Biography - A little Bit About Frank
Frank Forde was born in Manchester. After he left school he took up an engineering apprenticeship. At the weekends out with the boys, he would deliver a few of the current pops in the local pubs with the resident musicians (some good, some awful). The landlady at one pub asked if he would be the paid artiste the next week.
Panic!, after scratching around for the extra sheet music he performed that paid gig and got the ‘bug’ After that he picked up regular bookings by performing at Sunday noon audition concerts and showcases around the city.
Working the best and worst of the workings men’s, social, labour, and conservative clubs was a great grounding, having to do your best with an array of all types of backing musicians.
He teamed up for a short period with a church club friend Frank Caffery (a pianist) performing as ‘The Two Franks’ they eventually reached the dizzy heights of larger sporting clubs who generally featured five or six acts a night for five or six nights a week.
Back on his own again he did the circuit of theatres, clubs, hotels etc. and every holiday camp you could name. He eventually landed a regular gig as compere/host of the Manchester City F.C cabaret Club.
After Manchester city he also had periods as compere at other top clubs such as Batley Variety, Heart Of The Midlands, Poco Poco, The Golden Carter And Cresta Club. At all these nights spots Frank had the pleasure of introducing and performing with some of the top stars and numerous well known artistes, such as Bill Haley And The Comets, The Drifters, Matt Monro, Frankie Vaughn, Mike Yarwood, Bob Monkhouse, Ken Dodd, The Supremes, Tony Christe, The Three Degrees, Stan Stennett, Lulu And Most Of The Tv Comics Like Freddie Star, Bernard Manning, Frank Carson, Jimmy Cricket.
In-between his compere/host engagements he still pursued regular engagements, travelling the length and breadth of the British Isles and the Continent. Hard Graft!
Although never short of bookings Frank achieved a long ambition of entertaining on cruise ships, his first shop was Fred Olsens Black Watch, but after that he sailed under the banner of many top cruise lines, enjoying many happy tours around the world.
A few years ago a serious illness curtailed his workload for a short period but eventually Frank was back on the road again doing what he enjoys best – Entertaining.
