Frank Ifield : his vocal style and quality

Frank Ifield was born in Coventry, England on November 30th 1937. His parents were Australians who had relocated to England to further his father's career. The family returned to Australia in 1946 and moved to Dural, outside Sydney, where he grew up. In various interviews Ifield has stated that he was inspired to sing country music when he calmed a difficult cow that he was milking, by yodelling. 1 Encouraged by the gift of a ukulele by his father, lfield taught himself to play the chord symbols on top of the music staff and started to accompany himself. His headmaster at school also encouraged him, something that gave him more confidence to proceed with his singing. He started recording at the age of thirteen and by the time he was nineteen had a list of forty four records released in Australia, becoming the leading recording star in Australia and New Zealand at that time. He became a regular on the popular radio program Bonnington's Bunkliouse and also appeared in music programmes on all of the fledgling television stations in Sydney, having his own show Campfire Favourites in the late 1950s.