Cross & Crescent

Frankie Laine (Miami-FL HON), part of a generation of great Italian-American crooners whose peers included Frank Sinatra and Perry Como, died February 7, 2007, of a heart attack after hip-replacement surgery at the Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego, California.

Often referred to as the first of the blue-eyed soul singers, Laine’s style cleared the way for many artists who arose in the late 1940s and early 1950s, including Kay Starr, Tony Bennett, Johnnie Ray, and Elvis Presley.

Laine’s voice was electric, direct, and clear. He took a lusty, rough-edged approach to his music, saying he was inspired to do so by listening to Louis Armstrong play the trumpet.

“I use my voice like a horn,” he told The Saturday Evening Post in 1954.

Laine amassed 21 gold records and dozens of songs on the singles charts in the United States and abroad, selling roughly 250 million albums.

Humble Beginnings

Born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio on March 30, 1913, Laine was the oldest of eight children of John LoVecchio and his wife, Anna, both of whom had left Palermo, Sicily, and settled in the Little Italy section of Chicago, Illinois.

At age 12, Laine heard the gunshots that killed his grandfather. No one was arrested, but Laine was told that his grandfather had sometimes acted as a “peacemaker” between warring factions of the mob.

“Organized crime, ‘the mob,’ or whatever you want to call it was a fact of life in the Chicago of the 1920s,” Laine wrote in his autobiography, noting that his father, a barber, was sometimes summoned by gangster Al Capone for a shave or haircut.

At 18, Laine left home to try his luck in the marathon dance craze that swept the country in the early 1930s.

Laine and his partner reportedly set the all-time marathon dance record in Atlantic City, New Jersey, staying on their feet for a total of 3,501 hours over 145 consecutive days and sharing a $1,000 prize.

He also worked as a dance instructor, singing waiter, and nightclub performer before getting his big break in the mid-1940s, when Hoagy Carmichael heard him sing one of Carmichael’s own compositions, Rocking Chair.

That discovery led to a steady job at Billy Berg’s jazz club in Hollywood and a recording contract with Mercury Records. His first studio session yielded a recording of That’s My Desire, which became a No. 4 hit on the U.S. charts in 1947.

Topping the Charts

In 1950, after “That Lucky Old Sun,” “Mule Train,” and “The Cry of the Wild Goose” all hit No. 1 on the charts, Laine signed with Columbia Records.

Shortly thereafter, Laine shifted toward country, western, and pop genres, scoring a string of hits with “Jezebel”, “Hey, Good Lookin,” “Jealousy,” “High Noon” and “Tell Me a Story.”

“People like to say, ‘Oh, I wouldn’t change a thing,’” he said in an interview for the book Off the Record: An Oral History of Popular Music. “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.

Laine also proved to be particularly popular in Britain, where his 1953 rendition of “I Believe” topped the charts for a record 18 weeks. Thirty years later, a collection of his greatest hits, “The World of Frankie Laine,” also topped the British charts.

“He was huge abroad,” his longtime producer Jimmy Marino told Reuters news service. “He might have been bigger abroad than he was here, and he was huge here.”

Laine may best be remembered by younger generations for his recordings of the theme to the hit TV Western “Rawhide” and the theme to Mel Brooks’ 1974 big-screen Western spoof “Blazing Saddles,” which was nominated for an Oscar.

Laine’s variety show “Frankie Laine Time” ran for two summers, 1955 and 1956, on CBS. He also appeared in films including “When You’re Smiling” and “Sunny Side of the Street.”

As his popularity faded at home following his last U.S. top-10 hit, 1957′s Love Is a Golden Ring, Laine turned to the international cabaret circuit with performances that included an increasing number of inspirational and religious tunes.

On June 12, 1996, Laine was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 27th Annual Songwriters’ Hall of Fame awards ceremony at the New York Sheraton. On his 80th birthday, the United States Congress declared him to be a national treasure. Along with three other Lambda Chis, Laine has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame found at 6385 Hollywood Blvd.

Helping Others

Along with opening the door for many R&B performers, Laine played a minor role in the equal rights movements of the 1950s and 1960s.

When Nat King Cole’s television show was unable to get a sponsor, Laine crossed the color line, becoming the first white artist to appear as a guest, foregoing his usual salary of $10,000.

Many other top white singers followed suit, including Tony Bennett and Rosemary Clooney, but Cole’s show still couldn’t get enough sponsors to continue.

In the following decade, Laine joined several African-American artists who gave a free concert for Martin Luther King’s supporters during their famous civil rights marches.

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

Honorary Membership

In 1952, Laine accepted an invitation for honorary membership in Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity while he was in Miami Beach, Florida, to perform a concert.

“I remember when the Miami (Florida) chapter initiated him as an honorary member,” says Executive Vice President Emeritus George Spasyk (Michigan 1949).

In those days a petition for honorary membership was very rare. It was a very extensive process and included several letters of recommendation, all of which was reviewed by the Grand High Zeta and voted upon by U.S. mail.

“We didn’t have many celebrities in those days, so (former Cross & Crescent Editor) Linn Lightner (Franklin & Marshall 1918) was absolutely ecstatic because it gave him fodder for the Cross & Crescent on a number of occasions,” Spasyk recalls.

Remembered Forever

Following two coronary bypass surgeries, Laine had been in good health in recent years, and his last public performance was at the age of 92, singing the first big hit, “That’s My Desire,” on a public television special.

His first marriage, of 40 years, was to Nan Grey, an actress; she died in 1993. He is survived by his wife, the former Marcia Ann Kline, whom he married in 1999; a brother, Phillip LoVecchio of Chicago, Illinois; his stepdaughters Pamela Donner of Sherman Oaks, California, and Jan Steiger of Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, from his first marriage; and two grandsons.

Laine’s family released a statement saying upon his death: “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.”