Next up in my series of Big Band Singers who went on to solo stardom, is the fabulous Fran Warren. She started out singing very young, and by the time she was 22 she had left big band singing behind and was enjoying her newfound solo stardom. For a short time in the late 40’s and 50’s she was one of the most versatile girl singers, a vocal powerhouse and physically very beautiful. She definitely was both ear candy and eye candy at the same time!
Fran - totally gorgeous, ca. 1948
Fran WARREN (March 4, 1926 – ) was born in New York City. She was just 15 when she started out as a chorus girl at the Roxy in New York, and at 16 she auditioned for Duke Ellington’s band without success. She did get to sing with a couple of other bands though, and for the next three years she was very visible and audible around New York singing with the bands of Randy Brooks, Art Mooney and Billy Eckstine. She replaced Kay Starr in Charlie Barnets orchestra, and by 1947 she was hired by Claude Thornhill.
In May of 1947 Columbia released “A Sunday Kind Of Love” by the Claude Thornhill band, Fran Warren’s first charted record. It was a good seller and made it into the Top 20. It’s regarded as one of the most soulful big band ballads of its time, and was also recorded later by Etta James. Fran recorded 14 sides with Thornhill during 1947, some notable songs are “I get the blues when it rains”, “We knew it all the time”, “You’re Not So Easy To Forget”, “Love For Love” (with a sax solo by Lee Konitz), “Early Autumn”, which reached 22 on the charts in late 1947, “Tell Me Why”, “I Remember Mama” “Just About This Time Last Night” and “For Heaven’s Sake”. Fran’s complete recordings with Claude Thornhill’s band have been released on CD.
Her complete recordings with Claude Thornhill 1946-47
By 1948 Fran, who was maybe just too attention-grabbing to be just another band singer, was all set for a solo career. Despite a recording strike going on in 1948, she still managed to make enough records and public appearances to get started on her own. She was signed to RCA Victor records and began recording in mid 1948. “Why Is It?”, “Joe”, “Why Can’t You Behave?”, “What’s My Name?” were all among her first solo recordings.In July of 1949 “A Wonderful Guy” from the Broadway show “South Pacific” was a hit, reaching number 17. This was followed by “Envy” which hit number 12. She then made a duet with Tony Martin; “I Said My Pajamas And Put On My Prayers”. It’s quite a silly little novelty tune, but none the less performed convincingly. It was stuck in the charts for 4 months and got to number 3.
A great collection of Fran's 1946-50 records
The 1950’s was truly Fran’s golden decade. She spread her talent all around, making a lot of records, she was in an Abbott & Costello movie, she was on TV and did concerts and club dates all around the USA.
In the spring of 1950 another duet, this time with Lisa Kirk on “Dearie” was a top 25 seller and was followed by more duets with Tony Martin: “Darn It Baby That’s Love” and “That We Is Me And You”. In late 1950 Fran Warren recorded “I Love The Guy” on RCA #3848, another top 25 seller. Other notable songs from the early 1950’s are: “My Silent Love”, “Look To The Rainbow”, “I’ll Know”, “Stranger In The City” and a cover of Ruth Brown’s recent hit “Teardrops From My Eyes”.
Fran also got to record her versions of some well-known standards like “Stormy Weather”, “Over The rainbow”, “One For My Baby”, “I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues”, “Let’s Fall In Love”, “Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea” and “The Boy Next Door”. In late 1953 Fran had one last hit on the best seller charts; “It’s Anybody’s Heart”.
The one song from this period that really stands out is “Temptation”, on which Fran sings only accompanied by drums. It is the most remarkable performance she ever made, and it’s totally unique. It sounds like nothing any other singer recorded at the time, and even today her version of this song is a true masterpiece. If music videos had been made then, I picture Fran as some sort of temple goddess, singing surrounded by torches in some exotic location focusing her attention on some handsome guy who obviously is all “temptation”…
CD collection of Fran's complete 1950-55 recordings
Strictly more of a pop singer, than a jazz interpreter, Fran could still at various points be considered to have a feeling for jazz, and even the blues. An emotional singer when the material calls for it, she bites into the lyrics and is a convincing performer of songs that need an extra touch of emotion. Verve was the leading jazz label from the 1950’s on, and in 1955 Fran had the chance to make an album for them. “Mood Indigo” didn’t set the charts or the critics on fire at the time of release. Still, it’s a very good album, and one I’m happy to see now being available in digital version by iTunes. You get none of the cute, funny stuff here – but it’s a perfect chance to hear Fran from her most bluesy and soulful side.
