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Frankie Ford (August 4, 1939 – September 28, 2015) was an American rock and roll and rhythm and blues singer.
One of New Orleans's first genuine white rockers, Frankie Ford will forever be known for his 1959 hit "Sea Cruise". He was born in Gretna, a suburb of New Orleans, the adopted son of Vincent and Anna Guzzo. Bound for a career in show business, he was already taking singing and dancing lessons by the age of 5. Growing up in the New Orleans area, it was not surprising that young Frankie's biggest influences were some of the legendary names in R&B such as Fats Domino, Professor Longhair and Ray Charles.
While in high school he joined an R&B group called The Syncopators, as vocalist and piano player. Frankie was introduced to Joe Caronna, Ace Records' distributor in New Orleans. Caronna became his manager and organized his first recording session for Ace in the summer of 1958. Ace's owner Johnny Vincent convinced Frankie to change his professional name from Guzzo to Ford. The session resulted in the single "Cheatin' Woman"/ "Last One To Cry". The top side was an exuberant rocker with accompaniment from the top session men in New Orleans. As most of the Syncopators had day jobs and didn't want to go on the road, Joe Caronna assembled a new backing group and Frankie started touring to promote the record, but its sales were mainly confined to South Louisiana. But Frankie didn't have to wait long for a hit.
Ace's biggest act in 1958 was Huey 'Piano' Smith and the Clowns, who had cut two sides, "Sea Cruise" and "Loberta", which Johnny Vincent considered to have hit potential, but he felt they needed some improvement. Vincent called Ford to the studio to overdub his voice onto Huey Smith's backing tracks, added overdubbed fog horns and boat bells to "Sea Cruise" and changed the title "Loberta" to "Roberta". At one point it was planned that Frankie would take over as lead vocalist with the Clowns, but Joe Caronna stepped in and said, "Look, Huey's doing fine right now with 'Don't You Know Yockomo', why not release the record on Frankie?"
So was born one of the classic records of the rock n roll era. You had to sit up and take notice. "Sea Cruise" peaked at # 14 in April 1959 (# 11 R&B) and resulted in six months of touring all across America. In a way, it was a pity that "Roberta" was not held back because it would have made a perfect follow-up to "Sea Cruise". Without a second big hit, Frankie's time at the top was brief. His third and fourth single for Ace, "Alimony" and "Time After Time" stalled at # 97 and # 75 respectively. Teaming up with two other young white New Orleans hopefuls, Mac Rebennack and Jerry Byrne, Frankie cut the novelty rocker "Morgus the Magnificent" for Ace's Vin subsidiary label. Issued under the pseudonym of Morgus and the Three Ghouls, it paid homage to a local TV host. It was popular around New Orleans, but didn't make much noise elsewhere.
Ford was drafted in 1962, and performed for troops in Japan, Vietnam and Korea. Returning to civilian life he found the music scene had changed radically. He cut various one-off singles for small labels, but by the early 1970s his days as a recording artist seemed to be over. He embarked on a career as a solo cabaret artist, singing pop standards to his own piano accompaniment to the eager tourists of New Orleans' Bourbon Street. Nevertheless, in 1978 he started retracing his roots by appearing in a cameo role in the film "American Hot Wax” and toured in Britain and Europe, recording the album New Orleans Dynamo in London in 1989.
He continued to record and perform through the 1990s. In 1995 things came full circle as Ford returned to Johnny Vincent and his regenerated Ace label for the album "Hot And Lonely", with new recordings. Ford also co-owned the Briarmeade record label, which issued several singles and albums by him from the 1970s to the 2000s. A true ambassador of New Orleans good-time music, Frankie Ford continued to perform and always gaves the audience value for money. On May 16, 2010, at the Louisiana Music Homecoming in Erwinville, Ford was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. The singer's last performance was at the 2013 Gretna Heritage Festival.
Ford died in Gretna at the age of 76 on September 28, 2015, following a long illness.
(Edited from This Is My Story, Wikipedia & Daily Mail)