Franks also played guitar, banjo, and mandolin on that album and the accompanying tour. He also saw some success as a songwriter courtesy of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, who recorded three of his songs, 'White Boy Lost in the Blues,' 'Jesus Gonna Make in Alright,' and 'You Bring Out the Boogie in Me,' on their A&M Records album Sonny & Brownie (1973). He also began to get some film work, including music for Monte Hellman's Cockfighter and Jan Troell's Zandy's Bride (both 1974), the latter starring Liv Ullmann and Gene Hackman. It was during this period that he started writing songs, which led him to compose an anti-war musical entitled Anthems in E-flat, a piece that found life as a workshop production starring a young Mark Hammill. He never studied music in college, however, and seemed on track toward teaching American literature as the '60s drew to a close. Franks majored in English and then Comparative Literature at UCLA and also embraced the music of Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz, JoГЈo Gilberto, and Antonio Carlos Jobim, among others. His first instrument was the guitar, and he got the only formal instruction of his life - a total of six private lessons that came with his first instrument - at age 14.He was drawn to poetry as a high school student, especially the work of Theodore Roethke, and began singing and playing folk-rock during this period. Franks' early idols included such jazz-cum-pop legends as Nat King Cole and Peggy Lee, as well as composers and lyricists such as Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and Johnny Mercer. His parents weren't musicians, but they were music lovers and he was soon immersed in swing music and vocal jazz and pop. He was born in La Jolla, CA in 1944, the son of Gerald and Betty Franks. STILL AVAILABLE: Twist And Shout: The Bert Berns Story Vol 1 (CDCHD 1178), and Mr Success: The Bert Berns Story Vol 2 (CDCHD 1251).Michael Franks occupied a uniquely popular niche in the world of soft jazz and pop music in the 1970s he was one of those crossover artists who defied easy category on the radio (which made him ideal for FM radio of the period), and found an audience mostly among college students. Recordings by the Drifters, Ben E King, Wilson Pickett, LaVern Baker, Patti LaBelle & the Bluebelles, Solomon Burke and Tami Lynn represent Berns' time as house producer at Atlantic Records, while tracks by the McCoys, Arsenio Rodriguez, Van Morrison, Freddie Scott, Roy C and Erma Franklin stem from his own Bang and Shout labels.Д«erns died on the last day of 1967, aged just 38, leaving behind a very impressive body of work. The collection spans (I'm Gonna) Cry Some Tears by Hoagy Lands from 1960, which numbers among his earliest recorded songs, through to Open Up Your Soul by Erma Franklin from 1967, one of his final productions. With all that in mind, the time seems right to release Hang On Sloopy, our third collection of work by the talented and charismatic New York-based songwriter and record producer.Д«erns, who suffered from rheumatic fever as a youngster, was driven by the knowledge his days were probably numbered, and crammed a lot into his brief career. A documentary film is also nearing completion. Following the publication of the biography, Here Comes The Night, and the opening of Piece Of My Heart, a Broadway musical based on his story, there's been a big resurgence of interest in Bert Berns.

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