Singer Frankie Laine dead at 93
LOS ANGELES, Feb 7 (Reuters) Frankie Laine, the full-voiced singer who became one of the most popular entertainers of the 1950s with such hits as ''I Believe,'' ''Jezebel'' and the theme to the TV Western ''Rawhide,'' has died at 93.
Laine, one of the last of a generation of great Italian-American singers whose peers included Frank Sinatra and Perry Como, died of a heart attack after hip-replacement surgery at the Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego, said his longtime producer, Jimmy Marino yesterday.
Laine had otherwise been in good health in recent years, and his last public performance was at the age of 92, singing the first big hit of his career, ''That's My Desire,'' on a public television special, Marino told Reuters.
During a career spanning four decades, Laine tallied 21 gold records and dozens of songs on the singles charts in the United States and abroad, selling roughly 250 million albums.
But
he
is
perhaps
best
remembered
by
a
younger
generation
of
fans
for
his
recordings
of
the
theme
to
the
hit
television
Western
''Rawhide''
and
the
theme
to
Mel
Brooks'
1974
big-screen
western
spoof
''Blazing
Saddles.''
REUTERS
RL
KP0945