Well where shall I start………..Frank’s first appearance on record was an interview on a promotional 12″ record for a computer game thingy called ‘The Biz’ on the ace ZX Spectrum! this interview also appeared on the game cassette. This had an effect on Frank and it then became Frank’s ambition to become a superstar and appear on Top Of The Pop’s…….I think!

Frank recorded a promotional cassette of some of his favorite songs, but he had to be careful not to let his mum find out so he started to convert his shed into his showbiz HQ. When the people at EMI listened to the tape they decided to give Frank his own label called Regal Zonophone to release his fantastic records on. The first was a re-recorded version of his Franks Firm Favorites promo cassette and it was renamed Frank Sidebottom sings Franks Firm Favorites EP. This was followed by various showbiz gig’s and radio appearances. In December of 1985 Frank’s second single called Oh Bilmey It’s Christmas hit the shops it had a picture of Frank and Frank’s new friend Little Frank on the cover and came in 7″ and 12″ versions…………….. which was fantastic and included cover versions and some songs written by Frank. More dates were planned and Frank was becoming a Superstar around Timperley where he lives and still his mum knew nothing of his double life! At this point Frank also started his fan club which was to become the best most tops fan club ever to come from Timperley. Frank and his band recorded his last single for Regal Zonophone in July 1986 which was his Sci-Fi EP which again had loads of tracks on it and came out on 3 formats this time including a shaped picture disc, which had a picture of Frank and Little Frank dressed as Batman and Robin and Frank also designed the covers for the 7″ and 12″.

The single failed to make the top 40 but only just! (well maybe not) But Frank was well on the way to becoming a showbiz legend. Frank had to leave Regal as some of the other artist’s complained that….. …. Frank was getting all the superstar treatment and it was not fair!

So Frank joined In-Tape a local Manchester label so it was easier for him to get out to meetings and back home without his mum getting suspicious. The first release from this new deal was Christmas Is Really Fantastic and followed by a Freddie Mercury EP and finally the Timperley EP.This also helped Frank get on to various children’s TV programmes and to secure a deal to write for the brilliant Oink comic. Frank also became a writer for Rodney Rodney a football fanzine, which was another of Frank’s big loves, with Altrincham FC being his main team. From his shed (his showbiz HQ) Frank also recorded Radio Timperley and Frank’s World which usually went out on Manchester’s Picadilly Radio! Later in 1987 Frank setup his own record label Sidetrack which managed one release by Billy and Barry Belly. One year later Frank released his first LP 5.9.88 and this was followed one year later by 13.9.88. Things were going well for frank and without letting his mum know anything about his showbiz stuff, frank signed up to do a TV show for yorkshire TV. A pilot episode was filmed and a six part series was put in to production. The TV show did well and was very funny but some bad scheduling resulted in some bad figures so the show never managed a second series. Things progressed well for frank with some more singles and long players but in the end franks mum decided it was time to get himself a job so she managed to get frank full-time work at Hot! the people who made bob the builder and pingu! This worked well for frank as he loved playing….. It was in 2004 that frank started to get the showbiz bug again and so he started to do the odd gig……….. and then dropped the bombshell to Hot! that he was leaving……. how would they cope without him……… but they let him go anyway and that’s how frank has returned to showbiz. We have re-launched sidetrack and setup not only this site but franks own (franksworld) and there is one for little frank as well! With new releases planned and tours, frank is back on the scene and ready to take the world by storm! (that’s if his mum lets him!)

With offers on the table for a new animation series and a film based on Frank’s life and a whole lot of other stuff, Frank’s great friend Chris found out he had cancer and just as it seemed things were OK, Chris passed away. I will now keep this site up to date with Frank’s work and also with news of new items that will be released. I hope you will keep coming back.

russ the webmaster