Frankie Ford, the blues and rock and roll singer and pianist has died, the Associated Press reported. Ford, best known for his 1959 hit "Sea Cruise," passed away at his home in Gretna, Louisiana on Monday, at 76 years old.
The singer had been ill for some time, and was unable to walk after being hit by a car in Memphis a few years ago, according to the AP. The Jefferson Parish coroner's office confirmed that Ford passed away from natural causes.
"He was a great guy. He had the best voice in rock and roll," Mike Shepherd, the head of the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame and Ford's friend, told the AP.
Ford was born in New Orleans in 1939 and his adoptive parents, Anna and Vincent Guzzo, named him Frank Guzzo, local paper The Times-Picayune reported. He sang and performed throughout his childhood and at 12 years old, his parents took him to New York to make an appearance on the "The Ted Mack Amateur Hour."
At 19-years-old, he was chosen by a team of record producers and labels who were in the business of churning out "teen idols," according to The Times-Picayune, in which white singers who were chosen to cover black rhythm and blues singers' music in order to turn them into radio hits. Ford's version of New Orleans rhythm and blues piano player Huey "Piano" Smith's "Sea Cruise" went on to become Ford's biggest hit. The song charted at No. 11 on Billboard's 1959 rhythm and blues chart.
Ford's last performance was in 2013 at the Gretna Heritage Festival, according to the Wrap. His funeral arrangements are pending.
Watch Ford's 1959 performance of "Sea Cruise" on the "Saturday Night Beech-Nut Show" below.
