Raymond William Froggatt (13 November 1941 – 23 July 2023) was an English songwriter and singer.Larkin, Colin (1998) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Country Music'', Virgin Books, , p. 159-160

Biography

Froggatt (otherwise known as "Froggy") was born in

Bordesley Green Bordesley Green is an inner-city area of Birmingham, England about two miles east of the city centre. It also contains a road of the same name. It is in the Bordesley Green Ward which also covers some of Small Heath and Little Bromwich. Borde ...

, Birmingham on 13 November 1941. He began performing

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

in the early 1960s before moving on to focus on

Country and Western A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, or d ...

. His band, initially known as the Buccaneers, later Monopoly and ultimately The Raymond Froggatt Band with guitarist Hartley Cain (H Cain), drummer Len Ablethorpe and whose bassist was

Louis Clark Louis Clark (27 February 1947 – 13 February 2021) was an English music arranger and keyboard player. He trained at Leeds College of Music. He is best known for his work with Electric Light Orchestra and ''Hooked on Classics''. Clark started o ...

Electric Light Orchestra The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood and drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangement ...

and

Hooked on Classics ''Hooked on Classics'' is a classical crossover album recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Louis Clark, released in 1981 by K-tel and distributed by RCA Records, part of the ''Hooked on Classics'' series. It was produced by ...

fame, were signed by

Polydor Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...

in 1964. However

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

success eluded them, although

the Dave Clark Five The Dave Clark Five, also known as the DC5, were an English rock and roll band formed in 1958 in Tottenham, London. Drummer Dave Clark was the group's leader, producer and co-songwriter. In January 1964, they had their first UK top-ten single, ...

had a No. 7

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization i ...

in the UK Singles Chart with Froggatt's "The Red Balloon" in 1968. His own original version of the song, under the title "

Callow-la-vita "Callow-la-vita" is a song by British singer-songwriter Raymond Froggatt recorded and released by his eponymous band as a debut single in April 1968. The record release was overlooked in the UK but was very successful in the Netherlands. The so ...

", reached No. 3 in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Another Froggatt song, " Big Ship", was a No. 8 UK Singles Chart hit for

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and, as of 2012, was the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart histo ...

in 1969, and in the same year Froggatt's composition "

Rachel Rachel () was a Bible, Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph (Genesis), Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban (Bible), Laban. Her older siste ...

" became a popular song in Australia and New Zealand, when it was released by the Australian artist

Russell Morris Russell Norman Morris (born 31 July 1948) is an Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist who had five Australian Top 10 singles during the late 1960s and early 1970s. On 1 July 2008, the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) reco ...

. In the 1970s, the band was managed by

Don Arden Don Arden (born Harry Levy; 4 January 1926 – 21 July 2007) was an English music manager, agent, and businessman. He managed the careers of rock acts such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Gene Vincent, Air Supply, Small Faces, The Mo ...

, hoping to break into the United States music scene, but the experience led to the collapse of the band. Froggatt later became an internationally recognised

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

performer, releasing ''Here's to Everyone'' (1993) on his Red Balloon record label. Froggatt's autobiography, ''Raymond Who'', followed in 1995. Froggatt's wife, Louise, died in a car crash. Raymond Froggatt died at

Royal Shrewsbury Hospital The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital is a teaching hospital in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. It forms the Shrewsbury site of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, serving patients from Shropshire (including Telford and Wrekin) and Powys, ...

on 23 July 2023, at the age of 81.

Discography

* 1969 – ''The Voice And Writings of Raymond Froggatt'' * 1972 – ''Bleach'' * 1974 – ''Rogues And Thieves'' * 1978 – ''Southern Fried Frog'' * 1979 – ''Songs From A Minstral'' * 1980 – ''Stay With Me'' * 1982 – ''Sooner Or Later'' * 1984 – ''Why?'' * 1988 – ''Is It Rollin' Bob'' * 1991 – ''Here's To Everyone'' * 1993 – ''At The London Palladium'' * 1995 – ''Someday'' * 1996 – ''The Collection'' * 1997 – ''Moonshine'' * 1980 – ''Runaway'' * 1998 – ''Southern Fried Frog & Rogues And Thieves'' * 1998 – ''In Concert at the Birmingham Town Hall'' * 1998 – ''There Goes That Song Again'' * 1999 – ''Now And Then'' * 2002 – ''Milestones'' * 2003 – ''Cold As A Landlord's Heart'' * 2003 – ''Coast To Coast'' * 2003 – ''Shantytown'' * 2004 – ''The Voice And Writing of Raymond Froggatt'' * 2004 – ''Songland 40'' * 2004 – ''Adaos'' * 2004 – ''Just One Night in Concert Symphony Hall Birmingham'' * 2006 – ''Dream of You'' * 2007 – ''Songwriter'' * 2007 – ''The Lights of Amsterdam'' * 2010 – ''Songs With Reasons'' * 2010 – ''Warm Days Summer Nights'' * 2011 – ''Blue And Gold'' * 2011 – ''America'' * 2011 – ''Fields of Rock And Roll'' * 2012 – ''Movin' On'' * 2013 – ''Birmingham Rain'' * 2014 – ''Closer To You'' * 2015 – ''The Classic Collection Vol 2'' * 2018 – ''In Concert (Hunstanton & Birmingham)''

References

External links

Official website

H Cain
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Froggatt, Raymond 1941 births 2023 deaths 20th-century English male singers 21st-century English male singers English singer-songwriters People from Telford English autobiographers English male singer-songwriters Musicians from Shropshire