Fraser was born Emmanuel Fish in
Leeds, to a naturalised immigrant family of Polish Jews originally named Fisz. In the 1920s, he won an All-American
harmonica competition in
Philadelphia, and became a renowned solo harmonica player, touring theatres around the world. In the late 1930s he intended to form a harmonica group along the lines of
Borrah Minevitch's Harmonica Rascals, but with the onset of the
Second World War he joined the
Royal Artillery and became a participant in
Stars in Battledress shows as a harmonica soloist. After the end of the war he formed his troupe of harmonica players in 1946. They starred in the 1947 film
Morton Fraser and his Harmonica Rascals, later changing "Rascals" to "Gang" to avoid confusion with Minevitch's group. They rapidly became a popular
variety act in Britain, playing at the
London Palladium on many occasions, and featured in television shows through the 1950s and 1960s. They also recorded for
EMI. that gangster Royston Smith was the dwarf member of the group in the 1950s, is not supported elsewhere. Fraser died in 1982, in
Eastbourne,
Sussex, aged 76. The group continued for some time thereafter, under the leadership of Tony Vincent, until changing tastes and lack of venues led them to disband. ==References==