Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
We remember you
Yodelling No1 1960s singer Frank Ifield dies aged 86
His lovelorn lyrics delivered by way of a mournful yodel secured Frank Ifield four UK No1 hits in the 1960s. And its those vocal skills that fans will remember after the Australian star passed away peacefully on Saturday in Sydney at the age of 86.
Along with his own huge chart success, the country singer also gave the Beatles an early break as his support act in 1962, at the request of their manager Brian Epstein.
That was the same year Frank secured his first hit, a remake of I Remember You, a song said to be about writer Johnny Mercer’s affair with a young Judy Garland.
The yodelling ballad topped the charts for seven weeks, selling more than one million copies, and later hit number five in the US.
Lovesick Blues was released in the same year and Wayward Wind in 1963, making him the second artist, after Elvis Presley, to score three consecutive No1 UK singles.
Friend, music historian and journalist Glenn A Baker paid tribute to a “remarkable man”.
He said: “Had four number ones in Britain, three of them before the Beatles. I Remember You became an indelible hit all around the world and a perfect signature song. My thoughts are with Frank’s brothers and his wife.”
Columnist and close friend Pete Chambers wrote:
“We will always remember you, your legendary talent as a musician and above all your kindness as an extraordinary human being.”
Frank was born in Coventry, England, in 1937, the third of seven sons of Richard Ifield, an engineer, and wife Muriel.
In 1935 the couple had moved from Australia, but returned in 1946.
Frank recalled after he received a ukulele for his birthday: “It accompanied me to school one day, where the headmaster encouraged me to adapt Australian poetry to my own tunes and then perform them to the class. This experience whetted my appetite for what I instinctively knew was to be my calling.”
While in his teens, he became a regular on radio show Bonnington’s Bunkhouse, and headlined country venues around Sydney.
Signed to EMI records, he released dozens of singles before national service put a hold on his career in 1957. After being demobbed, he travelled to the UK, where fame arrived.
He met Epstein while playing at the Liverpool Empire. This led to the Fab Four appearing at his Peterborough show in December 1962.
He later released a compilation album in the US called Jolly What!, featuring eight of his songs paired with four Beatles singles. However, the Merseybeat sound made his pop seem dated. He continued to score hits until 1966, including No1 song Confessin’ and Don’t Blame Me – but in 1966, he moved to Nashville.
The year before, he starred in the music film Up Jumped a Swagman, about an Aussie singer in London.
Frank tried to represent the UK at Eurovision twice, in 1962 and in 1976, when Brotherhood of Man won with Save Your Kisses for Me.
In 1986, he had surgery to remove part of a lung following pneumonia. His vocal cords were damaged but, in 1991, he made a return to the UK charts with The Yodelling Song.
It was a remake of his 1962 track She Taught Me How To Yodel, which the Queen Mother once requested at a Royal Command Performance.
Frank, who made 25 albums and was presented with the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2009, is survived by wife Carole Wood and two children with ex-wife Gillian Bowden.