Franz was born in Holloway, London, England, and learned piano before joining the music publishers Francis, Day & Hunter as an office boy in Denmark Street, the British equivalent of Tin Pan Alley.
[2] Franz went on to produce many prolific British artists for the label, including Dame Shirley Bassey, the Beverley Sisters, Frankie Vaughan, Robert Earl, Susan Maughan, Marty Wilde, Ronnie Carroll, Sir Harry Secombe, Winifred Atwell, The Springfields, The Four Pennies, Julie Rogers, Peters and Lee, Dusty Springfield, Anne Shelton, and the Walker Brothers in the 1960s, as well as American singers who recorded in Britain, such as Mel Tormé.
Franz's production trademarks were a lush choir and big orchestras, provided by Wally Stott, Ivor Raymonde and Peter Knight.
For Dusty Springfield's first solo record in 1963, "I Only Want to Be with You", and the many that followed – which were the best British equivalents to Phil Spector's Wall of Sound – he relied heavily upon arranger Ivor Raymonde, who also co-wrote "I Only Want To Be With You".
[2] Franz and Olliff continued to work with Scott Walker on the singer's early solo albums, in which he developed a more serious and sombre approach to both repertoire and vocals.