Franke Jon Previte (born May 2, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, and Academy Award-winning composer. He was the lead singer of the 1980s AOR rock band Franke and the Knockouts.

Biography

Born and raised in

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

rock quintet, Franke and the Knockouts. He had previously performed with the Oxford Watch Band and Bull Angus. Franke and the Knockouts were signed by Millennium Records in 1981 and had three U.S.

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

singles, as well as two Top 50 albums. The band switched to

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

in 1984, and split up around 1986. Previte co-wrote music for the hit

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

for the 1987 movie ''

Dirty Dancing ''Dirty Dancing'' is a 1987 American romance film, romantic drama film, drama Dance in film, dance film written by Eleanor Bergstein, produced by Linda Gottlieb, and directed by Emile Ardolino. Starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, it tel ...

'', including "

(I've Had) The Time of My Life "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" is a 1987 song composed by Franke Previte, John DeNicola, and Donald Markowitz. It was recorded by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, and used as the theme song for the 1987 film ''Dirty Dancing''. The song has won ...

," and Eric Carmen's hit " Hungry Eyes".

Awards

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

for Best Achievement in Music; Best Song for 1987 for ''

s "

" with co-composers

John DeNicola John DeNicola (born October 4, 1955) is an American songwriter and producer. He is best known for co-writing the song "(I've Had) The Time of My Life", for which he won both an Academy Awards, Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as rec ...

and

Donald Markowitz Donald is a Scottish masculine given name. It is derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misint ...

. That same year Previte also received a Golden Globe and a Grammy nomination. "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" also won the ASCAP song of the year award. In 2014, the song was chosen as one of ASCAP's top 100 songs ever written, landing at number 15. Previte was chosen as one of America's top 25 songwriters to represent the US in a songwriter summit in the USSR, which resulted in a release of an album called '' Music Speaks Louder Than Words'' in 1990.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Previte, Franke Living people Best Original Song Academy Award–winning songwriters Golden Globe Award–winning musicians Songwriters from New Jersey American male composers 21st-century American composers Musicians from New Brunswick, New Jersey 1946 births 21st-century American male musicians American male songwriters

Biography

Awards

See also

References