FRANKE PREVITE SUPRISES LISA NIEMI SWAYZE
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STARS WITH A HEART
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STARS WITH A HEART
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Lisa Niemi Swayze With Franke Previte
Actress Lisa Niemi Swayze, widow of Patrick Swayze, received a surprise charitable visit recently from Franke Previte, the Dirty Dancing songwriter who won the Oscar for “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” at a program for caregivers at Bridgewater Manor as part of the book tour promoting Swayze’s memoir, Worth Fighting For: Love, Loss and Moving Forward.
Previte further shocked Swayze by presenting her with a $10,000 check for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, one of the two charities the songwriter has been supporting raised through sales of his original demo recording of “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” and other songs he’s penned from the movie and his catalogue as the former leader of ‘80s hitmakers Franke & the Knockouts. Along with the check, Previte also handed Swayze his original handwritten lyrics of the Oscar- and Golden-Globe winning song “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” which she reminded him was the title of Patrick’s autobiography, published shortly before his passing from pancreatic cancer in 2009.
“I told Lisa, ‘I’ve been waiting to give you something,’’ said Previte, “And she said to me, ‘What better present can you give to me than the song?’ And that’s when she opened the lyrics, and her jaw dropped. She couldn’t get over how special that was. I told her how I knew how special the song was to Patrick. And she gave me a big hug.”
For Previte, the timing of his impromptu meeting with Swayze couldn’t be a better way to kick off the 25th anniversary year of Dirty Dancing. He began his charitable work for pancreatic cancer in Patrick’s memory in 2010, and said that he and Lisa are now both looking forward to working more closely together to beat this horrible disease.
“I was happy to finally be able to let her know that I was in this pancreatic cancer fight with her,” he said. “I told her this is just the first check of many more. She said to me, ‘You must have sold a lot of records to make this much money for us, and I said we’re doing good!’
“It’s such a special time to really look back and realize the impact that Patrick and Dirty Dancing have made on our society. It’s still such an iconic, small little movie that touched millions of people and still does. The fan base is still widening. The strength of this song and how it touches people is so weird to me. To me, the movie’s milestone anniversary, and our fight against pancreatic cancer opens the memory banks of everyone who the movie touched. I only hope they re-think how it touched their lives and how their love for the movie and Patrick can support pancreatic cancer. A dollar from every one of us in the world will be a big help in stamping out this disease.”
Photo Courtesy Of: Bobby Bank/WireImage
Previte further shocked Swayze by presenting her with a $10,000 check for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, one of the two charities the songwriter has been supporting raised through sales of his original demo recording of “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” and other songs he’s penned from the movie and his catalogue as the former leader of ‘80s hitmakers Franke & the Knockouts. Along with the check, Previte also handed Swayze his original handwritten lyrics of the Oscar- and Golden-Globe winning song “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” which she reminded him was the title of Patrick’s autobiography, published shortly before his passing from pancreatic cancer in 2009.
“I told Lisa, ‘I’ve been waiting to give you something,’’ said Previte, “And she said to me, ‘What better present can you give to me than the song?’ And that’s when she opened the lyrics, and her jaw dropped. She couldn’t get over how special that was. I told her how I knew how special the song was to Patrick. And she gave me a big hug.”
For Previte, the timing of his impromptu meeting with Swayze couldn’t be a better way to kick off the 25th anniversary year of Dirty Dancing. He began his charitable work for pancreatic cancer in Patrick’s memory in 2010, and said that he and Lisa are now both looking forward to working more closely together to beat this horrible disease.
“I was happy to finally be able to let her know that I was in this pancreatic cancer fight with her,” he said. “I told her this is just the first check of many more. She said to me, ‘You must have sold a lot of records to make this much money for us, and I said we’re doing good!’
“It’s such a special time to really look back and realize the impact that Patrick and Dirty Dancing have made on our society. It’s still such an iconic, small little movie that touched millions of people and still does. The fan base is still widening. The strength of this song and how it touches people is so weird to me. To me, the movie’s milestone anniversary, and our fight against pancreatic cancer opens the memory banks of everyone who the movie touched. I only hope they re-think how it touched their lives and how their love for the movie and Patrick can support pancreatic cancer. A dollar from every one of us in the world will be a big help in stamping out this disease.”
Photo Courtesy Of: Bobby Bank/WireImage
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