Frankie Ford

It's striking that a white vocalist delivered some of the finest New Orleans R&B during the 1950s. Frankie Ford possessed the clean-cut looks of a potential teen idol, yet he delivered vocals in the Crescent City with a raw intensity matching that of any performer regardless of background. On the Ace label in the late 1950s he laid down several strong singles, most notably the driving “Sea Cruise,” which climbed into the Top 20 in 1959 and stands among the tracks most closely associated with the city’s classic R&B style. The number had originated as a Huey “Piano” Smith composition featuring Bobby Marchan’s lead vocal until producer Johnny Vincent chose to overdub Ford’s voice onto Smith’s existing instrumental track. Its distinctive foghorn blasts and relentless piano riff proved impossible to duplicate, and Ford never returned to the Top 20. He continued to record other forceful Ace sides backed by premier Crescent City musicians including Huey Smith and saxophonist Red Tyler; among the strongest was “Roberta,” later covered by the Animals in the mid-1960s. Occasional releases veered into misguided swing-jazz or teen-idol territory, after which he slipped from sight during the 1960s, though he appeared briefly in the screen adaptation of Alan Freed’s story.