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| Sound Clips
Click one of the above tracks
download the mp3 sound clip. |
Franke And The Knockouts Franke And The Knockouts DELETED esm040 Line-up: Franke Previte - Lead & Backing Vocals Leigh Fox - Bass (Currently in "Blondie" reformation) Claude LeHenaff - Drums Billy Elworthy - Guitars Blake Levinsohn - Keyboards Franke Previte came from a musical family, his father was an opera singer and his mother a non-professional singer. They were persuaded to perform a duet together and they eventually went on to stage a family… and so Franke was born. At nine years old he began singing at local benefit shows, at thirteen he had his own band "The Intruders" and by the time he was fifteen he had recorded a couple of singles with his cousin, Joe Alessi. Franke went on to join with Fleetwood Mac, Rod Stewart and others). At this point he met guitarist Billy Elworthy, with whom he went on to write songs for the debut by Franke & The Knockouts. Within three weeks they were signed to RCA/Millennium and scored US hits with "Sweetheart" (reaching # 10) and "You’re my Girl". The band recorded a second album, "Below The Belt" on the same label and scored a hit with "without You", they were now touring with the likes of Loverboy, Toto, April Wine and The Tubes. In 1984 the third Knockout’s LP appeared, this time on MCA and since reissued on CD by Escape Music with a bonus track. It was called "Makin’ The Point" and is very much respected in melodic rock circles to this day. The band was also starting to become involved in film soundtracks at this point which led to Franke’s huge involvement in such song writing. He has written songs for such movie soundtracks as ""Mystic Pizza"" "Smooth Talk", "Rude Awakening", "Heavy Metal 2" and of course the much loved "Dirty Dancing" which starred Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey. This was big news, the songs co-written by Franke were "(I’ve had) The time of my life" (performed by Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes) and "Hungry Eyes" (performed by Eric Carmen) earned him a golden globe and an academy award, as well as two Grammy nominations. It was, in his own words, "Beyond a dream". Franke has since worked with numerous artists, many who have scored top ten hits with his composure’s both in USA and Europe, artists such as Kim Carnes, Easth Wind & Fire and Cyndi Lauper. Moving back to the debut, this originally appeared in 1981 and is remarkable the way that this album has stood the test of time. The re-mastering is simply amazing and the two smash hits "Sweetheart" and "You’re my Girl" sound so fresh. As with the other re-issues on Escape, "Makin’ The Point" (ESM 030) and "Below the Belt" (ESM 035), this final stafe in the trilogy includes a bonus track, just to make it that little bit more special. What better a song to include than Franke’s own version of the smash hit "(I’ve Had) The Time of my Life". All three Franke & The Knockouts reissues are must-have purchases and are a beautiful reminder of the classic melodic rock era. |
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