Raymond Froggatt

Raymond "Froggy" Froggatt was a singer/songwriter who spent much of his tumultuous career struggling to gain recognition. Born in Birmingham, England, he made his debut singing at a Dunlop factory party and received ten cents for his efforts. Froggatt was a sickly child who spent much of his youth battling tuberculosis in the Yardley Sanatorium. He left school in the 1950s to work a series of odd jobs. He had a recurrence of tuberculosis at age 18, and this time it attacked his kidneys and bladder. While isolated at yet another sanatorium, he took up poetry and decided to form a band. After advertising for musicians in the Birmingham Evening Post, he met young guitarist Hartley "H." Cain, bassist Lou Clark, and drummer Len Ablethorpe. The band began playing the Birmingham club circuit and became regulars at the Belfry, a popular club. There Monopoly gained a devoted following, and was eventually signed by Polydor Records to a five-year contract in 1964. Froggatt's first success came with his song "Red Balloon." Unfortunately, though played on local radio stations for two months, it was badly mishandled and never appeared in stores; later the song became a hit for the Dave Clark Five, and then for Marie Laforet in France. Froggatt signed to Bell Records in 1972, where he and Monopoly cut their first album, Bleach. The album's first single "The Singer" was mishandled by an inept deejay who accidentally played the record too fast on the Roundtable Show. The panelists had a good laugh and the single died then and there. Still, the album sold fairly well. After his Bell contract expired, Froggatt signed with music entrepreneur Don Arden, who was known as a starmaker and could perhaps provide the singer a chance to make it in the U.S. Arden put Froggatt on staff for Robbins...