Fran Frey

{{short description|American singer (1903–1962)}} {{Infobox person | name = Fran Frey | image = | alt =  | caption = | birth_name =  | birth_date = December 23, 1903 | birth_place = Indiana | death_date =December 1, 1962 | death_place = California | nationality =  | other_names = | occupation = | years_active = | known_for = work for George Olsen | notable_works = }} '''Fran Frey''' (December 23, 1903 in Indiana - December 1, 1962 in California) was a singer<ref name="Brotemarkle2004">{{cite book|author=Benjamin D. Brotemarkle|title=Titusville and Mims|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UK8YZgS4kE4C&pg=PA59|year=2004|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-0-7385-1618-9|pages=59–}}</ref><ref name="Edmiston2003">{{cite book|author=Fred W. Edmiston|title=The Coon-Sanders Nighthawks: "The Band That Made Radio Famous"|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Y5TjDhMDssC&pg=PA89|date=8 January 2003|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-4327-7|pages=89–}}</ref> and saxophonist best known for his work for George Olsen and His Music in the 1920s and early 1930s.<ref name="Walker1989">{{cite book|author=Leo Walker|title=The Big Band Almanac|url=https://archive.org/details/bigbandalmanac00walke|url-access=registration|year=1989|publisher=Da Capo Press|isbn=978-0-306-80345-1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bigbandalmanac00walke/page/326 326]–}}</ref> Among his better known songs are "The Varsity Drag" of 1927;<ref name="Dunning1998">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fi5wPDBiGfMC&dq=%22+Varsity+Drag%22+%22Fran+Frey%22&pg=PA61 |last=Dunning |first=John |author-link=John Dunning (detective fiction author) |title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-19-507678-3 |section=Band Remotes |page=61 |edition=Revised |access-date=2019-10-18}}</ref> "Big City Blues" of 1929, and "A Garden in the Rain", also of 1929. Frey sang on 77 songs with the George Olsen band on recordings and on the radio.<ref name="Hardy1995">{{cite book|author=Phil Hardy|title=The Da Capo Companion to 20th-century Popular Music|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CCoaAQAAMAAJ|year=1995|publisher=Da Capo Press|isbn=978-0-306-80640-7}}</ref> "Who?" sold more than a million copies.<ref name="PaymerPost1999">{{cite book|author1=Marvin E. Paymer|author2=Don E. Post|title=Sentimental Journey: Intimate Portraits of America's Great Popular Songs, 1920-1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_MNtkSqYzpoC&pg=PA83|year=1999|publisher=Noble House Publishers|isbn=978-1-881907-09-1|pages=83–}}</ref><ref name="Murrells1984">{{cite book|author=Joseph Murrells|title=Million selling records from the 1900s to the 1980s: an illustrated directory|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5iIKAQAAMAAJ|date=31 December 1984|publisher=Batsford|isbn=978-0-7134-3843-7|page=21}}</ref>

Frey was heard on the ''Oldsmobile Program'' on CBS radio in 1933.<ref name="rn2">{{cite journal|title=Backstage|journal=Radio News|date=April 1933|volume=XIV|issue=10|page=635|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/Archive-Radio-News-IDX/IDX/30s/33/Radio-News-1933-04-R-OCR-Page-0061.pdf|accessdate=4 November 2016}}{{dead link|date=May 2026|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

Frey was the composer of the song, "Tell The Story", which was used as the early theme song for the 1940s radio program ''The Big Story'', starring Edward G. Robinson. The composition was recorded again in 1962 by Frank De Vol and his Rainbow Strings orchestra, and published on their album, "More Radio's Great Old Themes". Sometime in the 1980s radio host [https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1999/12/23/john-hickman-55/787b6d48-b326-457c-8bbf-ec6ae00bd668/ John Hickman] of WAMU used it as the opening theme music for the old time radio variety show ''[https://wamu.org/show/the-big-broadcast/ The Big Broadcast],'' and it has remained the theme song for ''The Big Broadcast'' continuously since then.

Although he played for several other bands after Olsen's, including Victor Young's,<ref>{{cite book|title=Record Research|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kWA5AQAAIAAJ|year=1976|publisher=Record research.|page=64}}</ref> he never achieved the level of fame he had in earlier years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/fran-frey-mn0000800468|title = Fran Frey | Biography & History| website=AllMusic }}</ref><ref name="Simon1981">{{cite book|author=George Thomas Simon|title=The big bands|url=https://archive.org/details/bigbands00simo_0|url-access=registration|year=1981|publisher=Schirmer Books|isbn=978-0-02-872420-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/bigbands00simo_0/page/499 499]}}</ref>

Frey died of a heart attack in his home on December 2, 1962, at the age of 58. At the time of his death, he was writing music for the Ice Capades and for Columbia Pictures.<ref>Los Angeles Times, 12/8/1962 Obituaries</ref><ref>[http://www.death-record.com/l/175438028/Fran-Frey Lists dates of birth and death. Ancestry.com. Accessed July 13, 2013.]{{Dead link|date=January 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

== References == {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://www.allmusic.com/artist/fran-frey-mn0000800468 AllMusic entry] * [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/100917 Fran Frey recordings] at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frey, Fran}} Category:1903 births Category:1962 deaths Category:American male saxophonists Category:20th-century American singers Category:20th-century American saxophonists Category:20th-century American male singers