As a teenager, I sang on a few radio commercials for London’s Capital Radio including “Fly Jetsave USA “. I was asked at the time, would I like to earn £100 for the vocal session as it probably wouldn’t be played much therefore I would ‘t make much in royalties. I was a teenager around 16 years old, and my father of course said, “take the money.” In actual fact, it was played on Capital radio, morning, noon and night.
In my Twenties, I was a session singer for the BBC Radio 2 Big Band and Orchestra..
From “Songs from the shows”
Here’s me singing “I’m the greatest star…” from Funny Girl. Many of my other tracks from the broadcasts for The BBC can be found on SoundCloud RuthFranksMusic
Songs from the shows credits
Singing the jazz standard, Satin Doll with the BBC Radio 2 Big Band. Big thrill for me as the arranger was Alan Ganley who was actually playing drums on the session.
When I was 13, I randomly met my pop star idol, David Cassidy !!!!
Long story short, whilst he was performing here in London at Wembley he was chilling out in between concerts at the very big house of a friend of mine I had no idea that my friend’s family ran the chauffeur service for pop-stars and I happened to pop round at the right time to see my friend on a Saturday afternoon. Yes!! I was in total shock for quite some time after, especially as he had greeted me with a hug and a kiss on the cheek when I was introduced to him. Best of all, there were no other screaming fans to contend with.
Here’s the record that I made when I was 16 of “The Nearness Of You”, which my father produced and played the violin on. I had the Ladybirds on backing vocals and can even remember it being “BBC Radio 2 record of the week”. At that time I called myself “ Ruthie Laine.” They don’t make them like that anymore.
Cleo Laine and Ruth
I met the wonderful jazz singer Cleo Laine when I was 16 and attended her Easter course at The Stables in Wavendon. I soon became friends with the family and I was introduced to an eclectic mix of music and musicians. At 18, I received a telegram from Cleo who told me to audition for the National Youth Jazz Orchestra as they were looking for a singer. I auditioned and Bill Ashton took me on.
My father was a jazz violinist and entertainer who was always hanging out with the stars. In the 1970”s he was the frontman, introducing the stars to the London public at “The Cunard Hotel” in Hammersmith.
In the 1980s, he met the late, great , film actress, Jane Russel and performed in her club in Arizona.
She became friends with my parents and I met up with her and her husband, John Peoples when ever she came over to London. She would come and hear me play at my residency at the Savoy Hotel or the Bombay Brasserie restaurant owned by Taj .
