Frankie Ford--Sea Cruise (1959)

     Frankie Ford is what we would call a lifer. He began singing in talent shows and the like from the age of five and has never looked back. He was the adoptive son of Vincent and Anna Guzzo of Gretna Louisiana from an early age showed an assertiveness and charisma that served him well all of his life and foresaw his life as an entertainer.
     He was signed to Ace records and his first song, "Cheatin Woman" became a local hit. It was it's follow up, "Sea Cruise" which hit big nationally. The song which was sung over a pre-recorded track by Huey "Piano" Smith (who wrote it) went to number 14 in the spring of 1959 and made Frankie a star.
     He reached the bottom reaches of the chart over the next two years (the highest charting was, "Seventeen" in 1961 at #72), until his going into the Army in 1962 put an end to his life on the hot 100. He continued to entertain while in the military and on his release, sang on a fairly long list of local record labels throughout the next 30 years. He continues to live in the town where he grew up and tours up to 200 dates a year. You can find him at: http://www.frankieford.com/ff-main1.htm