Academy Award Winner: The Song is The Legacy

It was a call from director Kenny Ortega that changed his life and catapulted Franke Previte’s life in a whole new direction that included winning an Academy Award and being nominated for a Grammy—and now, the three-year Bridgewater resident is using his knowledge to help others get a foot in the door.

“Music is part of my gene pool,” Previte said. “And now artists come to me. It keeps me in the music industry, to help guide them through the pitfalls.”

Previte is an Academy Award winner for writing “[I've Had] The Time of My Life,” the featured song in the 1987 hit “Dirty Dancing,” which starred the late Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey.

“My dream was once to have one song nominated for a Grammy,” he said. “All of this was so far beyond my dreams. I floated up on stage [when I won the Oscar].”

And now Previte is using that song in an effort to raise funds to benefit research to cure pancreatic cancer, which claimed Swayze’s life in 2009.

“When I met Patrick, he said that I had no idea what the song meant to the movie because they had already turned down 146 songs,” Previte said. “The last cassette with the last song was mine.”

“So now I’m raising money because I know how important that song was to Patrick,” he added.

Previte is currently raising money through the sale of the demo of “[I've Had] The Time of My Life,” as well as the demo of “Hungry Eyes,” which he also wrote and which was recorded by artist Eric Carmen for the film.

“All of the money goes for pancreatic cancer,” he said.

So far, Previte said, he has raised $20,000, and he presented a check to Swayze’s widow, , when she spoke at the in early January.

Previte, who moved to Bridgewater from Hopewell three years ago, has had a long storied career in music, which began in the 1970s with his own heavy metal band, followed by the creation of Franke and the Knockouts in the 1980s.

Previte said he was originally signed by Booter Records, and he worked with a producer on his voice and sound, trying to find that rock ‘n’ roll beat coupled with his crooning voice.

“They taught me it wasn’t about rock, but it was a culmination of the two to be a blue-eyed soul singer,” he said.

And from there, Previte said, he put together Franke and the Knockouts, which many said sounded like a cross between Hall & Oates and Foreigner.

The band had its first hit record, “Sweetheart,” in 1981, followed by “Without You” and “You’re My Girl.”

After originally being with Millennium Records, started by Jimmy Ienner, the band moved to MCA Records, and put out its third album in the mid 1980s.

“They wanted to make us into something [we weren’t],” Previte said. “The radio didn’t like us and we broke up.”

About two years later, Previte said, he got a call from Ienner asking him to write a song which he was told would change his life.

“He said he had a good feeling about it,” Previte said. “And he said the song has to be seven minutes long.”

And on a drive past exit 140 on the way to Montclair, Previte said, he began to sing a tune to himself that later became “[I've Had] The Time of My Life.”

“I was jamming to a track on the radio, and saying [something] of my life,” he said. “When I write, I write the melody first. And certain chords make me think certain phonetic sounds, and I figured out what I was trying to say.”

But it wasn’t until three weeks later that Previte got the call from Ortega—who choreographed “Dirty Dancing”—and he was raving over the song.

“They had just filmed the final dance scene with the song,” Previte said of the song that later sold more than 50 million copies. “They all said, ‘what just happened?’ They said the song made the film.”

And for Previte, a Jersey boy his whole life, he grew up in a musical family. His father and uncle sang opera, and he often sang with them at concerts to raise money for charity.

“I have music in my blood,” he said.

Still, Previte, originally from New Brunswick, started his college career at Parson’s School, before moving on to business school in Delaware. He said he was dating a woman at the time whose father owned a business, and he was told he would be taking over if they got married.

Needless to say, that relationship did not make it all the way, and Previte returned to music.

After his success in the music world, and particularly with “Dirty Dancing,” Previte was chosen as one of America’s Top 20 songwriters, and attended a summit in Russia with several of the country’s best writers, including Diane Warren and others. At the summit, he said, he wrote two songs that were included on an album of 10 from the artists in attendance.

And since then, Previte said, he has written songs later recorded by Fleetwood Mac, as well as ones used for the stage production of “Dirty Dancing," among many others.

As for his move to Bridgewater, Previte said he had been living in Hopewell when his son was offered a chance to go to Immaculata High School for sports.

“We started driving back and forth to bring him,” he said, adding that his son is now on full scholarship for baseball at Wagner College in New York. “Then we said let’s get a home closer to the school.”

So about three-and-a-half years ago, Previte said, his family moved to Bridgewater.

“It is close to everything here,” he said. “You can be at the shore in 45 minutes, there is a centrally located mall, good restaurants.”

“Once Somerville gets a town hall that will be more of a hub,” he said. “And if we could get a train line directly into Manhattan, that would be good.”

But in addition to continuing to write music, Previte is currently working with young artists as they begin they own forays into the music business. Called Knockout Music, Previte uses his business to help those who want similar success.

“I am helping young artists get their starts,” he said.

Currently, Previte said, he is working with an original member of the Trans Siberian Orchestra, and another who writes country music, and formerly created Miller Beer commercials.

“I can’t believe he is not doing more,” he said of the country singer.

For Previte, working with newer musicians is a way to keep his work going, aside from writing his own songs.

“It keeps me in the music industry, and I can help guide people through the pitfalls,” he said. “It gives me more time to focus on the art.”

Previte said that, for him, longevity in the music business is about the ability to write a hit song.

“It’s all about the songs,” he said. “I play a little piano, but my instrument is my voice. And yet if I only had that, I would have done something else.”

“It’s about being able to write,” he added, saying that he knew he was in business when his songwriting ability surpassed his voice.

Previte said he tries to guide musicians.

“It’s still a hard road, but it’s about the song,” he said. “You have to make connections to get the right people to hear the song. And an artist has to embrace that with passion.”

But aside from his passion for music, for Previte, his passion is also currently for a cause.

“My main thing right now is the pancreatic cancer research,” he said. “I would like to get everyone to spend a buck, and maybe we can knock this out.”

Those who want to help the cause can search for “Dirty Dancing Demos” or “Franke and the Knockouts” on Facebook and purchase either individual songs or entire albums. All money raised from the sales goes toward pancreatic cancer research.