The 1955 LP she made for Verve; highly recommended!
During the mid-50’s, Fran starred in the musical “The Pajama Game” for a long run, and one of the songs from that show was made the title track of the album she made in 1957; “Hey There! Here’s Fran Warren”. It seems to be her most popular album ever, and rightly so. It shows off all the best of Fran’s talent, and is probably the album for which she is best remembered. It has been released in both digital format and on CD. The last CD edition expands the album with 12 bonus tracks, most of them single sides she made around the same time.
Her classic 1957 album, the expanded CD version
After the advent of Rock ‘n Roll, Fran – like most other classic pop singers – had to reconsider her musical directions. It’s was either go with the current flow, or stick to your own thing. Luckily, Fran chose that latter – making a very good album in 1962, dedicated to songs from the Great American Songbook, as well as some recent musical hits. “Something’s Coming From Fran Warren” is currently available again, and it is also highly recommended.
Her great 1962 album - get it!!
Fran went on tour with Harry James and his band in the mid-60’s, and she also starred in one of the many performances of the musical “Mame” – seemingly well suited to playing the title character. She rounded out the 1960’s by releasing 2 albums in a row; 1968 saw her trying out new directions by going country on “Fran Warren in Nashville”. This album contains the hilariously funny “All American Sport”, about a newly wed bride unable to get her marriage consummated because her husband is just watching sports on TV and running around with his friends to all sorts of games! In 1969, another album came out, called “Come Into My World”. This is very much a middle-of-the-road pop records of its time, and Fran does a wonderful version of “By The Time I Get To Phoenix” here, as well as the musical hit “If I ruled the world”. As far as I know, this 1969 album marks the last time Fran recorded. I know of no other records being made after this, even though she kept on singing actively for many years.
"Come into my world" (1969), Fran's last original studio album
She seems to have worked very little during the early 1970’s, but by 1979 she was once again back on the scene. Hooking up with trumpet player Joe Cabot, the two of them toured with a revue called “The Big Broadcast of 1944”. They did this for 3 years, ending with a couple of sold-out engagements in 1982 at “Michael’s Pub”, a very popular New York Jazz Club. Fran, like many of her colleagues from the 30’s and 40’s, was also seen on TV’s “Juke Box Saturday Night”. She was still sounding good, and looking as though her debut record from 35 years earlier must have been made at the age of 10!
Publicity photo of Fran from around 1979
From the mid-1980’s, she seems to have faded from view, and settled in Connecticut. I’m sure she’s happy about the fact that most of her wonderful recordings have been re-released during the last two decades, and she’s probably gained a lot of new fans who weren’t around when she started out almost 70 years ago.
She still makes public appearances every now and then, but as a singer she seems to have gone into a complete retirement, one that has lasted – at this writing – into her 87th year.
Fran might have yearned for a “Sunday kind of love” way back 65 years ago – but I think she will receive love every day of the week from anyone who’s heard her sing. She easily ranks with the very best of the classic pop singers of the 21st century!
Fran at the age of 78, attending the celebration of cabaret singer Hildegarde's 98th birthday. Still looking great!
stianeriksen 
Millie Jackson – A very bold soul sister
July 20, 2012
stianeriksen Music, Short facts about artist Bad Company, Bobby Goldsboro, Burt Bacharach, Cleopatra Jones, Dionne Warwick, dirty record covers, documentary, Elton John duets, female rappers, Foxy Brown, Isaac Hayes, Lil' Kim, Millie Jackson, radio hosts in Texas, Shawnna, Shezwae Powell, social commentary, Soul music, Spring Records, Tamara Dobson, Trina, TV One Network Leave a comment
Millie Jackson turned 68 years old last week, and for the last 43 of those 68 years, she has been one of the most outspoken of her generation of soul singers. Where the others merely hinted, Millie aimed straight for the target. Never beating around the bush, she was a no-nonsense kind of singer from the start, and some of her earliest records also deals with social matters – she’s not all about sex and relationships gone wrong! Never polished but always honest, she was hard to ignore even from the very beginning. While Dionne Warwick was swathed in Burt Bacharach’s arrangements and coyingly asking for the way to San Jose, Millie was roaming the streets and the alleyways, looking for her lost man to come home. Betty Wright wanted some of her man’s “Ooo La La” (figure it out!), while Millie just wanted food for her kids and was desperately searching for a way to keep off welfare! Her man was up to no good, so she decided to “try it one time” also, even if it meant stealing another woman’s guy. Millie did whatever it took to make any situation better for herself. And on record it all turned into a lot of great music!
