Frank Ifield

Frank Ifield

Person from United Kingdom

Genres: country, country pop, pop, 60s, oldies, easy listening, australian

Similar artists via Last.fm

Adam Faith Guy Mitchell Freddie & The Dreamers Gene Pitney Bobby Vee

About Frank Ifield

Frank Ifield OAM (born Francis Edward Ifield in Coventry on 30 November 1937; died 18 May 2024) was a British-born Australian country music singer and guitarist remembered for often incorporating yodelling into his music and for his four number-one hits on the UK Singles Chart in the early 1960s with cover versions of "I Remember You", "Lovesick Blues", "The Wayward Wind" and "Confessin' That I Love You". In 2003, Ifield was inducted into the Australian Roll of Renown and inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame at the ARIA Music Awards of 2007. In June 2009 he was presented with the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), "For service to the arts as an entertainer". Born in Coventry, UK, to Australian parents, the family returned to Australia in January 1948. Ifield was given a guitar in 1949 by his grandmother and was self-taught; he also taught himself to yodel by imitating country stars, including Hank Snow. At the age of 13 he performed his version of Bill Showmet's "Did You See My Daddy Over There?" and appeared on local radio station 2GB's talent quest, Amateur Hour. This track was issued as his first single, in 1953, by Regal Zonophone Records. By November of that year he appeared regularly on Brisbane radio station, 4BK's Youth Parade, playing guitar and singing, where, "All the artists in this programme are under 21 years of age". His third single was a cover version of "Abdul Abulbul Amir" (September 1954), which was backed by his own composition, "A Mother's Faith". In 1956 he hosted, Campfire Favourites, on local TV station, TCN-9, which "was the first weekly 'Western' programme by a local artist on Australian television". From that year to late 1957 he recorded six singles with a backing group, Dick Carr Buckaroos. In 1957 he recorded a track, "Whiplash", which was used as the theme song for the British/Australian TV series of the same title from September 1960 to mid-1961. He toured the North Island of New Zealand in early 1959, where his single, "Guardian Angel", reached No. 1 on local radio charts. Ifield had two top 30 hits in that year on the Kent Music Report, with "True" (September, No. 26) and "Teenage Baby" (November, No. 23). He returned to the United Kingdom in November 1959. Ifield's first UK single, "Lucky Devil" (January 1960), reached No. 22 in the UK Singles Chart. His next six singles had less commercial success, but he had his first UK number-one hit with a cover version of Victor Schertzinger and Johnny Mercer 1941 composition, "I Remember You" (May 1962), which topped the charts for seven weeks. Known for Ifield's falsetto and a slight yodel, it was the second-highest-selling single of that year in the UK, and became the seventh million-selling single. He had three further number-one hits on the UK Singles Chart in the early 1960s with his cover versions of "Lovesick Blues", "The Wayward Wind" and "Confessin' That I Love You". In 1991, Ifield returned to the UK chart when a dance remix of "She Taught Me How to Yodel", renamed, "The Yodelling Song", was billed as Frank Ifield featuring the Backroom Boys, reached No. 40 in the UK Singles Chart.

Taken from Last.fm

64,829 listeners  ·  507,581 plays via Last.fm