"Fridays TV Show" [Show I-09] Franke & The Knockouts - "Sweetheart" [09 of 10] 

Dang. First off, This is song is classic. Great vocals. Great instruments. Awesome. Secondly, Fridays was off the hook!!! Those of us that grew up in the 80s were blessed; great music, great fashion, great shows. Awesome decade.

Franke's vocals are incredibly good. What a great live performance !

Man oh man. This used to be my jam. I don't think it ever got enough air play. Listening in 2024.

One of my favorite songs as a kid. They sound much better live. Man, I miss this kind of music. Very cool!

Franke Previte won an Academy award in 1987 for composing "I've Had The Time Of My Life" from Dirty Dancing. He was also nominated for a Grammy and Golden Globe that same year.

One of the greatest voices ever!!! So good to hear a band with actual talent. they didnt get the credit they deserved.

IN THE POCKET on this LIVE performance!!!!!!!

That voice - I could listen all day.

studio version entered Billboard March 7, 1981..reached #10

What a F****** great band, vocals vocals vocals!

The sound (system) didn't do this great performance justice but you can hear the talent.

I was 11 when this came out, played all summer, great times, peace.

They had an incredible sound!!

Saw these guys perform live a couple of times in the early 80s and they always rocked the house. Such a great band and Franke’s voice was always pitch perfect.

Give 'em their due. Great song. Great performance too.

Love the song as the first time I heard it. Great song all these 34 years.

Franke looks so happy, nice, and friendly while performing this. He and the band sound great!

Loved these guys. Helped get me through Grad School. Billy Elworthy the guitarist grew up on a farm in DeKalb Co. Indiana 2 miles from me.

IMO, one of the BEST written pop songs in my lifetime. Never gets old.....

This song is one of the best songs of the 80s. Brings back great memories. Frankes voice is beautiful. Thanks for putting out there.

Franke is singing live here which is so impressive he sounds so good!! I have been a long time fan since his first album. I have all 3. He’s also gorgeous and a nice guy and still looks great at 77 and still sings the same and performs with his new wife Lisa. He even talk to me on Instagram last week! Nice guy!

Franke Previte, Brad Delp, Mickey Thomas, Bobby Kimball and Joe Williams...the greatest pop/rock voices ever! Watched this episode of Fridays with my one true love 41 years ago, brings back so many memories....💕💕

Still loving it in 2022. Miss these times! Everything is so hard & dark. Yeshua come already 😬

That was Larry David introducing them BTW.

You can't lose. Great vocals, sweet keyboards, jazz and soul influences, crisp drumming. A shame the days when you had to be a true artist are gone.

I heard about this guy on XM Radio! Wow! Awesome song and great Live performance - these guys like a lot of older stuff sound so much better than the shit out today! Love it! Thanks a million for posting!

This is such a beautiful song-so emotionally compelling to me. I was about 9 when it blew up,and my older sister Angie and I loved it.Always will

Love this song. Bring back this kind of music to stay

Great song. Great band. Great memories. I love it!!!

I hadn't watched this video for 5 months or so, and it's still one of the best performances on RU-vid.

I love this song. Frankie looks like a combination of Ron Jeremy and Andy Kaufman.

Thank you sooooo much whoever put this video on. This is the group at it's best. Besides the fact that this is my all time favorite song, seeing Franke singing it live instead of a lip-synched video is awesome. I wonder if Franke or the guys ever check out these videos on youtube. If only it was still 1981, the music was so much better back then.

I rocked my newborn daughter to sleep to this song when it came out. She loves this song..... 32 years later. As it should be....

This song came out in the spring of 1981 and embodied the hope and dreams I was living at the time as a senior in high school Canton Ohio. Will always remain a solid memory for me and takes me right back every time I hear it!

Bands were killing it in Fridays, better than SNL.

Wow they are a great live performance! I met that Frankie guy tonight here in charleston. He told me about his band from the 80s and this hit they had. Really cool guy

why are these guys not on itunes?

Franke won an Oscar for composing and co-written songs for the movie Dirty dancing! The man is a great talent.

He had an awesome voice, a perfect rock tenor, crystal clear, hits every note, fantastic range.

The VOICE!!

No auto-tune and bs of that kind, and the band still sounded as great as they did in the studio. So many irrelevant "stars" (Ariana, Minaj, Cyrus, Bieber, etc) should see this and learn what a real artist is like.

A great forgotten classic! ❤🎉 love this song!!!!

his vocal range and runs are INSANE

Wow, couldn't believe this was live, it sounded so good. Loved this song when it was out. It has a unique sound that grabs you, similar to songs like Ah! Leah! by Donnie Iris, Love My Way by the Psychedelic Furs, even Hello It's Me by Todd. Some songs just don't sound like anything else.

Boy....I can remember watching this when it first aired...hard to believe it's been that long ago....sigh😪

I remember this song. Late Spring/Early Summer of 1981. I was just a kid, but I loved this song. Good memories

Make whatever subjective pronouncement about the song, but that is an excellent, tight live performance.

And just so ya’ll are clear, Franke is pure blooded Italian!

That was Larry David introducing them. In 8 years he and Jerry would create Seinfeld.

@pogotwister Thank you for your comment! Seeing Franke perform this live is 1000% better than that lame record label produced music video, IMO! ;-)

Larry David introducing one of the greatest songs from the '80s!

Sounds awesome live! Remember when bands actually had talent.

