'He was the great entertainer'

Jim Frame, vocalist for the beloved Coeur d'Alene band the Fabulous Shadows, died this month at 81. His legacy lives on in the memories of thousands of fans who enjoyed his performances.

“He was the great entertainer,” said Fabulous Shadows keyboardist Dexter Yates. “As soon as he stepped out on the stage, it was like turning on a light.”

The Fabulous Shadows formed in 1963 when six friends at Coeur d'Alene High School, Tom Dotzler, Jack Fulwiler, Mike Bolan, Pete Shepperd, Doug Wanamaker and Yates began playing music together. 

They gained a reputation performing at fraternity parties and dances. Frame joined the band in 1965 after Dotzler, the original vocalist, was drafted to Vietnam.

“We lost our vocalist, and he came to me and said 'I know all the words to all the songs,'” Yates said.

The band's mainstay lineup included Frame as lead vocalist, Fulwiler on saxophone, Yates on keyboard and backing vocals, Bolan on lead guitar, Wanamaker on drums and Shepperd on bass guitar.

The Shadows separated during the Vietnam War, with some members serving in the military. According to Yates, Frame served as a Navy medic alongside Marines. When Frame returned, his bandmates could tell his field experience had affected him.

“He was more serious,” Fulwiler said. “But when he was with the band he was like a kid again.”

The Fabulous Shadows reunited in 1985 to raise funds for Hospice of North Idaho, of which Yates is a founding board member. The Shadows were amazed to see more than 2,000 people pack the Kootenai County Fairgrounds to watch them perform.

The band continued to play charity concerts over the years. Yates estimates the band raised more than $100,000 for various causes. The Fabulous Shadows are listed as major donors on plaques in multiple buildings at North Idaho College.

“We said, 'we grew up in this community, we love this community, let's give it back,'” Yates said.

Friend and fan Ron Hodge never missed a Fabulous Shadows concert. He summed up their performances in one word: “exciting.”

“They always had a crazy way of entering,” Hodge said, “you never knew what to expect.”

The Shadows gained a reputation for grand entrances. They began by pulling up to the stage in limousines, Corvettes and motorcycles, but soon endeavored to outdo themselves. Once, they even hired a group of skydivers and created a fake ambulance to stage a skydiving entrance gone wrong.

“We paid them to do that just so we could have the greatest grand entrance of all time,” Yates said.

Fulwiler added that at least half the audience was fooled, and they even received calls from concerned witnesses who thought the band had injured itself while skydiving onto the stage.

The Fabulous Shadows performed their final public concert in August 2016. The sold-out show drew 600 attendees aboard two cruise boats tied together on Lake Coeur d'Alene. They made their final grand entrance aboard a fireboat dressed as firefighters, with hoses and sirens blasting.

For one of their signature songs, “Long Tall Texan,” Frame would leave the stage and return dressed as a cowboy.

“The crowd went nuts,” Yates said, “and he could sing it forever because he kept making up words.”

Fulwiler recalled that Frame's tendency to ad-lib lyrics often made band members laugh themselves to tears.

“One of the things I remember best is how much fun he had, and the rest of us had, at our practices,” Fulwiler said. “I'll miss him.”

The Fabulous Shadows always ended their concerts with a cover of “Gloria.” Frame would sing the refrain, “G-L-O-R-I-A,” and stretch it out to time the ending with the cruise boats' arrival at the dock.

“The crowd knew that when he was singing it that was the last song,” Yates said, “but they would all gather around just to listen to him, just to watch him.”

Sometimes the final song lasted up to 20 minutes, but Frame stretched it as long as needed until the boats were tied up at the dock.

“He left it all on the stage, he gave his all in every performance,” Hodge said. “He gave so much of himself.”

    

Fabulous Shadows lead singer Jim Frame leads the 600 cruise attendees in singing the classic rock song “Gloria” as the boat returns to the Independence Point dock to end the evening. The song lasted about 30 minutes and has been the traditional ending to all of the Shadows' cruises over the past three decades. Left to right: Mike Bolan, lead guitar; Dr. Jack Fulwiller, sax; Frame; Pete Shepperd, bass guitar; and Dexter Yates, keyboards.

  

    Shown in 1964, the Shadows are (from left): Jim Frame, Doug Wanamaker, Pete Shepperd, Mike Bolan, Dexter Yates and Jack Fulwiler.