Stan Freberg, an all around creative icon who had a number of hits during the 50’s, died on Tuesday of natural causes at a Santa Monica, CA hospital at the age of 88.
Stan’s son, Donovan Freberg, posted on Facebook
My father died this morning. I am ok. To me, the father I knew and loved dearly and still very much do left me over a decade ago. He was, and will always be my hero and I will carry his brilliant legacy forward as best I am able.
RIP, Stan Freberg, 1926-2015.
I love you, daddy.
Weird Al Yankovic, whose music is a direct descendant of Freberg’s, wrote on Twitter “Very sad to say that one of my absolute all-time heroes has just passed away. RIP Stan Freberg. A legend, an inspiration, and a friend.”
Freberg started his professional career doing voice work for Warner Brothers animated shorts, working regularly with Mel Blanc. He later worked for Disney with his voice heard in Lady & the Tramp (Beaver) and a number of shorts.
Freberg also worked in broadcasting, taking over the Jack Benny show on CBS Radio in 1957. He famously refused to take any alcohol or tobacco advertising.
Stan is maybe best remembered for his long series of satirical recording starting with his 1951 soap opera send up John and Marsh. His biggest hit came in 1954 with St. George and the Dragonet, a parody of the then popular Dragnet, which he recorded with Daws Butler and June Foray. It spent four weeks at the top of the charts.
Soon, Freberg moved into straight song parody starting with Try, based on Johnnie Ray’s Cry, Sh-Boom, The Yellow Rose of Texas, Rock Island Line, The Great Pretender and Banana Boat (Day-O). His biggest hit of the rock era came in 1957 with Wun’erful Wun’erful (Sides uh-one & uh-two), a takeoff on Johnny Mathis’ hit Wonderful Wonderful. It peaked at number 36.
During red scare and the cold war, Freberg also delved into political satire on record and his radio show, hitting the charts with Little Blue Riding Hood (which included the comment that they changed the hood to blue “to prevent an investigation”) and Point of Order on the McCarthy hearings.
Freberg is also given credit for injecting humor into the advertising world. He regularly parodied advertisements on his radio show and it rubbed off on the ad agencies who brought in Stan to create what are now considered some of the greatest humorous campaigns of advertising history.
Stan is survived by his wife, Hunter, two children and a granddaughter.
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