THE DDP REMEMBERS HIM!
Knock knock.
Who’s there?
Little old lady.
Little old lady who?
Get the fuck out of my house, Frank Ifield.
Yep, Frank Field the centenarian weatherman died last year, Frank Field the Labour contrarian died weeks ago, but for there to be a third Frank Field death we had to keep an “I” on him. Way back in 1962, Frank Ifield was third only to Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard in terms of pop stardom in UK sales. He topped the charts four times with the country stylings of “I Remember You”, “Lovesick Blues”, “The Wayward Wind”, and “Confessin’ (That I Love You)”. It was an era where, unless you were produced by Joe Meek, most British acts didn’t much in the way of personality. To Ifield’s credit, he did inject some personality into his records. Unfortunately, that personality was yodeling.
Admittedly, the ludicrousness of the gimmick was hilarious in small doses, but not much more than that. So too was Ifieldmania a brief spurt, and after headlining for a little-known Beatles at his peak, by next year the tables had turned. He remained a light entertainment regular, and even managed to barely crack the top 40 in 1991 with a dance remix of one of his yodeling chestnuts. He was 86 and picked by three teams (all curiously Frank Field eschewers), but far too late to win the Cup for Willz!
Frank Ifield
30 November 1937 – 18 May 2024, aged 86
3 TEAMS (💀💀💀💀💀💀 6 POINTS)