- Frank Frost
Frank Frost (
April 15 1936 — death date and age|1999|10|12|1936|04|15 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:difrxq95ldke~T1 All Music Guide biography] ] ) was one of the foremostdelta blues harmonica players of his generation.Life and career
Born Frank Otis Frost in Auvergne,
Arkansas , Frost's first exposure to music came as a young boy when he learned to play the piano for the choir in his family's church. Frost moved to St. Louis,Missouri when he was 15 and began his musical career as a guitarist. He toured in 1954 withdrummer Sam Carr and Carr's father, Robert Nighthawk. Soon after, he spent several years touring with Sonny Boy Williamson, who helped teach him to play harmonica. After a hand injury, Frost turned his attention to the harmonica andpiano .Around 1960, Frost moved with Carr to the
Mississippi Delta . After he played a show with the guitaristBig Jack Johnson , they added him to their group. Together they attracted the interest of therecord producer Sam Phillips , who years earlier had overseenElvis Presley 's first recording sessions. He produced "Hey Boss Man" for Phillips International in 1962, with blues hybrids like "Frank's Jump" showing off Frost's diverse, intensely melodic harmonica solos. Presley's guitarist,Scotty Moore , produced Frost's next album in Nashville,Tennessee in 1966 forJewel Records . Augmented by sessionbassist Chip Young, the trio's tight downhome ensemble work was once again seamless. "My Back Scratcher," Frost's takeoff onSlim Harpo 's "Baby Scratch My Back," even dented the R&B chart for three weeks.In the late 1970s, Frost was re-discovered by a blues enthusiast, Michael Frank, who began releasing albums on his
Earwig Music Company label by the trio, now called the Jelly Roll Kings after a song from "Hey Boss Man."Over the years, cigarettes and alcohol wore Frost down but he continued to record, tour and diversify his repertory, appearing in the films "" and "Crossroads."
Frost died from a cardiac arrest in Helena, Arkansas in 1999.
External links
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKEY4MjBOJc Listen to "Back Scratcher" by Frank Frost and see images of him.]
References
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