Frankie

Born George Franklin Jackson III around 1978 in Washington, DC, the singer later known as Frankie entered the industry under the wing of producer and mentor Chucki Thompson. In 1997 he cut his first album for Chucklife, the Epic Records imprint overseen by Thompson, who shaped the project as a deliberate nod to vintage soul crooning. The sessions drew an all-star roster that included Faith Evans, who joined him on the duet “Think Of You,” and the R&B group 112, whose members also contributed songs; Mary J. Blige likewise supplied material, offering the track “All I Do.” Jackson had first crossed paths with Thompson at fourteen, introduced by mutual contact Notch Howell of Born Jamericans. What followed was a five-year apprenticeship during which the teenager regularly sat in on Thompson’s studio dates, culminating in an album that arrived supported by the single “If I Had You.”