Wednesday,
February 07, 2007
Obit: Frankie Laine,
93; 21 Gold Records, 100 Million Sold
The
ANNOTICO Report
Francesco
Paolo LoVecchio was born March 30, 1913, the eldest
of eight children of Sicilian immigrants who settled in the Little Italy
neighborhood of
As a youngster, Laine sang in the all-boy choir at
church, but first became excited about music when he listened to Bessie Smith
singing "Bleeding Hearted Blues" I felt cold chills and an
indescribable excitement," Laine said.
It was his first exposure to jazz and the blues,
which drew him into music.
At
18, with the Depression underway and his father out of work, Laine hit the road as a dance marathoner. Altogether, he
participated in 14 marathons, coming in first on three occasions, and made it
into the Guinness Book of World Records for dancing 145 days straight.Laine said the life of a marathoner wasn't as grim
as was portrayed in the 1969 film "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"
based on the Horace McCoy novel.
"As bizarre as the whole business sounds today, it was a decent method of
keeping body and soul together during the Depression," he said. "I
gained experience, insights into human nature and I learned how to handle big
crowds." Besides, he said, some of the attention he got then "helped
light a spark of hope that maybe I had a shot at bigger and better
things."
But Laine would not hit it big until his mid-30s.
Until then, he would live the tough life of an undiscovered musician in the
depths of the Depression. He traveled from city to city, ofte
n without enough money for a hotel or a decent meal.
He
finally broke through with his rendition of "That's My Desire," that
hit the so-called
"That didn't surprise me," Laine said.
"In my leaner days I failed many an audition because, I was told, I
sounded 'too black.' I'm certain
the confusion was the direct result of the music that influenced me while I was
developing my style. I guess I became the first of the so-called blue-eyed soul
singers."
As
successful as he was, he never received as full a recognition he deserved
because he fought attempts to make him a crooner, and preferred to use his
voice like an instrument.
"Years
before Elvis Presley, Laine brought a potent blend of
blues, jazz and country to popular music," jazz critic Don Heckman said.
"Rarely acknowledged in Laine's work, he sang
with the easy, loose phrasing and imaginative articulation of jazz
performers."
During
his career, Laine sold well over 100 million records
and had 21 gold records. He was hugely popular not only in the
OBITUARIES
By
Claudia Luther
Special to The Times
February 7, 2007
Frankie Laine, the singer with the booming voice who
hit it big with such songs as "That Lucky Old Sun," "Mule
Train," "Cool Water," "I Believe," "Granada"
and "Moonlight Gambler," died Tuesday at Scripps Mercy Hospital in
San Diego. He was 93.
Laine entered the hospital over the weekend for hip
replacement surgery but suffered complications from the operation, said his
friend A.C. Lyles, a longtime producer at Paramount Pictures. According to Laine's family, the singer died of cardiovascular disease.
In all, Laine sold well over 100 million records and
had 21 gold records. He was hugely popular not only in the
Even after his popularity crested with the rise of rock 'n' roll, Laine was heard for many years singing the theme to the
western TV series "Rawhide," which featured a young Clint Eas twood and ran until 1966.
Most of those who remember Laine for his biggest hits
would hardly know that his body of work included "Baby That Ain't Right," "Rosetta" and many other songs
that were more in the style of what Laine considered
his roots jazz and blues.
"Years before Elvis Presley, Laine brought a
potent blend of blues, jazz and country to popular music," jazz critic Don
Heckman said. "Rarely acknowledged in Laine's
work, he sang with the easy, loose phrasing and imaginative articulation of
jazz performers."
Laine started out in jazz but was sidetracked by
arranger Mitch Miller, who fashioned Laine into a
popular artist.
"When I told him I'd probably lose all my jazz fans [with these songs], I
was right. I did," Laine told David Kilby of Australian Broadcasting Corp. "But he said I
would pick up a lot of other kind of listeners, and I did, so he was right,
too."
Miller produced most of Laine's hits in the 1940s and
1950s, incl uding
"Mule Train" and "That Lucky Old Sun." He said he loved Laine's voice because it sounded like "the blue-collar
man, the guy who didn't know where his next paycheck was coming from."
