64 Facts About Frankie Laine

Frankie Laine sang well-known theme songs for many Western film soundtracks, including 3:10 To Yuma, Gunfight at the OK.

Frankie Laine did not sing the soundtrack song for High Noon, which was sung by Tex Ritter, but his own version was the one that became a bigger hit.

Frankie Laine's enduring popularity was illustrated in June 2011 when a TV-advertised compilation called Hits reached No 16 on the UK Albums Chart.

Frankie Laine was born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio on March 30,1913, to Giovanni and Cresenzia LoVecchio.

Frankie Laine's parents had emigrated from Monreale, Sicily, to Chicago's Near West Side, in "Little Italy," where his father worked at one time as the personal barber for gangster Al Capone.

Frankie Laine's family appears to have had several organized crime connections, and young Francesco was living with his grandfather when the latter was killed by rival gangsters.

The eldest of eight children, Laine grew up in the Old Town neighborhood and got his first taste of singing as a member of the choir in the Church of the Immaculate Conception's elementary school across the street from the North Park Avenue home.

Frankie Laine later attended Lane Technical High School, where he helped to develop his lung power and breath control by joining the track and field and basketball teams.

Frankie Laine realized he wanted to be a singer when he missed time in school to see Al Jolson's current talking picture, The Singing Fool.

Frankie Laine was giving dance lessons for a charity ball at the Merry Garden when he was called to the bandstand to sing:.

Many years later, Frankie Laine related the story to Austin when both were guests on the popular television variety show Shower of Stars.

Shortly after graduating from high school, Frankie Laine signed on as a member of The Merry Garden's marathon dance company and toured with them, working dance marathons during the Great Depression.

Frankie Laine befriended Cole in Los Angeles, when the latter's career was just beginning to gain momentum.

Frankie Laine changed his professional name to Frankie Laine in 1938, upon receiving a job singing for the New York City radio station WINS.

Frankie Laine added the "i" to avoid confusion with a girl singer at the station who went by the name of Frances Lane.

Frankie Laine next found employment in a munitions plant, at a salary of $150.00 a week.

Frankie Laine quit singing for what was perhaps the fifth or sixth time of his already long career.

Jarvis did his best to help promote the struggling singer's career, and Frankie Laine soon had a small, regional following.

Not knowing that Carmichael was in the audience, Frankie Laine sang the Carmichael-penned standard "Rockin' Chair" when Slim Gaillard called him up to the stage to sing.

The label soon folded, and Frankie Laine was picked up by Atlas Records, a "race label" that initially hired him to imitate his friend Nat "King" Cole.

Frankie Laine cut the remainder of his songs for Atlas in his own style, including standards such as "Roses of Picardy" and "Moonlight in Vermont".

Frankie Laine ended up singing it five times that night.

Frankie Laine listened to him every night, and eventually cut her own version of the song, which became a hit on the "harlem" charts.

Frankie Laine was recording for the fledgling Mercury label, and "That's My Desire" was one of the songs cut in his first recording session there.

Frankie Laine had been over $7,000 in debt, on the day before he recorded this song.

Frankie Laine was known as Mr Rhythm for his driving jazzy style.

Frankie Laine would bend notes and sing about the chordal context of a note rather than to sing the note directly, and he stressed each rhythmic downbeat, which was different from the smooth balladeer of his time.

Frankie Laine recognized the younger singer's talent, and gave him encouragement.

Gilkyson would write many more songs for Frankie Laine over the next decade, and he and The Easy Riders would back him on the hit single, "Love Is a Golden Ring".

From this point on, Frankie Laine would sing the theme songs over the opening credits of many Hollywood and television westerns, becoming so identified with these title songs that Mel Brooks would hire him to sing the theme song for his classic cult film western spoof Blazing Saddles.

Frankie Laine scored hits with Patti Page at Mercury, Doris Day, Jo Stafford, Jimmy Boyd, the Four Lads and Johnnie Ray.

Frankie Laine scored a total of 39 hit records on the charts while at Columbia, and many of his songs from this period are most readily associated with him.

