Freddie Mr. Superbad Mack

Freddie Mack aka Mr. Superbad, died at home at 5.30pm on the 11th January 2009, with his wife Jan
and children Freddie Jnr, Sharon and Nicole by his side.

He was born on a cotton plantation in Bennettsville, South Carolina, to father Fred Mack, black
American foreman of the Carolina Breeding Estate and mother Florence Purvis, an Italian kitchen
worker originally from Bretcheano, just outside Rome, Italy.

A childhood friend of Floyd Patterson, who introduced him to boxing at Cus D'Amato's gym on 14th
Street, Manhattan, he accompanied Floyd, as an alternate, to the 1952 Helsinki Olympics in Finland
where Patterson took the Gold medal for the United States.

As a light-heavyweight boxer, he reached 3rd place in the world ranking and is remembered for his
knockouts against Sante Amonti, Jack Bodell, Chick Calderwood and Roman Morais, among others.

After 66 professional fights he became a sparring partner for, among others, Henry Cooper, Billy
Walker (The Blonde Bomber) and John "Cowboy" McCormack.

After living some time in Rome, he retired to England, c. 1965, where he was introduced to the movie
scene by fight fans Sir Richard Burton and Rex Harrison. Freddie enjoyed a short film career
especially his part in Cleopatra where, as one of the black slaves, he carried Elizabeth Taylor into
Rome. He can also be found in small acting roles in the Invisible Man, Two Escapes from Singh Singh
with Donald Pleasance, The Great Rock n Roll Swindle with the Sex Pistols and Scotland's very own
Taggart.

Then he embarked on yet another initially successful career as a singer/entertainer backed by an
ever-changing band of British jazz and R&B musicians.

His first "group" was an R&B show with singers, dancers and two bands. This settled down into one
backing band, called "The Mack Sound" put together by baritone sax player Roger Warwick. The band
featured four to five horns, including, for a time, Otis Redding's trombone player Clarence Johnson,
and full rhythm section with Alan Cartwright and B.J. Wilson.

From 1967 onwards his line-ups for the "Freddie Mack Sound", the "Fantastic Freddie Mack Show" or
the "Freddie Mack Extravaganza" included, variously, Mel Day (vocals), Ray Lewis (bass), Dave Roffey
(lead guitar), Ged Peck (lead guitar), Rod Jones (bass), Dick Morrissey (tenor sax), B.J. Wilson
(drums), Alan Cartwright (bass), Johnny Orlando (vocals), Eddie 'Tan Tan' Thomas (trumpet), Brian
Morris (keyboards), Tex Makin (bass), Viv Prince (Drums), Derry Wilkie (vocals), Tony Gomez
(keyboards), Tony Morgan (vocals) and Kookie Etan (vocals), among many others.

At the end of 1974, Mack signed to K-Tel Records as Mr. Superbad and recorded many records under
this label. He also sang on the 1975 hit "Kung Fu Man" on UltraFunk for Contempo Records.

He was eventually arrested for being an illegal alien in 1969 but managed to avoid being deported.

He went to live in Glasgow in 1979 and spent the time from then till his retirement in 2005 working
as a Radio DJ and doing gigs with his Disco Show. His sexy American voice and his love of Soul Music
could be heard over the airwaves of Radio Clyde every saturday night for many years. He is a legend
to all of us who are now of a slightly mature age.

In 1981, his strong American voice featured on the Tight Fit megamix song Back To The Sixties. The
track reached number 4 in the UK Charts. His words are at the start of the song and are "Wam Bam
Alakazam, that's the sound, the super sound of the 60's, going back and checking it out, ready for
some more? Hit that floor! The great days are back again!"

In 2001 he founded The Scot's Boxing Hall of Fame of which he was named President and there have
been three Induction Events with a fourth on 13 September 2008 in the Quality Inn, Glasgow Central
Hotel.

Between 2002 and 2003 he presented the Superbad Saturday Night programme on Lanarkshire radio
station Clan FM which was a mix of soul music and chat.