ABOUT

BRIEF BIOG

Frances is the youngest of ten children with a Dutch father and German mother. She grew up in Wolverhampton; the family all played orchestral instruments and fooled around singing anything and everything while washing up. Though she wrote short classical and jazz pieces as a child, she never imagined it possible to write 'for real'. In her teens Frances played keyboards & sang backing vocals with a punk band, borrowing keyboards from reggae band Weapon of Peace with whom she also jammed.

Not pursuing a career as a classical musician, Frances studied English & Drama at London University. During a short but happy career in the film business she met and married producer/director Bill Butt and they moved to the country. Settling finally in Bristol Frances started writing music again, first for corporates, then for TV. Ten years of soundtracks, mostly for wildlife films, followed, one of which resulted in the jazz suite Calls Of The Wild (see sound clips & shop pages).

After writing her first song (Sometimes) in 1999, Frances collaborated with Jimmy Galvin (see Lushlife EP) and the Pindrop Band before releasing her self-penned first album I Wonder in 2005.



WHY BOSSA NOVA?

I've hardly scratched the surface of Brazilian music.  Nowadays thanks to people like the wonderful Gilles Peterson, events like WOMAD, the internet and cheaper travel, we can hear so much more of it in Europe.

All kinds of stunning sounds come out of Brazil but bossa nova still really captures my mood.  It combines understated but funky rhythm with surprising, beautiful harmonic progression and gorgeous melodies. Some of the lyrics have been accused of being rather 'moon and June', and the bossa nova aesthetic was admittedly 'love-flower-sea' - not exactly the stuff of hard-hitting protest. But it's the sound I love, especially with Brazilian Portuguese - the most sensuous sung language in the world. If you think bossa nova is extinct, check out amazing artists like Joyce and Vinicius Cantuaria who are still developing the sound and repertoire.

When I was about seven years old I first heard the 'Getz/Gilberto' album and was totally smitten with that smoochy rich sound. I never imagined then that I'd be singing those songs today but it's been the most fulfilling thing I've done musically. People at gigs were asking me for recordings of the Brazilian stuff and that's how The Girl From Wolverhampton came about. My own material is so deeply influenced by bossa nova I felt I should acknowledge the roots. - Frances