The Frantics or The Four Frantics were an American

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

group based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

in the 1950s and 1960s. They signed to

Dolton Records Dolton Records was a record label based in Seattle that was originally known as Dolphin Records. It was initially owned by Bob Reisdorff and Bonnie Guitar. Success for the label came early with " Come Softly to Me" by the Fleetwoods, the firs ...

in 1959 and had several songs on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

History

The group began as a duo called the Hi-Fis, with Ron Peterson on guitar and Chuck Schoning on saxophone. After recruiting a bassist and a

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

, they were known as the Four Frantics. Members that passed through the band in addition to Peterson and Schoning during their time were Denise Kaufman, Don Fulton, Eddie Lowell Goodman, Jim Manolides and three members of

Moby Grape Moby Grape is an American rock band founded in 1966. Part of San Francisco's psychedelic music scene, the band merged elements of rock and roll, folk music, pop, blues, and country. They were one of the few groups of which all members were lea ...

— Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson and Bob Mosley. Manolides (born on March 19, 1940, in Seattle) died on May 9, 2016, at age 76. He had suffered a stroke three weeks earlier. Miller (both on July 10, 1943, in Tacoma) died on July 20, 2024, at age 81.

References

Musical groups from Seattle {{US-rock-band-stub