A young Millie Jackson in the early 1970’s
Her first time in a recording studio produced two single sides on MGM that were released in 1969; “A little bit of something” and “My heart took a licking (But kept on ticking)” – none of which was successful. Another 2 years passed before she was offered a contract with Spring records, and then started the truly golden decade of Millie Jackson, as all of her best albums were made for this label into the early 1980’s.
Her first three albums 1972-74 projects Millie as a deepvoiced soul singer, singing a lot about love, but also sees her in the role of social commentator. Hit songs like “My man, a sweet man” and “Ask me what you want” are both good pop/soul tracks, but it’s on songs like “A child of God (It’s hard to believe)” and “I cry” from her first and second albums respectively, that she really shines! Singing about two-faced hypocrites and socio-ecological problems, Millie placed herself in a new position; the urban, black woman seeing the need for a change, desperate with her own situation and wanting equality and better circumstances for herself and those around her. No other black singer had even remotely approached this theme in the way Millie did, and she makes it all believable with her soulful, sometimes hoarse vocals. Millie might look glamorous on the record covers, but the music was anything but!
The title track from her second album “It Hurts So Good” reached number 3 on the charts, and was featured in the movie “Cleopatra Jones”. Here, for the first time, Millie gets into the sexual stuff that she’s so famous for. Only this time around, she seems to put up with absolutely anything, whatever “he” does is fine by her – she loves the way “it hurts so good”. Later on, Millie would take the complete opposite role, she wouldn’t take no gruff from no man, being utterly in control in any situation involving a man, and calling the cards at all times. She’d take her man by the collar and shake him, and if he had a wife or girlfriend, Millie would deal with her along the way as well – to make sure she’d get him to do whatever needed to be done!
Tama Dobson looks awesome as Cleopatra J, but so was Millie’s 2 songs on the 1974 soundtrack, “It Hurts So Good” and “Love Doctor”!
1975 was the year that Millie really came into her own, and made the first of her truly classic albums, “Caught Up”. Topped by the hit single “If loving you is wrong”, this album marks the first time Millie did one of her famous raps. A rap in Millie’s world is a long spoken passage, that weaves the songs together, and fills out whatever story the song might be telling. So Millie is not a rapper, as we know them today, but no doubt Lil’ Kim, Foxy Brown, Shawnna and Trina were all influenced by Millie’s way with words! Other notable tracks from “Caught Up”: the stunning “It’s all over but the shouting” and her version of Bobby Goldsboro’s “Summer (The First Time)”. This last song was also done quite raucously by Bette Midler some years later – and both versions are far removed from Bobby’s way of doing the song! She quickly followed with a sequel to the album, called “Still Caught Up”. It includes her fabulous take on Tom Jans’ “Loving Arms” and basically deals with love problems and love triangles much in the same way.
Stuck in the cobweb; Millie’s 1975 albums “Caught Up” & “Still Caught Up” was also released as a 2on1 CD…
After these two albums, she tried out different things on her next 2 albums; “Free & In Love” (1976) contains “A house for sale”, one of her best songs ever, as well as a very good cover of Bad Company’s “Bad risk” and her take on “Feel like makin’ love”. Next year’s “Feelin’ Bitchy” found Millie doing a country-influenced “If you’re not back in love by Monday”, an extended 10-minute “All the way lover” and a cover of the recent hit song by long forgotten girl group Hot’s “Angel in your arms”.
The studio recordings of some of her eternal concert favourites appeared on 1978’s “Get It Outcha System”: “Keep the home fires burning”, “Logs & Thangs”, “Put something down on it” (often performed as a long medley in concerts), as well as another cover, Dolly Parton’s recent hit “Here you come again” (also covered by Patti LaBelle three years later).
