The internationally recognized singer hopes listeners never forget that Ball State University is "Everything You Need" when they hear the school's updated radio and television commercials in the coming weeks.

Stark, a 1969 graduate of Ball State, lends his vocals to the university's advertising campaign jingle that begins airing Oct. 3 on cable systems and television and radio stations in several markets around the state.

"I've got some wonderful memories of the time I spent on campus," he said. "I always wanted to do something for Ball State and when I was asked to sing the jingle, I was delighted to do it. It is just my way of thanking Ball State for what it did for me all those years ago."

Stark was in Indiana recently to attend a fraternity reunion when he was approached by fellow graduate Ron Pearson, president of the Indianapolis advertising agency Pearson, Crahan, Fletcher, England. The company was looking for a singer for Ball State's advertising campaign.

Stark's vocal talents add a great deal to the advertising campaign, said Al Rent, Ball State's marketing director.

"Fred is internationally famous in the business," he said. "He is one of those voices everyone recognizes. He makes a very good jingle perfect."

Stark began writing and singing jingles after graduation while living in Indianapolis and working as a broadcast producer. He leaped at a chance to move to New York in the early 1970s in hopes of a career in the music business.

After a short-lived stint as a member of a moderately successful pop duo, he jumped into the lucrative field of jingles.

Over the years, Stark's songs have included products and services produced by Pepsi, Budweiser and General Electric.

"I guess the most famous jingle -- and one of the first ones I wrote and sang -- was for Wind Song perfume that ran nationally for about nine years," Stark said. "That song stuck and I heard my voice thousands and thousands of times on the radio and television. They still use the song I wrote, but someone else sings the vocals now.

"The jingle business has been very lucrative over the years," he said. "I've sung for about every kind of product, from feminine hygiene to hamburgers for McDonald's."

When he laid down the finishing vocals for Ball State's ads last month at Caboose Productions in Indianapolis, Stark admitted he had come a long way from his days as an undergraduate in the late 1960s.

"I was an art major and minored in radio and television," he said. "I never imagined that I would be writing and singing jingles while living in New York. I thought I would be sitting behind a desk pushing a pencil and drawing advertising.

"You just never know what is going to happen. I give credit to my time at Ball State. There were a lot of great experiences and I learned a lot of things that I still use today."

By Marc Ransford, Communications Manager

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact Rent at arent@bsu.eduor (765) 285-1633.)