Frankie Randall born 11 January 1938

 

Frankie Randall (born Franklin Joseph "Frank" Lisbona; January 11, 1938 – December 28, 2014) was an American singer, dancer, songwriter, vocalist, actor, and comedian. His acting credits include The Dean Martin Summer Show and Day of the Wolves. 

Jazz crooner Frankie Randall was born Frank Lisbona in Clifton, NJ. After beginning classical piano studies at the age of seven, he migrated to jazz as a teen, landing a music scholarship from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Upon graduating, Randall began performing at the famed New York City nightclub Jilly's, owned by Frank Sinatra confidante Jilly Rizzo.  

 

 

                               

 

Inevitably Sinatra caught Randall's act, and his enthusiastic praise led to a recording deal with RCA. Randall's 1964 debut, Frankie Randall Sings and Swings, paired him with arranger Marty Paich, a collaboration that continued a year later with his sophomore effort, Frankie Randall at It Again! He also appeared many times on the Dean Martin TV show, and hosted the summer version of the show when Martin was not available 

After making his feature film debut in 1965's Wild on the Beach, the singer shifted gears and teamed with arranger Billy May for his fourth LP, 1966's Going the Frankie Randall Way! Releases including I Remember You and The Mods and the Pops followed, and throughout the late '60s and early '70s Randall was a fixture of the television talk show circuit.  

By the early 1970s, Randall was playing in an all-star jazz band in Los Angeles led by Pat Rizzo, who also played saxophone for Sinatra and was part of the Sinatra circle. Eventually Randall bought a house in Palm Springs. 

After more than a decade of touring casinos across the globe, in 1982 he began an open-ended engagement at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City. After a year, owner Steve Wynn named Randall the casino's entertainment director, and he spent the next nine years pursuing his executive career, finally returning to

performing in 1991 to record the LP Frankie Randall Sings Steve Allen.  

 Later in life, Randall became the unofficial house pianist at Sinatra's Rancho Mirage home. Living nearby, he would walk to Sinatra's house when summoned to play piano for informal gatherings that could go late into the night, sometimes with Sinatra singing. "He called me his favourite piano accompanist," Randall told the New York Daily News. In 1997 Sinatra officially bestowed his definitive arrangements upon Randall, resulting in the creation of his long-running "Tribute to Sinatra" stage show 

 In 2001, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him. He was also inducted into the Las Vegas Casino Legends Hall of Fame in October 2002. Starting in 2008, Randall hosted The Music Of Your Life, a syndicated radio show and was pesented the Amadeus Award by the Desert Symphony on Jan 11, 2013 
 

 

On December 28, 2014, Randall died of lung cancer at the  JFK Memorial Hospital in Indio, California.. He was 76. (Info edited from various sources mainly All Music & Wikipedia)