I have a "holy grail" list, a short one, of those vinyl recordings that have eluded me, and (Yay!) I get to cross one off the list this week. It's the mid-80's LP by Frank (Foo Foo) Lammar, one of the UK's most famed female impersonators. It took me many years to track this puppy down, and cheap it was not, but hey, fanatical collectors will understand, now it's off the list.
Frank Lammar (also spelled Lamarr) began performing in the late 1960's and opened his own club in 1971, taking over the Manchester night spot, The Picador. In 1975 he found another location and this time called it Foo Foo's Palace. He was very successful as a performer and raised large sums for charity, and performed for over thirty years. He died in 2003.
His recording career included two LPs and three 45 rpm records. "My Life at the Palace" was first released in 1975 and again later, with different cover artwork. The third LP, from the mid-1980's was my holy grail item, shown above, and no, he wasn't particularly a good singer, but must have been grand live. Hear the title track...
Also (I think) in the 1980's was perhaps his most known recording, and I've read it became a popular drinking song in gay pubs, in Manchester. That was "Around the Old Campfire," which you can hear at the link.
Below, his 2002 autobiography
Manchester was brought to a standstill by her funeral... Jx
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