Long-time Houston resident, Skipper Lee Frazier, businessman, radio disk jockey,
manager and producer, is best known for his popular radio show at KCOH-AM. Frazier
played a distinctive sign-on at the beginning of each show and its most memorable
line, that he was implored by voices to
The Skipper Lee Frazier Papers (1967-1993) primarily document Frazier’s business ventures in radio, entertainment, and motels. The collection is divided into four series: Business Papers, Personal Papers, Photographs, and Audio-Visual Materials.
The Business series is comprised of: record contracts, royalty statements for groups that Frazier managed (mostly Archie Bell & the Drells), biographies and papers relating to Houston-area recording artists with whom Frazier worked (TSU Tornadoes, Archie Bell & the Drells, Masters of Soul, and Big Joe Nettles), advertisements for concerts and events, papers relating to the motels that Frazier managed, blank forms, Frazier's companies Frazier & McKay Productions, L. J. F. Productions, and S.L.F. Supply, a calendar with scheduled performance dates for Archie Bell & the Drells, papers relating to Frazier's membership in the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), correspondence, publications relating to the entertainment industry, transcripts of radio commercials broadcast on KCOH-AM, lists of ad sales on KCOH-AM, general information about KCOH-AM and its employees, ledgers and receipts that document Frazier's business expenditures, sheet music and lyrics, tax records, documents from the Bureau of Land Management, papers related to the Skipper Lee & Son Eternal Rest Funeral Home, and publicity and correspondence relating to the KOOL Jazz Festival (sometimes known as the Astrodome KOOL Jazz Festival.)
The Personal Papers series is comprised of: documents about events that occurred at Windsor Village United Methodist Church (Frazier's home church), a telephone directory from Windsor Village United Methodist Church, a proof copy of Tighten Up: The Autobiography of Skipper Lee, ephemera, correspondence and documents relating to the 1988 West Gulf Coast Engineers, Inc. lawsuit to which Frazier was a party, awards and certificates that Frazier received from various community organizations, invitations and advertisements for events in the community that Frazier assisted with, papers relating to Frazier’s unsuccessful bid for Harris County Commissioner, brochures and programs for community events, papers relating to the Muhammad Ali Testimonial dinner, papers relating to Ben Barnes’ race for governor, speeches given by Frazier, various magazines that Frazier collected, papers from the 1992 Republican convention site selection committee, Skipper Lee Frazier biographical information, correspondence, personal legal documents, and a 1993 wall calendar.
Photographic subjects include: snapshots of events, people and places in Houston,
professional headshots of Frazier, live performances, Archie Bell & the Drells,
Juneteenth Music Festival, promotional photographs collected by Frazier, Windsor
Valley United Methodist Church, Skipper Lee & Son Eternal Rest Funeral Home,
Jessie Jackson, Muhammad Ali, and
A cubic foot of audio-visual material collected by Frazier is present in the
collection. This series is comprised of LPs, 45s, audiocassettes, and reel-to-reel
tapes of musical groups (many from the Houston area), a recording of the 1965
National Association of Recording Artists convention, and demo tapes. VHS tapes with
coverage of Houston-area events and musicians are also included in this series. A
highlight of the VHS materials is a copy of A Mountain of Soul: Skipper Lee Frazier,
which is a biographical feature on Frazier and covers the
Use of audio material and transparent media by appointment only. Please contact repository.
Access to portions of this collection is restricted. Contact repository for further information.
Skipper Lee Frazier Papers, 1967-1993, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
Artifact separated to the Artifact Collection. Contact repository for more information.
A published copy of
This collection was processed by Julie Judkins, August 2008. Subsequent revisions were made by Megan Mummey, March 2010.