Frank Portman

Frank Portman (born September 21, 1964), better known by the pseudonym Dr. Frank, is an American musician, singer, guitarist, and author. He is the singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the Berkeley, California punk rock band The Mr. T Experience, and has remained the only consistent member of the band since its formation in 1985, performing on ten studio albums and five EPs. He has also recorded and performed as a solo artist, releasing the album Show Business is My Life in 1999 and the EP Eight Little Songs in 2003. In recent years he has pursued a writing career in young adult literature, authoring the novels King Dork (2006) and Andromeda Klein (2009).

Education

Portman attended Mills High School in Millbrae, California on the Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area. He then moved to nearby Berkeley and attended the University of California, Berkeley.

Musical career

Portman's musical career began during his high school years in 1979, when he played in a band called the Bent Nails alongside future Mr. T Experience bass player Byron Stamatatos. The group was short-lived but released a song entitled "No More Riots" on the southern California punk compilation Not So Quiet on the Western Front released by Maximum Rocknroll in 1982. After high school Portman left Millbrae for UC Berkeley but kept in touch with Stamatatos. While a student there he hosted a program on campus radio station KALX which prominently featured local punk rock music, and met fellow DJ Jon Von Zelowitz. While working at the station Portman recorded a rap version of the Dr. Seuss children's poem Green Eggs and Ham. He also met Alex Laipeneiks, who had been a high school friend of Portman's younger brother. In the Summer of 1985 Portman, Zelowitz, Stamatatos, and Laipeneiks formed The Mr. T Experience. It was at this time that Portman began using the stage name "Dr. Frank," which he continues to use in his musical endeavors to this day.