Freddie Mack - Biography

Biography

He was born on a cotton plantation in Bennettsville, South Carolina, to father Fred Mack, black American foreman of the Carolina Breeding Estate and mother Florence Purvis, an Italian kitchen worker originally from Bracciano, just outside Rome, Italy.

A childhood friend of Floyd Patterson, who introduced him to boxing at Cus D'Amato's gym on 14th Street, Manhattan, he accompanied Floyd, as an alternate, to the 1952 Helsinki Olympics in Finland where Patterson took the Gold medal for the United States.

As a light-heavyweight boxer, he reached 3rd place in the world ranking and is remembered for his knockouts against Sante Amonti, Jack Bodell, Chick Calderwood and Roman Morais, among others.

After 66 professional fights he became a sparring partner for, among others, Henry Cooper, Billy Walker (The Blonde Bomber) and John "Cowboy" McCormack.

After living some time in Rome, he retired to England, c. 1965, where he was introduced to the movie scene by fight fans Sir Richard Burton and Rex Harrison. Freddie enjoyed a short film career especially his part in Cleopatra where, as one of the black slaves, he carried Elizabeth Taylor into Rome. He can also be found in small acting roles in the Invisible Man, Two Escapes from Singh Singh with Donald Pleasence, The Great Rock n Roll Swindle with the Sex Pistols and Scotland's very own Taggart.

Then he embarked on yet another initially successful career as a singer/entertainer backed by an ever-changing band of British jazz and R&B musicians.

His first "group" was an R&B show with singers, dancers and two bands. This settled down into one backing band, called "The Mack Sound" put together by baritone sax player Roger Warwick. The band featured four to five horns, including, for a time, Otis Redding's trombone player Clarence Johnson, and full rhythm section with Alan Cartwright and B.J. Wilson.

From 1967 onwards his line-ups for the "Freddie Mack Sound", the "Fantastic Freddie Mack Show" or the "Freddie Mack Extravaganza" included, variously, Mel Day (vocals), Ray Lewis (bass), Dave Roffey (lead guitar), Ged Peck (lead guitar), Rod Jones (bass), Dick Morrissey (tenor sax), B.J. Wilson (drums), Roger Truth (drums). Alan Cartwright (bass), Johnny Orlando (vocals), Eddie 'Tan Tan' Thomas (trumpet), Brian Morris (keyboards), Tex Makin (bass), Bill Davidson (organ), Art Regis(Organ), Viv Prince (Drums), Derry Wilkie (vocals), Tony Gomez (keyboards), Tony Morgan (vocals), Kookie Etan (vocals), Bob Mundy (vocals), Steve Mustang Sallis (lead guitar), Brian Williams (bass), Jeff Bridge (Tenor saxophone), Phil Presland (Baritone saxophone) John Walsh (organ), Pat Green (drums) and Chris Burdett (Tenor Saxophone) among many others.

In 1969 he was arrested for being an illegal alien in the UK but managed to avoid deportation.

At the end of 1974, Mack signed to K-Tel Records as Mr. Superbad and recorded many records under this label. He also sang on the 1975 hit "Kung Fu Man" on UltraFunk for Contempo Records.

He went to live in Plains, North Lanarkshire in 1979 and spent the time from then till his retirement in 2005 working as a Radio DJ and doing gigs with his Disco Show. His sexy American voice and his love of Soul Music could be heard over the airwaves of Radio Clyde every Saturday night for many years.

In 1981, his strong American voice featured on the Tight Fit megamix song Back To The Sixties. The track reached number 4 in the UK Charts. His words are at the start of the song and are "Wam Bam Alakazam, that's the sound, the super sound of the 60's, going back and checking it out, ready for some more? Hit that floor! The great days are back again!"

In 2001 he founded The Scot's Boxing Hall of Fame of which he was named President and there have been three Induction Events with a fourth on 13 September 2008 in the Quality Inn, Glasgow Central Hotel.

Between 2002 and 2003 he presented the Superbad Saturday Night programme on Lanarkshire radio station Clan FM which was a mix of soul music and chat. Mack died on January 11, 2009.