Carol Fran

Soul-blues diva Carol Fran was born October 23, 1933, in Lafayette, Louisiana. After beginning her career as a teen singing jump blues with the Don Conway Orchestra, she eventually landed in New Orleans, marrying saxophonist Bob Francois. Abbreviating her married name to simply Fran, she became a constant presence on the Bourbon Street club circuit before mounting an extended tour of Mexico. In 1957, she cut her first sides for the R&B label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Excello%22">Excello</a>, scoring a regional smash with her debut single, "Emmitt Lee." Though she recorded extensively for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Excello%22">Excello</a>, only three more singles were released during Fran's abbreviated tenure with the label, and she soon signed on as a featured vocalist with blues legend Guitar Slim. She continued touring with the group in the wake of Slim's 1959 death, appearing alongside various substitutes, including <a href="spotify:artist:7oR6vQt8KT2ZWUpC65jTha">Nappy Brown</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0En4EEcDMJ5kaUCf1aZ9js">Lee Dorsey</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:5TbXjzD8tYgMD5JU2g2F8q">Joe Tex</a>.

In 1962, Fran signed to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Lyric%22">Lyric</a> and released a pair of singles, including a swamp pop rendition of "The Great Pretender"; she spent two more years on the road before catching on with the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Jubilee%22">Jubilee</a> subsidiary Port for a 1964 cover of <a href="spotify:artist:4Am5deuAhDuKUJgXmoCQzj">the Orioles</a>' classic "Crying in the Chapel." The single was then reissued on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Josie%22">Josie</a> label, but it was lost in the shuffle when <a href="spotify:artist:43ZHCT0cAZBISjO8DG9PnE">Elvis Presley</a> scored with his own reading of the song soon after.

Undaunted, Fran remained with Port for a series of smoldering soul sides spotlighting her crystalline vocals to magnificent effect. While the follow-up "You Can't Stop Me" featured a <a href="spotify:artist:1GmnM2cK0KPb5kSVQ6fNr7">Sammy Lowe</a> arrangement, her third effort for the label, the lovely "A World Without You," was penned by <a href="spotify:artist:0EodhzA6yW1bIdD5B4tcmJ">Bobby Darin</a>. Sadly, both failed to make any commercial headway, however, and after one more single for Port, "Any Day Love Walks In," Fran returned to touring. She did not re-enter the studio until 1967, signing to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Roulette%22">Roulette</a> for a cover of <a href="spotify:artist:2ttm3uT0N1RN7vwKv1pQgh">Brook Benton</a>'s "So Close." Despite cutting a surplus of material during her <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Roulette%22">Roulette</a> stay, the sessions remained in the can. Embittered by her label experiences and stung by years of ill-informed financial dealings, she returned to Louisiana and spent over a decade confining her activities to small clubs.

In 1982, Fran was reunited with Clarence Holliman, a noted studio guitarist she'd briefly dated a quarter century earlier; the couple eventually married and relocated to Texas, appearing live together and in 1992 signing to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Black+Top%22">Black Top</a> to issue the album Soul Sensation. See There followed two years later, and after a long studio hiatus, Fran and Holliman resurfaced on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22JSP%22">JSP</a> with the aptly titled 2000 release It's About Time. Carol Fran died on September 2, 2021, from complications of the COVID-19 virus; she was 87 years old. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi