From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Fri Aug 16, 2002  1:16 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Ernie Freeman

ERNIE FREEMAN

Born Ernest A. Freeman, 16 August 1922, Cleveland, Ohio
Died 16 May 1981, Hollywood, California

Pianist / arranger / producer / bandleader.
One of many interesting behind-the-scenes figures of early rock & roll,
pianist Ernie Freeman played on numerous early rock and R&B sessions
in the '50s. He worked on dates for the L.A. indies Specialty, Modern,
and Aladdin, as well as with white artists such as Johnny Burnette,
the Crickets, Bobby Vee, and Buddy Knox. His most memorable session
appearance was probably on the Platters' "The Great Pretender," to which
he contributed the cling-cling-cling piano riffs, effectively satirized by Stan
Freberg.
Freeman also put out many instrumental records of his own, mostly for
Imperial, and usually in a generic rocked-up jump R&B sort of style.
Members of the Ernie Freeman Combo included Plas Johnson on sax,
Earl Palmer on drums and Irving Ashby on guitar. "Jivin' Around" (on the
Cash label) and "Lost Dreams" were R&B hits for him in 1956, but he
got his sole crossover pop smash with a cover of Bill Justis' "Raunchy" in
1957, which made # 4. It was a strange situation: Justis' original hit # 2,
and a pop-oriented cover by Billy Vaughn also made #10, leading to an
incredible happenstance in December 1957 whereby three versions of
"Raunchy" were in the Top Ten at the same time. Freeman was unable
to make the Top 40 again, although he had minor hits with "Indian Love
Call," "Theme from 'The Dark at the Top of the Stairs" and a cover of
Chubby Checker's "The Twist". He also recorded in the easy-listening
style under the pseudonym Sir Chauncey, sneaking into the bottom of the
Top 100 with "Beautiful Obsession" in 1960. Far more rocking were his
contributions to the early singles of B. Bumble and the Stingers (Bumble
Boogie, Boogie Woogie, Near You) and the Ernie Fields Orchestra. Early
in 1965 he cut "Raunchy '65" for the Ava label. By then he had become
musical director at Reprise Records, working with Frank Sinatra, Dean
Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. As late as 1970 he was doing some string
arrangements on Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water album.

CD: Ernie Freeman and his Combo, Raunchy (Ace 659). 25 Imperial tracks.