A New Jersey Academy Award winner keeps entertaining and giving

Academy Award winner and Golden Globe winner New Jersey’s own Franke Previte never stops, he’s always writing, performing, or producing.

Franke wrote two meteoric hits for the movie Dirty Dancing. He wrote "(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life" and "Hungry Eyes". The Time of My Life had huge success, garnering Franke an Academy Award for Best Original Song, a Golden Globe for Best Original Song, and a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo, or Group with Vocals.

Franke also won a prestige ASCAP award for Songwriter of the Year and Most Performed Songs from Motion Pictures. The number of plays and downloads the song has to date is stratospheric with over 48 million copies being sold. Franke wrote "(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life" on the back of an envelope going up the Parkway around mile marker 114, he was the last submission out of 99 other songs to make it to the Dirty Dancing movie execs! They loved the song and the rest, as they say, is history.

Franke and I are good friends, and he and his multi-talented wife Lisa Sherman lent their precious time to my Big Joe Jersey Talent Show, they were both fan favorites and gave our up-and-coming talent some great career advice.

Franke was also the lead singer for Franke and The Knockouts, one of my favorites and his New Brunswick, New Jersey-based band had the big hit Sweetheart which was a top 10 hit.

Franke and Lisa both continue to give so much time to New Jersey and national charities. They never stop entertaining for a cause. Franke continues to raise money for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network charity in Patrick Swayze's honor. Swayze, the late actor who starred in Dirty Dancing succumbed to pancreatic cancer.

Franke continues to produce some musicals, concerts, and other projects and his schedule is jam-packed with music and charitable events. Franke Previte is one reason why I’m proud to be New Jersey, he’s a down-to-earth multi-talented Jersey guy who keeps on giving. Thank you, my brother, Franke, for all your talent.