Many singers emerge and return to obscurity and sadly Fran Lacey is one of them. All that is known about her on the web is contained in the liner notes of her one and only LP “Frann!!” I cannot find anything at all about her anywhere else.
According to her liner notes, at the time of recording her LP Mrs. Les Menni was a housewife and mother of two small children in Buena Park, California. As a student at Visalia High School and later as a stenographer for a Los Angeles metal firm, she dreamed of a singing career. More than that, she sang whenever she had the chance. Her reputation as a vocalist was high among her friends and family, but it stopped there.
The thought of being divorced never occurred to her, especially after she married in 1955 and settled down to raising a family. Then one day some friends in the neighboring small town of Anaheim introduced her to Russ Molloy, executive vice president of Bel Canto records, and coaxed him to give her a audition, much to her embarrassment. She later arranged with her mother–in-law to baby sit with her son 2, and daughter 13 months and showed up for a recording session with the backing strings of Hugh Simon.
LA Times stated “There is an indefinite enchantment in her voice and style. She has a rare ability to combine clarity with emotional projection. With just a tint of touchiness Fran Lacey is able not only to sing you a song but to make you experience its every shading and syllable”.
With arrangements by Russ Garcia, Wayne Dunston and Si Zentner this was the first and last chapter of her Cinderella story as after this album nothing was heard from her again!
If anyone has any other information to add to this small write-up it would be gladly appreciated.