# Fran Frey

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{{short description|American singer (1903–1962)}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Fran Frey
| image         = 
| alt           = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software -->
| caption       = 
| birth_name    = <!-- only use if different from name -->
| birth_date    = December 23, 1903
| birth_place   = [Indiana](/source/Indiana)
| death_date    =December 1, 1962 
| death_place    = [California](/source/California)
| nationality   = <!-- use only when necessary per [WP:INFONAT](/source/WP%3AINFONAT) -->
| other_names   = 
| occupation    = 
| years_active  = 
| known_for     = work for George Olsen
| notable_works = 
}}
'''Fran Frey''' (December 23, 1903 in [Indiana](/source/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](/source/George_Olsen) 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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Who%3F_(song))?" 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](/source/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](/source/The_Big_Story_(radio_and_TV_series))'', starring [Edward G. Robinson](/source/Edward_G._Robinson). The composition was recorded again in 1962 by [Frank De Vol](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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 &#124; Biography & History| website=[AllMusic](/source/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](/source/Ice_Capades) and for [Columbia Pictures](/source/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](/source/Discography_of_American_Historical_Recordings).

{{Authority control}}

{{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

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Fran Frey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran_Frey) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran_Frey?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.