Who remembers Larry David when he hosted this show in 81. That’s the same Larry David on the cable show curb your enthusiasm ! And this was one of my favorite jams from 81. I was 15 yrs old then. They also reminded me of the great band Toto - hold the line ! With this song !

Great voice! Quintessential 70s/80s

My Fav !!! Love 'em Thank U Frankie & Knockouts Miss ya' !!!

great song-- great memories.....

On this day in 1981 {May 16th} Frankie and the Knockouts performed "Sweetheart" on the Dick Clark ABC-TV Saturday-afternoon program 'American Bandstand'... At the time the song was at #13 on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; three weeks later it would peak at #10 {for 2 weeks} and it spent 19 weeks on the Top 100... The New Jersey quintet had two more Top 100 records; "You're My Girl" {peaked at #27} and "Without You (Not Another Lonely Night" {reached #24}, all three records charted in 1981... Leader Frankie Previte won the 1987 Academy Award for 'Best Song' with "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" from the movie 'Dirty Dancing'...

Excelente ✨✨✨

I saw them open for Loverboy in May 1982 - this guy could really sing. Their other song "Without You" was part of the soundtrack that made up Summer of '82. Watching this makes me sad as music really sucks ass these days - can we get back to playing melodies?

a band with talent. something I'm not finding a lot of these days unfortunately. this guy has some serious pipes. looks like he's not even trying. great keyboard solo as well.

Sounds as good as the record. Gotta love it when the band can actually pull off the tune live, just like they did in the studio. And this was definitely live too, no question. Accents, different vocal timing, altered phrasing. Drummer's accents were spot on compared to the sound we heard. I give it a 9.99 / 10. I'm deducting 0.01 for Frankie's over-accentuated facial expressions. Freaky!

I heard Sweetheart on the radio two days ago! Thee best forgotten song of the 80's!! WHY?!!! One of my first 45's and I can't download it anywhere! Thank you Fridays (loyal viewer) and youtube!!

Excelente sonido, gran música. Tocaban tan bien como en estudio. :D Que emoción.

I heard this on a interview spot light with lead singer on KLOS as it was released. The first album is fantastic and available on CD. Go to Half.com and you won't believe what you can get on CD as little as 4.95.

Easily as great a singer as Toto's lead singer was-just didn't go as far as they did. It wasn't for lack of talent-Franke has an Academy Award for best song for I've had theTime of my Life(Dirty Dancing ). He wrote it, among other huge hit songs

Those are some kick-a$$ vocals Franke....definitely in the elite group of best of all time.

10 out of 10!

@nitedrive Steve Smith (drummer) was playing with a cast on his leg too!

What a great live performance. They were a very tight band - and very underrated.

40 years ago this was on the radio for my honeymoon in Hawaii making it a very special time-travelling tune everytime I hear it. What a great voice and talented band. Complete with flowing hair, skinny hairy open shirt chests, unlike today lol. Thank you so much and I hope you are all well and safe.

Such a theatrical stage presence and amazing vocals! Why wasn't this guy more famous?

Thanks for uploading this! Love this song so much, just sounds so incredible live!

Great voice that Frankie!

Listening to this song takes me back to the 80s

I just knew this guy could do it live. Too pure and powerful to be denied!

wow, top performance. Music is not this good anymore!

Some great performances on Fridays. This, and Journey's 'Where Were You" aer two of the best. Seems like the musical guests were always more interesting than the show itself. I used to tune in just for the music.

I'm not sure what's Amazing, this awesome song, or the abundance amount of chest hair lol. I remember when this first came out. I was working at Clementon Lake Park and this song got me everytime. Even now. Be Safe everyone

Frankie rocked it!

IF MORRIS DAY WAS A WHITE DUDE!!!!😁😁😁

Larry Should have the band on Curb Your Enthusiasm

Great song, and an impressive performance. I concur with what some others have said - too bad today's acts are what they are. Older stuff is so much better.

❤❤OH goodness sweetheart THANK YOU BABY!!...❤❤❤XOXOX YOU

This guy can Sing.

BETTER DAYS/HELLA-DAZE!

Unbelievable singer! Great band.

I thought they were lip syncing all the way up until the end.. great performance...

Tico Torres on drums and Alec John Such on bass....went over to play successfully with Bon Jovi.

I didn’t know Nathan Fillion played keyboards!

Live Live LIVE

What a great vocal and excellent arrangement. Has a TOTO vibe to it. These guys should have been more famous. Politics ALWAYS gets in the way of great things. AWESOME, FRANKIE !!!!

A time when men weren’t afraid to shoe their chest hair👍

Very tight band, great vocals!

Truly one the best that ever was!!

Feckin' TIGHT band. I've always loved this song. It's a shame you can't find anything on Franke Previte of recent. i'd love to know what this guy is up to today.

el mejor cantante del AOR fue este señor

OMG, Been looking for this song forever. Takes me immediately back to being 16 years old and the beach.

You are so right jeff. The best forgotten song...What happened to these guys? I thought they were gonna be big with this and "Runnin' into the night".

Awesome video. Frankie is a great singer.

Frankie Previte was the lead singer and Main composer. Although they had three songs appear on the charts, only this song... "sweetheart" was a true hit. The band was together for a couple of albums and about 4 years. He had success later in the '80s because he co-wrote the hits "hungry eyes", and "I've had the time of my life"..... appearing on the Dirty Dancing soundtrack performed by other artists. He won an Oscar for co-writing "I've had the time of my life". He then collaborated and co-wrote some material with other well-known musicians. But as far as his time in the spotlight, performing with the Knockouts for about 4 years in the early '80s is what he did