The proper attire for getting things outcha system!
1979 was a very productive year for Millie; the studio album “A Moment’s Pleasure” came out, quickly followed by the double disc “Live & Uncensored”. The studio album contain a great version of Exile’s recent no. 1 hit “Kiss you all over”, and another cover in Boney M’s “Never change lovers in the middle of the night”. The live album finds Miss J doing a lot her hits, while also putting her personal stamp on other people’s hit of the day like “Hold the line”, “Just when I needed you most”, “Da ya think I’m sexy”. Added to all this the quite infamous “classical” piece “Phuck U Symphony” which is just hilarious! On top of this she made a duet album with Isaac Hayes, “Royal Rappin’s”. Teaming them might seem like a natural thing, but unfortunately the album doesn’t show the best of neither one of them….
The first half of the 1980’s saw Millie release no less than 6 albums in three years. She kept up her combination of long rap passages with soulful ballads on both “For Men Only” (1980) and “I Had To Say It” (1981). She did more country tinged material on the obviously titled “Just A Lil’ Bit of Country” (1982), and the same year another live disc came out, this time (appropriately) titled “Live & Outrageous”. “Hard Times” followed in 1983, with Millie doing a not-so-subtle “Mess on your hands/Shit on your fingers” medley! Her last album for Spring was “E.S.P.” which in Millie’s universe has nothing to do with extrasensory perception, but rather Extra Sexual Persuasion! Equipped with a crystal ball on the cover, strategically placed to magnify her ample cleavage! “E.S.P.” does contain great music though, with the ballad “Feel like walkin’ in the rain” being a highlight.
Clairvoyance & cleavage! Beware the fortune teller – this gal ain’t interested in your future!
Signing with the Jive label, Millie’s 1986 album “An Imitation of Love” saw her dressed in a blue and white suit, looking as she came straight from an office job. It produced two big hit singles, “Hot! Wild! Unrestricted! Crazy Love” and “Love’s a dangerous game” in addition to maybe the best song she ever recorded, “Mind over matter”. This song is a dance track with great lyrics, and it perfectly melts together text, voice, singer and image into a masterpiece! With her tongue firmly placed in her cheek, she declares” “You call me dirty, I say I’m not too clean/I’m not a nymphomaniac – just a bad sex machine/It’s mind over matter….”
Also for Jive, she made the rather overlooked “The Tide Is Turning” (1988), and then in 1989 she made an album that certainly wasn’t overlooked – “Back To The Sh*#t!” – an all-time contestant for worst record cover ever! Millie went way out on this one, and I never understood why she allowed the cover to be made. Sitting on the toilet, with her undies around her ankles – and an expression on her face that signals severe pain (maybe she’s gassy?) – it’s just plain bad! The cover got so much attention that nobody paid any mind to the music inside, which contains a great version of “Will you love me tomorrow”… Another not-too-smart career move was done the next year, when she made the duet “Act of War” with Elton John. It’s the most mismatched duet ever, on a noisy over-arranged song that wipes out any trace of their personal styles, and is something that might have been a good idea at the start, but turned out to be best forgotten! (Shezwae Powell also made a record called “Act of War” that same year, but this is not the same song)
The decade 1991-2001 produced albums “Young Man, Older Woman” and a cast album with the same music after Millie had turned it into a show starring herself. Then there was “It’s Over” (1995) and its sequel “The Sequel; It ain’t over” (1997). In between these there was a rather straight album called “Rock ‘N’ Soul” (1994) which is exactly what the title indicates. Her last album, called “Not For Church Folks”, came out 2001 and the title is good advice, as Millie proves once again that she’s not holding back anything.
A fairly recent photo of Millie Jackson
Millie Jackson had her own radio show in Dallas, Texas for thirteen years, up to January 2012. A documentary about this legendary singer, called “Unsung – The Story of Mildred “Millie” Jackson” was aired on the TV One Network in February 2012.
There isn’t much that’s left unsung by Miss Jackson, she took it all in stride and her records show that she dared where others feared to tread. She might not have collected a lot of Grammies, and never was a regular at the top of the charts. But still she has left behind a legacy of music that stands out above the rest – and that’s what makes Millie Jackson unique!
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