Frank Ifield (born November 13, 1937) is an English easy listening country music singer.

Early Years

Frank Ifield was born in Coventry, England. He moved with his Australian parents to Dural, 30 miles from Sydney, in about 1958. It was a rural district and he listened to Hillbilly music (now called Country) while milking the cows. He learned how to yodel in imitation of country stars like Hank Snow. At the age of 13 he recorded "Did You See My Daddy Over There?", and by the age of 19 was the number one recording star in Australia and New Zealand. He returned to the UK in 1959.

The hits

He first record in Britain was "Lucky Devil" (1960) which only got to number 22. His next six records were less successful, but he finally broke through with "I Remember You" in 1961. It was the first record to sell one million copies within the UK alone. It reached number 5 in the USA, and was #1 in the US country charts. It had a slight yodel on it. His next single was a double A-side: "Lovesick Blues" and "She Taught Me How To Yodel". "Lovesick Blues" was originally sung by Hank Williams and was treated in an upbeat "Let's Twist Again" style. The other song is a virtuoso piece of yodelling with the final verse - entirely yodelling - sung at double-speed. It reached number 44 in the USA. His next hit, "Wayward Wind", made him the first person to reach number one three times in succession. His other recordings include "Nobody's Darling but Mine", "Confessin'", "Mule Train" and "Don't Blame Me". In 1963 he sang at the Grand Ole Opry, introduced by one of his heroes, Hank Snow. Many of his records were produced by Norrie Paramor.

Jolly What!

Ifield toured the UK, supported by The Beatles. While Vee-Jay Records temporarily had the rights to four of The Beatles recordings, they released an album called "Jolly What" England's Greatest Recording Stars: The Beatles and Frank Ifield on Stage" on February 26, 1964. This consists of four studio recordings of the Beatles plus eight live on-stage recordings of Ifield. The original pressing has a drawing of a chubby old man with a moustache, and is itself quite rare. However, just before Vee Jay's publishing rights were about to expire on October 10th 1964 they changed the sleeve cover to a drawing of the Beatles. Probably less than 100 copies were pressed. It is the rarest Beatles album. Three sealed stereo copies were discovered in 1976. The first copy sold for 600 dollars, the second for 900 and the third for 1,800 dollars. One of the three was sold in 1995 for 22,000 dollars.