Frankie Miller may not be a name as instantly recognisable as Rod Stewart or Joe Cocker, but once you have heard his music, it's not a name you'll forget. External forces (in the guise of a massive brain hemorrhage) near enough took Frankie's life in 1995, and since then his life has been dedicated to learning to walk and talk again.
In 1979 Frankie released "Falling in Love". Unsurprisingly, given the title, there's nary a song on the album that can't be classed as a love song. From the sweet growling on "When I'm Away From You" to the joyously funky rendition of Bob Marley's "Is This Love" to the tear-inducing "Falling in Love with You", a bad track is not to be heard on this album.
Miller's delivery of his lyrics plays a big part in the album's worth. In the wrong hands his lyrics could come off sounding like bad nursery rhymes made worse. As such, it comes as no surprise that his songs have been covered by everyone from The Quireboys to Ray Charles.
To this day there are precious few white men who can pull off such an effortlessly strong and weathered voice without swallowing shards of glass. Ultimately, Frankie Miller never got the chance to become the superstar that he promised to be. His remarkable rehabilitation led to a new album, "Long Way Home", being released in 2006, but it seems unlikely that Frankie will ever get the chance to return to the limelight.
"Falling in Love" is an album that anyone with even the faintest grasp of the English will understand. You don't have to be fond of blues music to fall in love with this album.