Franke Previte, in a current publicity photo.
New Brunswick native Franke Previte’s ’80s rock band, Franke & the Knockouts, had some minor hit singles, and a strong Jersey following. But little did he know, when the band broke up in 1986, that his big break was just around the corner. He submitted an ultraromantic love song that he co-wrote with John DeNicola and Don Markowitz, “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” for the soundtrack of 1987’s “Dirty Dancing,” and it beat out some 150 other candidates for use in the film’s climactic scene.
The song, as recorded by Bill Medley (of The Righteous Brothers) and Jennifer Warnes, went on to become a No. 1 hit, as well as an Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe winner.
When co-stars Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey filmed that scene, though, the Medley/Warnes duet didn’t exist yet, so they used the demo, featuring Previte and Rachele Cappelli. The demo was not officially released until 1998, when it came out as a bonus track on the CD reissue of the 1981 self-titled Franke & the Knockouts debut album. Previte later released it as a digital download, with proceeds benefiting the Patrick Swayze Pancreas Cancer Research Fund at the Stanford Cancer Center, in Stanford, Calif.
Check out the original version of “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” below.
New Jersey celebrated its 350th birthday in 2014. And in the 350 Jersey Songs series, we marked the occasion by posting 350 songs — one a day, from September 2014 to September 2015 — that have something to do with the state, its musical history, or both. To see the entire list, click here.
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