Frankie Ford (August 4, 1939 – September 28, 2015) was an American rock and roll and rhythm and blues singer, best known for his 1959 hit "Sea Cruise".
He was born in Gretna, Louisiana, as Vincent Francis Guzzo, across the Mississippi River from New Orleans. He learned to sing and dance at an early age, and when at high school joined a group, the Syncopators, as singer and pianist. He was spotted by manager Joe Caronna, who took him to Johnny Vincent of Ace Records. Taking the stage name Frankie Ford, he made his first recordings for Ace in 1958. He toured locally in Louisiana, before recording a vocal overdub on the song "Sea Cruise", a song written and originally recorded by Huey "Piano" Smith with his group The Clowns, and featuring overdubbed bells and ships' horns. As Smith already had a record in the charts, and was away touring, the record label decided to release Ford's version, and it rose to #14 on the US pop chart and #11 on the R&B chart, selling over one million copies, and gaining gold disc status.
Ford was drafted in 1962, and performed for troops in Japan, Vietnam and Korea. He later recorded occasionally for small labels, but mainly performed in clubs in and around New Orleans. He appeared in the 1978 movie American Hot Wax, and toured in Britain and Europe, recording the album New Orleans Dynamo in London in 1989. He continued to record and perform through the 1990s. On May 16, 2010, at the Louisiana Music Homecoming in Erwinville, Ford was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.
1 Sea Cruise (Take 1)
2 Cheatin' Woman
3 Last One To Cry
4 Sea Cruise (Take 13)
5 Roberta
6 Can't Tell My Heart What To Do
7 Alimony
8 Time After Time
9 I Want To Be Your Man
10 Chinatown (Take 5)
11 What's Getting On
12 Morgus The Magnificent (Morgus And The Three Ghouls)
13 Lonely Boy (Frankie And Mac)
14 Ocean Full Of Tears
15 Hour Of Need
16 Blow Wind Blow
17 It Must Be Jelly
18 Your Game Is Over
19 St. Louis Blues
20 Geronimo
21 I'm Worried Over You
22 Watch Dog
23 Can't Tell My Heart What To Do (Undubbed Take)
24 Time After Time (Undubbed Take)
25 Hour Of Need (Undubbed Take)
26 Danny Boy
27 Pretending You're Mine (Take 3)
Ooh-Wee Baby!