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It's been quite a journey for Mr. Frankie Lee....

From his humble beginnings in the rural town of Mart, Texas, Frankie began his great love affair with music amongst the secular songs of St. Mary's Baptist Church. With the influence of his cousin Johnny "Guitar" Watson, and all the great blues music was exploding in the great Lone Star state, it would only be a matter of time before Frankie would extend that love to blues music. Growing up in a religious household that considered blues "devil's music," Frankie looked beyond the superstitions and stereotypes to discover some great music by Jimmy Reed, Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King, and Muddy Waters, to name but a few. For Frankie, there really was no difference between blues or gospel, as it was all passionate music from the heart. If people sang of love between each other, or a higher power, it was all good.

Choosing music over all other career options, a teen-aged Frankie Lee Jones shortened his name to simply "Frankie Lee," and went about the path of finding musicians he could sing with. Linking up with Sonny Rhodes in the late 1950s, Frankie soon found himself sharing a house and band in Austin, Texas. After Ike and Tina Turner happened to see one of their shows, Frankie was quickly invited to join the Ike & Tina as a featured vocalist for their traveling road show. With a chance to work with some of hottest rhythm and blues artists around, Frankie was given an opportunity of a lifetime, which he eagerly embraced!

As a young musician growing up in Texas during the 1950's, the biggest record company around was the Duke-Peacock label, run by Don Robey in Houston. Frankie had dreams of recording for the Duke-Peacock record label, and those visions all became real when he was signed to that very label in the early 1960s. Between road trips with the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, Frankie was able to spend some time in the studio to record his debut release. Honored to be on the same label that was home to Big Mama Thornton, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Bobby Blue Bland, Junior Parker, and O.V. Wright, Frankie was in seventh heaven!

Frankie's very first record was an original song entitled "Full-Time Love," his response to a then-popular song by Little Johnny Taylor titled "Part-Time Love." Released in 1963, Frankie followed up this single with "Taxi Blues," and "Hello Mr Blues" for the Peacock label. As things progressed, Frankie found himself disenchanted with Don Robey, and soon found himself without a label, as the Duke-Peacock empire was sold to ABC Records.

After striking up a great friendship with Albert Collins, Frankie left Texas for Southern California in 1965 to work as the lead singer for the Albert Collins Band for the next six years. In 1971, he began to work closely with his cousin Johnny "Guitar" Watson, who produced Frankie's recordings for the Elka Records label. By the late 70's, Frankie was living in the San Francisco region, where he was working with a couple of then-unknown guitar players from Tacoma, Washington by the name of Robert Cray and Bobby Murray.

Over the course of time, there have been a lot of events that have happened to Frankie over the years. He's continued to perform music all over the world, and has released albums for Hightone, Flying Fish, and Blind Pig. When the Fabulous Thunderbirds released their first album in 1979, they chose to record their own rendition Frankie's first 45, "Full-Time Love," acknowledging a great song by a great talent.