Born in Battle, Sussex, England on May 9, 1914, Frank Chacksfield was a pianist, composer and bandleader best known for his string of easy listening albums recorded with His Orchestra. While rock music was created for the younger generation, light entertainment / easy listening artists like Frank Chacksfield, Mantovani, and Bert Kaempfert were very successful with parents and grandparents of rock fans and often had successful hits on charts that were usually dominated by youth-oriented fare. Before forming His Orchestra, Frank Chacksfield had spent years as a conductor and arranger for BBC Radio and others before scoring a Top 10 hit with “Little Red Monkey” in 1953. Signing with Decca Records, he formed Frank Chacksfield and His Orchestra and released the hit single “Limelight,” which was a hit in both the US and UK, where it reached number 2. Their next single, “Ebb Tide” (1953) was another success and became the first British instrumental to reach number 1 in the US. Further UK hits included “Port au Prince” with Winifred Atwell (1956) and “Donkey Cart” (1956). In 1960, they scored another US hit when “On the Beach” reached number 47 on the Billboard Hot 100. Frank Chacksfield became one of the most well-known orchestra leaders in the world and continued to record into the 1990s. His most successful albums included Presenting Frank Chacksfield and His Orchestra (1954), On the Beach (1959), Ebb Tide (1960), Tango! (1962), Globetrotting (1965), Sunflower (1980), and many others. Frank Chacksfield, who suffered from Parkinson’s Disease, died on June 9, 1995, at the age of 81.
