J. Frank Lively was born on July 30, 1920 in Fort Worth, Texas. He began playing the drums professionally while studying commercial art at Oklahoma State University. He followed the Lab Bands at what is now the University of North Texas since their inception in the 1940s, and also played in bands in the 1940s with the future director of the One O'Clock Lab Band, Leon Breeden. Lively worked for and owned advertising agencies in Fort Worth and Dallas, and designed album covers for the One O'Clock Lab Band. In 1975, he became the administrative assistant for the Lab Bands at North Texas. Lively died on February 24, 2002.