Frank Biner

Moby ID: 8385

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Frank was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he learned to play the guitar. The Biner family relocated to Evanston, Illinois in 1965. Frank began his entertainment career in the 1966 in Chicago working with the The Little Boy Blues, a legend of those hallowed times, opening show for various acts coming through town. He migrated to the San Francisco Bay Area in the late sixties where he met blues legend, Mike Bloomfield, formerly of the Butterfield Blues Band and The Electric Flag. Like many a visiting midwesterner, he found the atmosphere and climate so appealing that he determined never to leave. As early as 1971, Frank was working various nightclubs and KSAN Radio "Live Performance" with Bloomfield. Indeed he has stayed, and although his social roots are now firmly planted in the hills of Orinda, his musical roots still draw sustenance from those earthy, heady, bluesy Chicago days.

On arriving in the Bay Area, Frank quickly established himself in the East Bay Funk scene, with regular gigs at the Long Branch and Keystone, clubs that were then in their prime and serving up a rich variety of fresh talent. Here he shared many a booking with the likes of Tower of Power, Eddie Money and Clover (featuring Huey Lewis), and also began his long and fruitful collaboration with Steve 'Doc' Kupka and Emilio Castillo of Tower of Power. This netted him three songs on the Tower album "In The Slot," and two more on the next Tower album "Ain't Nothin' Stoppin Us Now" (Frank also sang background vocals on both of these LP's). Late in the night after one of their Long Branch gigs, Frank, Doc and Mimi penned a beautiful little ballad called "As Simple As That". This gem was recorded for at least three Tower album projects, getting axed each time, before finally landing many years later as the last song on Side B of the Huey Lewis album "Fore!," becoming a popular single off this album in England as well, selling some six million copies worldwide. Again, collaborating with Mike Bloomfield, Frank recorded lead vocals on the song "Maudie" on Bloomfield's "Life In The Fast Lane" LP.

Frank passed away, unexpectedly, in May of 2001 from a heart attack. Frank's compositions and recordings, however, continue to live on as his legacy.

Credited on 5 games

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The Sims: Mega Deluxe (2004, Windows) Singers
The Sims (2003, Linux) Singers
The Sims Online (2002, Windows) The Sims Simlish Singers
The Sims: Deluxe Edition (2002, Windows) Singers
SimTunes (1996, Windows) The Voice Artists

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