Franke Previte

Franke Jon Previte is an Academy Award-winning composer who grew up in New Brunswick, New Jersey. [Stravelli, Gloria. [http://atlanticville.gmnews.com/News/2002/0411/Front_Page/030.html "The right song at the right time in the right movie: Doors of Hollywood swung open for musician after 1987 Academy Award"] , "Atlanticville", April 11, 2002. Accessed May 12, 2008. "'There was always music at home,' Previte recalled about his boyhood in New Brunswick."]

He was with the New Jersey rock quintet Franke and the Knockouts as the singer and songwriter. Previously he had sung with the Oxford Watch Band and the heavy metal band Bull Angus. Franke and the Knockouts were signed by Millennium Records in 1981 and had three U.S. Top 40 singles and two Top 50 albums. Franke and the Knockouts' biggest single, "Sweetheart," was written by Previte and band Guitarist Billy Elworthy and became a Top 10 hit in 1981. The group's other two Top 40 hits were "You're My Girl" and "Without You (Not Another Lonely Night)." The band switched to MCA in 1984, but they split up around 1986. Franke Previte co-wrote music for the hit soundtrack to the 1987 movie "Dirty Dancing". He has a sister who is a Ph.D. scientist in the pharmaceutical industry.

Award

* Academy Award for Best Achievement in Music; Best Song for 1987 for "Dirty Dancing"'s "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" with co-composers John DeNicola and Donald Markowitz

ee also

* Dirty Dancing Soundtrack

References