At first, Laine refused to do "Mule Train."
"You can't expect me to do a cowboy song,"
he told Miller. "I won't do it!"
But Miller persuaded him to record it, and it was one of Laine's
biggest hits.
Though Laine was big of voice, he said he didn't like
being referred to as a "belter."
"I was just trying to emphasize the rhythmic aspects of the songs I sang,
using my voice the way a jazz soloist uses his instrument," he said in
"That Lucky Old Son," his 1993 autobiography, written with Joseph F.
Laredo. " 'Crooning' may have the more commercial
style, but it wasn't for me."
Francesco Paolo LoVecchio was born March 30, 1913,
the eldest of eight children of Sicilian immigrants who settled in the Little
Italy neighborhood of
As a youngster, Laine sang in the all-boy choir at
church, but first became excited about music when he listened to one of his
mother's records on a windup Victrola: Bessie Smith
singing "Bleeding Hearted Blues" with "Midnight Blues" on
the flip side.
"The first time I laid the needle down on that record I felt cold chills
and an indescribable excitement," Laine said.
The record was his first exposure to jazz and the blues, which drew him into
music.
At 18, with the Depression underway and his father out of work, Laine hit the road as a dance marathoner. Altogether, he
participated in 14 marathons, coming in first on three occasions. He and his
partner, Ruthie Smith, made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for
dancing 145 days straight (although he disputed Guinness, sayi
ng that he and Smith danced for 146 days).
Laine said the life of a marathoner wasn't as grim as
was portrayed in the 1969 film "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" based
on the Horace McCoy novel.
"As bizarre as the whole business sounds today, it was a decent method of
keeping body and soul together during the Depression," he said. "I
gained experience, insights into human nature and I learned how to handle big
crowds." Besides, he said, some of the attention he got then "helped
light a spark of hope that maybe I had a shot at bigger and better
things."
But Laine would not hit it big until his mid-30s.
Until then, he would live the tough life of an undiscovered musician in the
depths of the Depression. He traveled from city to city, often without enough
money for a hotel or a decent meal.
Times like that, which he described in his autobiography, were not unusual:
"Armed with $40 and a letter of introduction from Hoyt [Kline]" a friend of Louis Ar
mstrong "I headed off for my second shot at
Before long, he had used up "my pathetic little bankroll" going from
club to club for auditions. He would sneak into hotels and sleep on the floor at least until he got thrown out. Then he
got a break an audition at WINS
radio, where he got a $5-a-week job singing on a live half-hour show.
It was the WINS program director who changed his name from Frank LoVecchio to
Years more of moving around, working other jobs and testing his talent
eventually brought him to
Even this did not provide an unbroken ladder to success, but eventually Laine got a chance to record a few songs for Mercury
Records. He decided he wanted to do an old song he had heard years ago,
"That's My Desire," but he couldn't remember it well enough to sing
it the way it was written, so he improvised.
"Desire" was the song that proved to be the breakthrough for Laine, although it took almost a year. First it hit the
so-called
"That didn't surprise me," Laine said.
"In my leaner days I failed many an audition because, I was told, I
sounded 'too black.' I'm certain
the confusion was the direct result of the music that influenced me while I was
developing my style. I guess I became the first of the so-called blue-eyed soul
singers."
During 1947, "Desire" got mo re air play, even in
After rock 'n' roll hit big, Laine was considered old
hat. He remained popular in Europe and
He also kept performing, traveling widely with his wife, actress Nan Grey.
After her death in 1993, he stayed closer to his home in
In "Off the Record," a book of interviews with popular music icons, Laine told author Joe Smith, the former chief executive of
Warner Bros., Elektra and Capitol records, that if he could change anything
about his success, it would be to "make it happen maybe 10 years
sooner."
"Ten years is a good stretch of scuffling," Laine
said. "But I scuffled for 17 years before it happened, and 17 is a bit much."
In addition to his wife, Laine is survived by his
brother, Phillip LoVecchio of
Services are pending.
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