Frank D'Rone is an American jazz singer and guitarist. He grew up in Providence, Rhode Island and began singing and playing the guitar professionally at age 5. At age 11, he had his own local radio show. At age 13, he won an Artist’s Degree in classical guitar from the American Guild of Stringed Instruments. At 18, D’Rone headed for New York and beyond, moving to Chicago in the late 1950s. D'Rone achieved success in Chicago clubs, attracting the attention of such jazz luminaries as Oscar Peterson, Stan Kenton and Nat King Cole. Dick LaPalm, a record promoter for Nat Cole, Peggy Lee, and many others got him his first record contract with Mercury records and introduced him to his great friend, Nat "King" Cole.
His first album, Frank D'Rone Sings, was released in 1959, and included liner notes penned by Cole himself, who later helped D'Rone earn several appearances on the Johnny Carson Show in the 1960s and 1970s. An album with arrangements by record producer Billy May, After the Ball, was released in 1960. D'Rone was a performer at the hungry i nightclub in San Francisco, California, where he recorded a live 1962 album, In Person. However his recording contract with Mercury Records ended at this time.[1] He also recorded for Columbia Records and RCA Camden.
His style was praised by jazz critic Will Friedwald as "all singing from the heart and no put-ons."[2] He had one hit in the UK Singles Chart in 1960, with the song "Strawberry Blonde (The Band Rocked On)".[3]