Iconic 1950s singer Frankie Laine dies
Last Updated: Tuesday, February 6, 2007 | 10:14 PM ET
The Associated Press
Frankie Laine, the big-voiced American singer whose string of hits made him one of the most popular entertainers of the 1950s, died Tuesday. He was 93.
With songs such as That's My Desire, Mule Train, Jezebel, I Believe and That Lucky Old Sun, Laine was a regular feature of Top Ten lists in the late 1940s and early 1950s, just before rock 'n' roll ushered in a new era of popular music.
Frankie Laine, shown in 1949, was a regular feature of the Top Ten lists in the 1950s with songs such as That's My Desire, Mule Train, Jezebel, I Believe and That Lucky Old Sun.
(General Artists Corporation/Associated Press)
Somewhat younger listeners may remember him best for singing the theme to the television show Rawhide, which ran from 1959 to 1966, and the theme for the 1974 Mel Brooks' movie Blazing Saddles, which brought him an Oscar nomination.
Laine died of heart failure at Mercy Hospital in San Diego, Jimmy Marino, Laine's producer of more than a dozen years, told the Associated Press.
"He was one of the greatest singers around," Marino said. "He was one of the last Italian crooners type."
He sold more than 100 million records and earned more than 20 gold records.
"He will be forever remembered for the beautiful music he brought into this world, his wit and sense of humor, along with the love he shared with so many," Laine's family said in a statement.
Laine said his musical influences included Bing Crosby, Al Jolson and jazz artists including Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong and Billie Holliday.
"When people nowadays say that Elvis was the first white guy to sound black, I have to shake my head; what can you do?" he said in a 1987 interview. "At the time of That's My Desire, they were saying that I was the only white guy around who sounded black."
He occasionally recorded songs by country singers, such as Hey Good Lookin' and Your Cheatin' Heart by Hank Williams. In 2004, he released an album called Nashville Connection.
Laine's variety show Frankie Laine Time ran for two summers, 1955 and 1956, on CBS, and he also appeared in films including When You're Smiling and Sunny Side of the Street.
Laine was born Frank LoVecchio on March 30, 1913, in Chicago, the son of a barber who emigrated from Sicily.
He struggled from his teens until well into his 30s — even having to earn a living as a marathon dancer — before hits began coming his way with That's My Desire in 1947. His breakthrough came when Hoagy Carmichael heard him sing in a Los Angeles nightclub and praised his work.
"People like to say, 'Oh, I wouldn't change a thing,"' Laine once said in an interview. "But if I had it to do over again, there is one thing I would change. I would make it happen maybe 10 years sooner.
"Ten years is a good stretch of scuffling. But I scuffled for 17 years before it happened, and 17 is a bit much."
In recent years, he remained active in touring and in charity fundraising. Punning on the title of one of his hits, he called his 1993 autobiography That Lucky Old Son.
He was married to Nan Grey, a leading lady in Hollywood films of the 1930s who died in 1993. Survivors include his second wife, Marcia; a brother; and two daughters.
