Frankie Laine

Frankie Laine's professional introduction to Western music came while he was recording for Mercury Records under Mitch Miller in 1949. Miller envisaged Laine as a rugged hero-type and attempted to match him with material to fit this image. This paid off with "Mule Train" (#1 for 6 weeks) so when Miller approached Laine with "High Noon" at Columbia in 1952, he deferred to Miller's judgement, even though he wasn't completely convinced that it was in his interest to record it. Since Laine was a fan of Western films, the fact that the song was from a Gary Cooper movie was also an important factor in Laine's decision to record. The song became Frankie Laine's biggest hit, even though Tex Ritter recorded it for the film's soundtrack. As the story goes, Ritter's producer at Capitol at first refused to let Tex make a commercial recording of the song. When he learned that Laine was releasing it for Columbia, Capitol quickly released Ritter's version, but it lacked the drum part. By the time Capitol overdubbed the drums and re-released it, Frankie Laine's version had become a best seller.

In the early 1990s Bear Family re-issued Laine's classic Western recordings (by Nolan, Jones, Hill, etc.) on two CDs. In 1961, the Columbia LP that was the source of some of this material spent 37 weeks among the top sellers. But Laine really found his niche with themes/soundtracks, scoring big with "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" (1957), "The 3:10 to Yuma" (1957), "The Hanging Tree"(1959), "Blazing Saddles"(1974) and the song he is most associated with in Western circles today, "Rawhide," recorded in 1959.

Frankie Laine's recordings illustrate his talent in the fields of jazz, popular, country, blues and Western music, with record sales in excess of 100 million. His ties to television helped extend his influence on some of today's Western musicians who continue to give him credit for sparking their interet in western music. (by O.J. Sikes)