RIP Franny Beecher (Bill Haley & the Comets)

Jerry Hayes · Post by **Jerry Hayes** » 26 Feb 2014 9:13 am

I just saw in the obits this morning that Franny Beecher had died up in Pennsylvania at the age of 92. He was the lead guitarist for the Comets for a good while and appeared on many recordings and all of the TV and movie appearances they did in the fifties... Danny Cedrone did the lead work on "Rock Around the Clock" but most of the other stuff was done by Beecher. He and some of the original members of the Comets reunited for awhile in the eighties and did some of the oldie festivals and private things. He was very fluent in jazz, pop, country and just about anything he wanted. He always got an amazing tone out of that old black Gibson Les Paul..........JH in Va.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 27 Feb 2014 10:03 am

I have to admit I didn't realise he was still around. He was there from the start. One of the original Saddlemen. Thanks for all the good music, Franny.

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 27 Feb 2014 8:37 pm

Franny Beecher was a great guitar player. He did it all, but I always thought of him as a great swing/jazz guitarist - he played swing and bebop in big-bands in the 40s. To me, what is early rockabilly and rock and roll? Basically a swing band in a small band format with the guitar replacing all those horns. It took a guitar player like Franny or Danny Cedrone to really make it work.

You're right about that great Les Paul Custom. What a sound. Sorry to hear of his passing - but he had a great musical life and was pretty active playing until a few years ago.

Jerry Hayes · Post by **Jerry Hayes** » 28 Feb 2014 9:42 am

Dave you're right.. The obit I read said that he'd kept playing all the way till he was 90 years old.

Alan, I have an old 45 record somewhere by Bill Haley and the Saddlemen which was basically a western swing band. Haley kept those guys when he got into rock and roll because if you watch any of those old rock and roll movies from the fifties or see promo shots from that era, the Comets had a stand up steel guitarist and accordion player as well as a sax man..........JH in Va.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 28 Feb 2014 8:43 pm

Jerry Hayes wrote:...Alan, I have an old 45 record somewhere by Bill Haley and the Saddlemen which was basically a western swing band...

This one ?

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... rd+changed
If you're a Bill Haley fan, check out the above thread from six years ago, in which he was discussed in detail.
He did indeed have a long successful career as a Western Swing musician and a disk jockey before he was marketed as the king of rock & roll.