
Singer, Songwriter, Actor
(1913 - 2007)
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Frankie Laine (1913-) was instrumental in changing the singing style of the 1950s. He left home at 17 to make the circuit as a marathon dancer, for which he and his partner set the world record in 1932. But he was more interested in pursuing a career as a vocalist, although success was long in coming. During the early ‘40s he gave up singing and worked as a machinist on the graveyard shift in a defense plant. Hoagy Carmichael heard him in an impromptu appearance at Billy Berg’s club in L.A. in 1946 and talked the owner into hiring Laine which led to a recording contract. His big baritone eschewed the microphone, and his rhythmic, impassioned style was in stark contrast to the crooners of the day, presaging the soul and R&B singers of the future. His recording of “That’s My Desire” hit the top of the charts in 1947 beginning a phenomenal career.
Although Laine waxed several jazz sides, he became a million-selling pop singer of singles such as “Rose, Rose, I Love You,” “I Believe,” “Cry of the Wild Goose,” “That Lucky Old Sun,” “Jezebel,” and “Mule Train.” In 1953 he performed the title song for the film Blowing Wild, the first of seven films with which he is closely associated including High Noon and Blazing Saddles. He also sang the theme song for the TV series Rawhide, played several film roles, and hosted his own TV show.
Laine wrote lyrics for several songs with his pianist/musical director Carl Fischer, the most popular of which is the jazz standard “We’ll Be Together Again” (1945). They also had hits with “What Could Be Sweeter?” (1948); “Baby, Just for Me” (1949); and “When You’re in Love” (1952). “You Are My Love” became the title cut of Laine’s 1959 album. Laine collaborated with other songwriters on “Cow Cow Boogie” (Gene De Paul, Don Raye, and Benny Carter), “What Am I Here For?” (Duke Ellington), “Put Yourself in My Place” (Hoagy Carmichael), and wrote the music and lyrics for “It Only Happens Once.” In 1996 Laine received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
- Sandra Burlingame |
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