Michael Franks

In the 1970s Michael Franks established a distinctive place at the intersection of soft jazz and pop, operating as a crossover figure whose style eluded straightforward radio formats and therefore fit comfortably on the era’s FM stations, where his primary listeners were college students. Born in La Jolla, California in 1944, he grew up with parents who were not musicians themselves yet cultivated a household filled with swing, vocal jazz, and pop. Early influences ranged from jazz-tinged pop figures such as Nat King Cole and Peggy Lee to songwriters including Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and Johnny Mercer. His first instrument was the guitar, and the only formal lessons he ever took—six private sessions that accompanied the purchase of that guitar—occurred at age fourteen.

During high school he developed a strong interest in poetry, particularly the work of Theodore Roethke, while beginning to perform and accompany himself on folk-rock material. At UCLA he majored first in English and then in comparative literature, absorbing the sounds of Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz, João Gilberto, and Antonio Carlos Jobim along the way. Although he never pursued formal music studies and appeared headed toward a career teaching American literature as the decade closed, he started writing original songs that included the antiwar musical Anthems in E-Flat, which received a workshop staging featuring a young Mark Hamill. Film scoring assignments followed, among them Monte Hellman’s Cockfighter and Jan Troell’s Zandy’s Bride, both released in 1974 and the latter starring Liv Ullmann and Gene Hackman.

Songwriting credits accumulated when Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee included three of his compositions—“White Boy Lost in the Blues,” “Jesus Gonna Make It Alright,” and “You Bring Out the Boogie in Me”—on their 1973 A&M album Sonny & Brownie; Franks contributed guitar, banjo, and mandolin to the recording and joined the supporting tour. That same year he issued his self-titled debut on the short-lived Brut label, created by the men’s cologne company. Three years later The Art of Tea appeared, showcasing session players Larry Carlton, Joe Sample, and Wilton Felder; the album became his first major commercial and critical success, propelled by the hit single “Popsicle Toes” and defining his signature blend of smooth jazz textures with pop accessibility.

Subsequent releases sustained momentum through tracks such as “The Lady Wants to Know” from Sleeping Gypsy, “When I Give My Love to You,” “Monkey See, Monkey Do,” “Rainy Night in Tokyo,” and “Tell Me All About It.” His style gradually incorporated Latin and especially Brazilian elements, later shifting toward a New York jazz orientation after he relocated to the East Coast, while collaborations expanded to include Ron Carter, David Sanborn, the Crusaders, Toots Thielemans, and Eric Gale. Recognition as a songwriter grew as well, with material interpreted by the Manhattan Transfer, the Carpenters, Patti LaBelle, and Carmen McRae, among others; his own albums began featuring guest vocalists such as Bonnie Raitt, Flora Purim, and Kenny Rankin.

Commercial high point arrived with Passion Fruit in 1983 and its accompanying single “When Sly Calls (Don’t Touch That Phone).” Later projects reflected a gradual loss of focus and declining sales, though Blue Pacific in 1990 signaled a return after a three-year hiatus. Brazilian interests persisted through the 1990s, culminating in Abandoned Garden (1995), recorded in memory of Antonio Carlos Jobim, and a duet with longtime idol Peggy Lee on “You Were Meant for Me” from Dragonfly Summer (1993), cut near the end of her career. Activity continued into the twenty-first century; Veronica Nunn released the tribute album The Art of Michael Franks in 2010, followed by Time Together on Shanachie in 2011. After a seven-year interval he returned with The Music in My Head in 2018.