Johnny Franz - Career

Career

Franz had been an office boy in London's Denmark Street (the British equivalent of Tin Pan Alley), a club pianist who at one time performed with famed jazzman George Shearing, and a BBC orchestrator before becoming the head of A&R at Philips Records in 1954. Some of the artists he produced were artists that never made inroads in the U.S., such as Susan Maughan and Harry Secombe; he also worked with Shirley Bassey and Marty Wilde.

For Dusty Springfield and the Walker Brothers, Franz oversaw discs that matched first class pop rock material and vocalists with the better aspects of orchestral production that was more typical of middle of the road pop. Franz's role with these artists seems not to have been so much that of an innovator as one of a capable delegator. For Dusty Springfield's mid 1960s hits like "I Only Want to Be with You" — which were the best British equivalents to Phil Spector's Wall of Sound - he relied heavily upon arranger Ivor Raymonde. Raymonde also did some work on Walker Brothers hits (like "Make It Easy On Yourself"), which were also competently aided by engineer Peter Olliff; the more classical sounding Walker Brothers arrangements were frequently handled by Reg Guest.

Franz and Olliff continued to work with Scott Walker on the singer's early solo albums, in which he developed a more serious and somber approach to both repertoire and vocals. Walker and Franz were personal friends, and Franz arranged for Scott to study with British vocal instructor Freddie Winrose, who taught the singer much about breath control. Franz could not continue working with Walker after the singer left Philips, though.

He recorded many prolific British artists who were on the label at the time, including Shirley Bassey, as well as Frankie Vaughan, Anne Shelton, Robert Earl, Susan Maughan, Marty Wilde, Harry Secombe, Winifred Atwell, The Springfields and Dusty Springfield. Franz also worked with key Americans under license from Columbia Records, such as Johnnie Ray and Rosemary Clooney. Franz's production "trademarks" were a lush choir and big orchestra, provided in the 1950s by Wally Stott.

Franz, who was known as the 'last of the great pros', died in 1977, at the age of 54.