Saddle up: Frankie Laine in 1949. Photograph AP
Frankie Laine, who died on Tuesday aged 93, was probably too old-school to be widely mourned in the blogosphere today, but there are some corners of it who remember him warmly. Naturally, the singer's family have created an obituary webpage which says Laine "will be remembered for the beautiful music he brought into the world, his wit and his sense of humour." Some bloggers are also mourning the man his long-time producer described as "one of the last Italian-type crooners". Despite the fact that many are too young to remember the man himself, his advice encoded in his lyrics still lives on. One blogger even recalls how Frankie turned up in the dinner where his grandparents, were celebrating their wedding anniversary and sang to them.
In a career lasting four decades, Laine achieved 21 gold records, and sold about 250 million albums. Western fans may remember him best for singing the theme to the television show Rawhide, which ran from 1959 to 1966, and the theme for Mel Brooks' parody 1974 cowboy movie Blazing Saddles. Punning on the title of one of his hits, he called his 1993 autobiography That Lucky Old Son. You can see him in action here.
