Posted February 8, 200718 yr Frankie Laine passes away 07 February 2007 - 09:31:55 Source: Music Week Veteran US singer Frankie Laine, whose recording of I Believe holds the record for the longest run at number one on the UK singles chart, has died aged 93. Laine, one of the biggest singing stars of the 1950s on both sides of the Atlantic, passed away on Tuesday (February 6) in San Diego, California, having suffered a heart attack following hip replacement surgery. Laine, who was born Frank LoVecchio on March 30, 1913, became a cabaret singer in the 1930s, the same decade he enjoyed notoriety after taking up marathon dancing to earn money. He once danced for 145 days non-stop in a club in Atlanta City. However, it was under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Mitch Miller that Laine’s recording career took off. He scored a massive hit in the US in 1946 with That’s My Desire and when the UK singles chart was launched six years later he became one of its first most successful artists. He appeared on the first-ever UK singles chart, published in November 1952 by the NME, with both Sugarbush and High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me), but it was the following year when he hit a peak. He scored three number one singles, led by I Believe, which spent an unrivalled 18 non-consecutive weeks at the top of the chart, a record that still stands today. Other chart-toppers for him that year were Hey Joe! And Answer Me, while he headed the UK chart for a final time in 1956 with A Woman In Love. As the rock ‘n’ roll revolution began to kick in during the Fifties Laine, like many contemporaries, was pushed aside from the charts in both the UK and US, but he scored one final smash in 1959 – the theme tune to the hit TV show Rawhide, which reached number six on Britain. But, chart hits aside, Laine remained a big draw as a live performer and won a whole new audience in 1974 when he sang the theme to Mel Brooks’ Western parody Blazing Saddles.
Create an account or sign in to comment