3 Things You Should Know about 1980s Pop Rockers Franke & The Knockouts

Formed in 1980, the New Jersey-based pop-rock band Franke & The Knockouts seemed destined for big things. Their 1981 self-titled debut album reached No. 31 on the Billboard 200 and its lead single, “Sweetheart,” ranked as the 50th-biggest single on Billboard’s year-end Hot 100. While “Sweetheart” was just one spot behind “Hungry Heart” by fellow Jerseyite Bruce Springsteen on the year-end chart, Franke & The Knockouts didn’t exactly have a Springsteen-like impact on the ‘80s.

That said, Franke & The Knockouts did make more of a mark on the decade than just having one big hit. Here are three things besides “Sweetheart” the band should be remembered for all these years later.

Their Last Album Featured Two Highly Regarded Rock Drummers

Claude LeHenaff was Franke & The Knockouts’ original drummer, and he played on their entire debut album, including “Sweetheart.” However, LeHenaff may be best known for being replaced by future Bon Jovi drummer Tico Torres. After successfully auditioning for Franke & The Knockouts in 1982, Torres performed on the band’s third and final studio album Makin’ the Point.

Torres gave Franke & The Knockouts the solid rock foundation they were looking for, but producer Bill Schnee wanted to bring in a guest drummer for one of the tracks from Makin’ the Point. “Come Rain or Shine” was the song the band intended to make the first single, and Schnee suggested the band hire the legendary Jeff Porcaro to drum on it. (According to frontman Franke Previte in an interview for Pop Dose, the band’s label, MCA Records, vetoed their choice and chose “Outrageous” as the lead single instead.)

Franke & The Knockouts got to know Porcaro from when they had toured with Toto, and Torres was on board with sitting that track out. Previte told the YouTube channel Rock History Music that Torres said, “More power to … getting the record heard and having [Porcaro] on it.” In 1984, Torres departed for Bon Jovi, so Makin’ the Point would be the only Franke & The Knockouts album that he would play on.

They Wrote and Recorded Two Hits on Dirty Dancing

The biggest hits Franke & The Knockouts recorded became popular as cover versions recorded by other artists for the 1987 Dirty Dancing soundtrack. Previte and bassist John DeNicola (who appeared as a studio musician on Makin’ the Point) co-wrote both “Hungry Eyes” and “(I’ve Had) the Time of My Life,” with Donald Markowitz being a third writer on the latter. Franke & The Knockouts would record versions of both songs, though neither would appear on one of the band’s albums until after the movie and soundtrack were released. After Eric Carmen made his soundtrack version of “Hungry Eyes” a Top-10 hit, Franke & The Knockouts released their version on the 1988 reissue of Makin’ the Point.

Previte had only gotten as far as making a demo for “(I’ve Had) the Time of My Life,” but Dirty Dancing’s final dance scene was shot with Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey dancing to that unfinished version. On the demo, Previte sings “(I’ve Had) the Time of My Life” as a duet with Rachele Cappelli. Jennifer Warnes and Bill Medley would later record the version that wound up on the film and soundtrack. Though the song caps off the movie’s story set in the Catskills, its title came from a quintessentially New Jersey moment. Previte told The Guardian he came up with it while paying a toll on the Garden State Parkway. The Franke & The Knockouts version would eventually appear on the 1998 reissue of their debut album.

They Would Place a Total of Five Songs on Billboard Charts

“Sweetheart” was easily the biggest hit released as a single by Franke & The Knockouts, and is their only song to be streamed at least a million times on Spotify. Yet they had a run of radio hits in the early ‘80s. The follow-up single to “Sweetheart”—”Come Back”—went to No. 45 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart. Millennium Records released “You’re My Girl” as a third single from Franke & The Knockouts, and it returned the band to the Hot 100, peaking at No. 27.

Franke & The Knockouts would score two more chart singles from their second album Below the Belt. “Without You (Not Another Lonely Night)” was their third and final Hot 100 entry, topping out at No. 24, while “Never Had It Better” got to No. 37 on the Mainstream Rock chart. That’s a pretty impressive string of hits for a 14-month period.

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Photo of Franke & The Knockouts via Facebook