Frances Faye

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Frances Faye (real name Frances Cohen, November 4th, 1912-November 8th, 1991) was an American cabaret and show tune singer and pianist. She was born to a working-class Jewish family in Brooklyn, NY. She was a second cousin of actor Danny Kaye.

[edit] Career

Faye's showbiz career began at age 15 in nightclubs where she first became a star. She appeared in one Bing Crosby film; Double or Nothing singing After You. She wrote the song "Well All Right" recorded by the Andrews Sisters. Faye made her solo recording debut in 1936. Her act became infamous for including double entendres and references to homosexuality/lesbianism. [1] Faye herself was bisexual and hinted at this frequently in her act; she would often playfully alter pronouns in love songs or weave her girlfriend's name into lyrics of song.

For instance, she inserted "it's a Teri, Teri day" into "The Man I Love" and on national television sang "why do all the boys treat Teri so right" in "Shimmy Like My Sister Kate." She recorded about a dozen albums for many different record companies, including Capitol Records and Imperial Records and jazz labels Verve Records and Bethlehem Records.

Faye was married twice and later lived for years with her manager,Carson Cameron, whom newspapers identified as her husband. In reality the two were only lovers and cohabitated for many years, but were never legally married. Cameron and Faye eventually "divorced", but Cameron remained Faye's manager. In the late 1950's, a woman named Teri Shepherd became her manager and lifelong partner.

During in the 1960s, Faye experienced a number of health related problems due to a nasty hip accident in 1958 but she continued to tour into the early 1980s. Peter Allen credits her as a major influence. She returned to film in 1978, playing a madam in the Louis Malle film Pretty Baby. Faye retired from showbiz shortly after this. At the time of her death in 1991, Faye was living with Teri Shepherd.