Frankie Ford Dies: 'Sea Cruise' Singer and Bluesman Was 76

Frankie Ford, the rock and roll and rhythm and blues singer whose 1959 hit "Sea Cruise" brought him international fame, is dead at the age of 76.

The Jefferson Parish Coroner's Office says Ford died Monday of natural causes, reported The Associated Press.

Mike Shepherd, head of the Louisiana music Hall of Fame, said Ford had been ill for some time.

Ford had sung since childhood. His adopted parents, Vincent and Anna Guzzo of Gretna, brought him to New York City when he was five to perform on the "Ted Mack Amateur Hour."

Shepherd said Ford was among three white singers called to Cosimo Matassa's New Orleans studio in the late 1950s to cover songs by local black musicians whose records got less airtime because of racial discrimination.


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