Frances Wolff (March 4, 1926 – March 4, 2013), known professionally as Fran Warren, was an American singer.Profile
legacy.com; accessed August 25, 2014. She was born into a Jewish family in the New York City borough of the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

. After some time in a chorus line at the Roxy Theater, she joined Art Mooney's big band and worked with

Billy Eckstine William Clarence Eckstine (July 8, 1914 – March 8, 1993) was an American jazz and pop singer and a bandleader during the swing and bebop eras. He was noted for his rich, almost operatic bass-baritone voice. In 2019, Eckstine was posthumously ...

, who gave her the name "Fran Warren". She spent almost two years with the

Charlie Barnet Charles Daly Barnet (October 26, 1913 – September 4, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. His major recordings were "Skyliner", "Cherokee", "The Wrong Idea", "Scotch and Soda", "In a Mizz", and "Southland Shuffle ...

band before achieving some recognition with

Claude Thornhill Claude Thornhill (August 10, 1908 – July 1, 1965) was an American pianist, arranger, composer, and bandleader. He composed the jazz and pop standards "Snowfall" and "I Wish I Had You". Early years Thornhill was the son of J. Chester Thornhill ...

. In 1947, she reached the music charts for the first time with the song "

A Sunday Kind of Love "A Sunday Kind of Love" is a popular song composed by Barbara Belle, Anita Leonard, Stan Rhodes, and Louis Prima and was published in 1946. History The song has become a pop and jazz standard, recorded by many artists. The song was first recorde ...

" written by her manager, Barbara Belle. She began a solo career in 1948 when she signed a contract with

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

. She had a hit record with "

I Said My Pajamas (and Put On My Pray'rs) "I Said My Pajamas (and Put On My Pray'rs)" is a popular song with music by George Wyle and lyrics by Edward Pola. It was published in 1949. The songs describes somebody who is in love, but whose descriptions about what she does are full of swi ...

", a duet with Tony Martin which reached No. 3 on the charts. During the same year, she sang on the radio program ''Sing It Again''. In the early 1950s, after a number of her records failed to chart, she signed with

MGM Records MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings (later LP albums) of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the ...

. Her last chart hit was "It's Anybody's Heart" in 1953. Her albums included ''Hey There! Here's Fran Warren'' arranged by

Marty Paich Martin Louis Paich (January 23, 1925 – August 12, 1995) was an American pianist, composer, arranger, record producer, music director, and conductor. As a musician and arranger he worked with jazz musicians Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Kento ...

and ''Something's Coming'' arranged by

Ralph Burns Ralph Joseph P. Burns (June 29, 1922 – November 21, 2001) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Early life Burns was born in Newton, Massachusetts, United States, where he began playing the piano as a child. In 1938, he attend ...

and

Al Cohn Al Cohn (November 24, 1925 – February 15, 1988) was an American jazz saxophonist, arranger and composer. He came to prominence in the band of clarinetist Woody Herman and was known for his longtime musical partnership with fellow saxophonist Zo ...

. Warren performed in the musicals ''

Mame MAME (formerly an acronym of Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is a free and open-source emulator designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software on modern personal computers and other platforms. Its intention is to preserve ...

'', ''South Pacific'', and ''

The Pajama Game ''The Pajama Game'' is a musical based on the 1953 novel '' 7½ Cents'' by Richard Bissell. The book is by George Abbott and Richard Bissell; the music and lyrics are by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. and dances were staged by Bob Fosse in his c ...

'' and went on tour with the big band of

Harry James Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947 but shortly after he reorganized ...

Personal life

She lived in Connecticut until her death on March 4, 2013, her 87th birthday.

Filmography

Discography

* ''Mood Indigo'' (MGM, 1956) * ''Hey There! Here's Fran Warren'' (Tops, 1957) * ''Come Rain or Come Shine'' (Venise, 1959) * ''Something's Coming'' (Warwick, 1960) * ''Come into My World'' (Audio Fidelity, 1968) * ''Fran Warren in Nashville'' (Audio Fidelity, 1969) * ''The Complete Fran Warren with Claude Thornhill Orchestra'' (Collector's Choice, 2000)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Warren, Fran 1926 births 2013 deaths American women jazz singers American jazz singers Big band singers Jewish American musicians People from the Bronx RCA Victor artists Singers from New York City Traditional pop music singers Jazz musicians from New York (state) 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women