Carol Fran
Fran-Tastic
SONO 1056
For nearly 50 years, Lafayette's
Carol Fran has been one of Louisiana's
singles reached the national charts,
she has recorded an enviable body of
piano and she followed in her
footsteps. However, rather than play classical
records by Louis Jordan and Dinah
Washington. At the age of 15, Fran was
by Lake Charles saxophonist Joe
Lutcher after she won the $25 first
prize in a talent show held at
a Lafayette night club.
"I had to run away from home
to join the band," laughed Fran. "Joe had a
big record out at the time, 'Go
See the Mardi Gras,' and he was touring
Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma and
Louisiana. I was the piano player and the
female vocalist. Joe wanted me
to go to California with him but I was
homesick and wanted to go back
to Lafayette. When I got back, I started
working for Joe's brother, Bubba.
Bubba was a booking agent that had a
popular band that played around
Lake Charles."
By the late 1950s, Fran was working as a cabaret singer on Bourbon
Street
in New Orleans and working around
Lafayette with drummer Clarence "Jockey"
Etienne. Etienne played on sessions
recorded at the nearby Crowley Studio
owned by J. D. Miller, the legendary talent scout and
producer who leased
material to Excello. Etienne suggested
auditioning for Miller and Fran took
his advice.
"Miller liked my singing and playing," said Fran.
"He asked me if I had any
original songs and I did. One
of them was called 'Emmit Lee.' That was my
introduction to the record business.
I cut that with Guitar Gable and
Jockey. Jockey didn't play drums,
he played on a box." Despite
the primitiveness of the session, Excello leased "Emmit Lee." And
the emotional swamp pop ballad became a modest best seller in Louisiana and
across the South. In 1958, Fran signed on with a booking agent who arranged
45 consecutive one-nighters at $90 per date, but when she returned to Lafayette,
she only received $285. So much for hit records! That same year she joined
Guitar Slim's revue which toured from coast to coast On the recording front,
Fran continued to work with Miller on three more singles including "Knock
Knock," "I Quit My Knockin'" and the inevitable "Emmit
Lee Came Back." With each release Fran's voice got more powerful. Fran
also got a chance to back several of Millers other artists in the
studio including Slim Harpo, Lonesome
Sundown and Lazy Lester. Fran split
with Miller though in 1962 and
signed with the Lake Charles based Lyric
label. There she waxed the torrid
"The Great Pretender, " and "Just Because
Your Mine." That same year
she was frequently working the Dew Drop in New
Orleans and at Thibodaux's Sugar
Bowl. While working at these venues she
often crossed paths with the likes
of Danny White, Earl King, Lee Dorsey and
Patsy Vidalia. Fran next recorded
in 1964, when Thibodaux band
leader/producer Reynauld Richard
took her to New York to record for Port
Records. Several fine singles
were recorded, the best perhaps being the
smoldering "Crying In the
Chapel." The single was leased by Josie and
beginning to sell quite well.
Unfortunately though, the rug got pulled out
from under Fran when RCA issued
a version of the song by Elvis Presley.
(Presley actually apologized to
Fran when they crossed paths in Las Vegas.)
There was one more single on Roulette
in 1967, "So Close," but it failed to
cause much of a stir. By the late
1960s, Fran was on the road with the Joe
Tex Revue where she served as
a warmup act and played keyboards with the
band.
At the beginning of the 1970s,
Fran had settled in settled in Miami where
she worked as a single in several
night clubs and resorts. However, by the
end of the decade Fran had relocated
to Houston in order to be closer to her
family. Work was scarce though
in the Lone Star State and she could only
secure infrequent work. Her luck
changed though when she reconnected with
guitarist Clarence Holliman they'd
met 25 years earlier at the Dew Drop when
Holliman was playing with Charles
Brown. The two became a romantic and
professional duo and they began
working at some of small clubs around Houston.
Their persistence and hard work
paid off when they began getting invitations
to appear at music festivals around
the country and in Europe. In 1992, Fran
and Holliman cut their first album
together, "Soul Sensation," for Black
Top. That was followed by "See
There" in 1994. The duo wouldn't return to
the studio though until 2000 when
"It's About Time" was released on JSP.
Tragically, Hollimon died suddenly
that same year, an event which devastated
Fran. She's continued playing
solo and with a new band visiting Europe
twice but admits it's been a
tough couple of years. On top of that, her
mother died in November 2001.
At that point she decided to move back to
Lafayette to be with her older
sister.
"Emotionally I really needed
to do this CD," said Fran. "It helped me
release some of the pain I've
been carrying around with me since Clarence
and my mother passed. I felt kind
of lost and that's not a good feeling. At
first I didn't even want to play
piano on the CD but my producer Gary
Edwards, and guitar player Selwyn
Cooper convinced me to, and I got more
confident as I worked.
"I like to refer to music we cut as 'Do You Remember Music.'
It's a lot of
old stuff I been playing for years
with a few new things added in. I've
always liked 'I'm Going Sit Right
Down and Write Myself a Letter' and I did
my version of 'Sick and Tired.'
'Cold Cold Heart' is a country tune but I
did it like Dinah Washington.
'Went Up On the Mountain' I kind of borrowed from Patsy (Vidalia) she used
to sing that in the Dew Drop all the time. I'd have
to say 'You Don't Know Me' is
my favorite because I used to do that every
night with Clarence. It's my tribute
to him.
"I was pleased with what we recorded. I think Selwyn's
playing sort of
keeps Clarence's memory alive
and the band was great. I'm too old to have
hit record now so there's no Top
40 numbers. This is the kind of music
people from my era like to hear
at a night club to have a few drinks and
dance. It's real mellow blues."
Jeff Hannusch -New Orleans, March
2002
(Jeff is the author of "I
Hear You Knockin'" and "The Soul of New Orleans.")
1 Don t Deceive Me
2 Write Myself A Letter
3 You re Nobody Until Somebody Loves You
4 You Don t Know Me
5. Ain t Misbehaving
6 I Know
7 I Love You So
8 Cold Cold Heart
9 Don t You Want To Go
10 Went Up On The Mountain
11 Looking For Love
12 Take My Husband
13 Sick And Tired
Musicians
Carol Fran: Piano & Vocal
Selwyn Cooper: Guitar
Harry Ravain: Drums
Robert Wilson: Bass
Gary Edwards: Bass- Tracks 7 & 9
Recorded October, 2001
Produced, engineered, mixed by Gary Edwards
Sound Of New Orleans Studio
Mastered by Joe Doherty, Factory Masters, New Orleans, LA
Photographs: Rick Olivier
Package design: Greens Graphics, New Orleans, LA