Late in his career, Frankie Laine would go on to record two straight country albums that would fully demonstrate his ability to inflect multiple levels of emotional nuances into a line or word.

In 1954, Frankie Laine gave a Royal Command Performance for Queen Elizabeth II which he cites as one of the highlights of his career.

In 1953, Frankie Laine recorded his first long playing album that was released, domestically, solely as an album.

The album was titled "Mr Rhythm", as Frankie Laine was often known at that time, and featured many jazz-flavored, rhythm numbers similar in style to his work on the Mercury label.

Unlike Mitch Miller, Frankie Laine liked the new musical form known as "rock 'n' roll", and was anxious to try his hand at it.

Frankie Laine wrote the lyrics for the title song on another 1958 album, Torchin, which was his first recorded in stereo.

Frankie Laine's voice was once described as having "the virility of a goat and the delicacy of a flower petal," and both these elements are well showcased here.

Frankie Laine's recording of the wedding standard, "Because", exemplifies the singer's delicate mode at its most exquisite.

Frankie Laine opens the song a cappella, after which a classical, acoustic guitar joins him, with the full orchestra gradually fading in and out before the guitar only climax.

Frankie Laine had helped pioneer the folk music movement a full ten years earlier with his hit folk-pop records penned by Terry Gilkyson et al.

In 1963 Frankie Laine left Columbia for Capitol Records, but during his two years there only produced one album and a handful of singles.

Frankie Laine continued performing regularly at this time, including a South African tour.

Frankie Laine recorded a swinging version that made it to number 39 on the national and number 2 on the adult contemporary charts.

The last song was a number one hit on the adult contemporary chart, and proved that Frankie Laine was as big a hit-maker as ever.

The latter, a big budget MGM musical starring Cyd Charisse, features Frankie Laine performing Hell Hath No Fury.

Frankie Laine's films were very popular in the United Kingdom, but this success failed to establish him as a movie star in the United States.

Frankie Laine Time featured such guest stars as Ella Fitzgerald, Johnnie Ray, Georgia Gibbs, The Four Lads, Cab Calloway, Patti Page, Eddie Heywood, Duke Ellington, Boris Karloff, Patti Andrews, Joni James, Shirley MacLaine, Gene Krupa, Teresa Brewer, Jack Teagarden and Polly Bergen.

Frankie Laine had a different sound, you know and he had such emotion and heart.

Frankie Laine was the mystery guest on the April 12,1959 episode of What's My Line.

In 1976, Frankie Laine recorded The Beatles song, "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" for the documentary All This and World War II.

Frankie Laine performed at three Academy Awards ceremonies: 1950,1960, and 1975.

When Nat King Cole's television show was unable to get a sponsor, Frankie Laine crossed the color line, becoming the first white artist to appear as a guest.

In 1965, Frankie Laine joined several African American artists who gave a free concert for Martin Luther King Jr.

Frankie Laine, who had a strong appreciation of African American music, went so far as to record at least two songs that have being black as their subject matter, "Shine" and Fats Waller's "Black and Blue".

Frankie Laine was active in many charities as well, including Meals on Wheels and The Salvation Army.

Frankie Laine donated a large portion of his time and talent to many San Diego charities and homeless shelters, as well as the Salvation Army and St Vincent de Paul Village.

Frankie Laine was an emeritus member of the board of directors for the Mercy Hospital Foundation.

Frankie Laine settled in a hilltop spread in the Point Loma neighborhood of San Diego, where he was a supporter of local events and charities.

Frankie Laine's career slowed down a little in the 1980s due to triple and quadruple heart bypass surgeries, but he continued cutting albums, including Wheels Of A Dream, Old Man Jazz and The Nashville Connection.

The song was dedicated to the New York City firefighters, and Frankie Laine stipulated that profits from the song were to be donated, in perpetuity, to the New York Fire Department.

Frankie Laine died of heart failure on February 6,2007, at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego.

Frankie Laine was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame in 2008.