Frank Chacksfield

Frank Chacksfield, born Francis Charles Chacksfield (May 9 1914 - June 9 1995) was a popular conductor in the "easy listening" style.

He was born in Battle, East Sussex, England and is remembered by many music lovers and record collectors for his numerous albums and appearances on radio and television during the era following the second world war.

From the 1950s onwards, Chacksfield was one of Britain's most famous orchestra leaders, and his fame spread around the world. Early in his career he was fortunate to have several big sellers in the USA, which firmly established his reputation world-wide.

During his recording career with Decca alone, it is estimated that he sold 20 million copies.

Chacksfield learned to play the piano as a boy and became the deputy organist for the local church. Though his parents discouraged his pursuit of music as a career, he persevered. In the late '30s, when he was in his mid-20s, he was leading small musical bands in Britain.

At the beginning of World War II Frank joined the Royal Signals. Just as he was assigned a post overseas he became ill. While he was recovering he was allowed to make a BBC broadcast. The broadcast led to his being posted to the Army's entertainment section at Salisbury [http://www.battle-abbey.co.uk/frank.htm Janet Morris remembers ....... THE FRANK CHACKSFIELD BAND] . he was assigned to the British Army entertainment unit, and after the war he became a regular performer on the BBC.

In 1953, he formed an orchestra he called "The Tunesmiths" and won a contract with Parlophone Records. Within two years, he expanded the group from a traditional big band into an orchestra with strings and released a series of "mood music" albums. His sound was similar to Mantovani and Melachrino. His biggest hits, in both the UK and the US, were "Ebb Tide" and "Limelight."

Chacksfield was also responsible for the musical arrangement of the first ever British entry into the Eurovision Song Contest, "All" by Patricia Bredin in 1957. Only because BBC musical director Eric Robinson insisted on accompanying Bredin to the contest in Frankfurt, Chacksfield did not get the chance to perform as a conductor on this international stage.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s Chacksfield recorded a large number of instrumental recordings for Starborne Productions. The recordings were licensed for use by "Easy Listening" radio stations and functional music companies. The vast majority of these recordings were not made commercially available to the general public until 2007 by Starborne Productions.

Chacksfield had two giant US hits in 1953, "Ebb Tide" and "Terry's Theme from Limelight". A third single that year, "Golden Violins" appeared in the Cashbox charts (Billboard only ranked to 20 positions at that time.)

Major Recordings

* "Ebb Tide", London LL 1408
* "Velvet", London LL 1443
* "Evening in Paris", Decca LK 4081
* "Evening in Rome", Decca LK 4095
* "If I Had a Talking Picture of You", Decca LK 4135
* "Opera's Golden Moments", London Phase 4 21092
* "The New Ebb Tide", London Phase 4 44053
* "Globe-Trotting", London Phase 4 SP 44059
* "The New Limelight", London Phase 4 SP 44066
* "Hawaii", London Phase 4 SP 44087
* "Foreign Film Festival", London Phase 4 SP 44112
* "New York", London Phase 4 SP 44141
* "Beatles Songbook", London Phase 4 44142
* "Simon & Garfunkel & Jimmy Webb", London Phase 4 44151
* "Plays Bacharach", London Phase 4 44158
* "Chacksfield Plays Rodgers & Hart", London Phase 4 SP 44223
* "The Glory That Was Gershwin", London Phase 4 44254
* "Music for a Merry Christmas", Richmond B 20056
* "TV's Golden Hits", Compleat Records 671020-1

Starborne Productions releases that include recordings by Frank Chacksfield are:Starborne Limited Edition #1Starborne Limited Edition #2Starborne Limited Edition #3Starborne Limited Edition #4Starborne Limited Edition #5Starborne Limited Edition #6Starborne Limited Edition #7Starborne Limited Edition #8Starborne Limited Edition #9Starborne Limited Edition #10Starborne Limited Edition #12Starborne Limited Edition #15Starborne Limited Edition #18Starborne Limited Edition #21Starborne Limited Edition #22Starborne Limited Edition #25Starborne Limited Edition #29Starborne Limited Edition #33Starborne Limited Edition #37Starborne Limited Edition #44

External links

* [http://www.battle-abbey.co.uk/frank.htm The Frank Chacksfield Band in the 1930s]
* [http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2000/oct00/chacksfield.htm The Decca Years 1953-75]