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Fran
Raya is a female singer/songwriter from Manchester, England. She has written
hundreds of songs and has a huge catalogue of work in many styles of music.
She has also written a novel in three parts, numerous short stories and
has had poetry published in 15 anthologies with United
Press under the pen name of 'Frances Rochelle Barrie'.
She
began her career back in the 1970's and was initially known as 'Frankie'. She
was signed to the Domino label and recorded a lot of her work at Strawberry
Studios in Stockport. She had a single released called 'Road of Destiny'
which charted in Spain and Italy. Her work was also recorded by Frank
Chacksfield and his orchestra, specifically a piece called 'Sign Of Love'. She
gigged unplugged around many university circuits, both in London and Manchester
and performed in concerts over a period of time at the Free Trade Hall, the
former home of The Halle Orchestra.
Further
down the line she began to record at Indigo Studios with recording engineer
Bob Auger who produced quite a few of her songs. Her manager was Rod Taylor
who went on to become a top TV Producer. He arranged for Brian Fitzgerald,
together with The Northern Dance Orchestra to arrange and play on her single
'Where Is The Feeling'. This nearly resulted in a recording contract with
Page One Records but negotiations fell through at the last minute.
She
changed her stage name to 'Fran Barrie' and her husband Robert became her Manager.
She carried on composing feverishly and her agent Joan Davy arranged for
her to meet Harvey Lisberg. He played her a revised backing track of The
Animals single 'Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood' which was a collaboration
between 10cc and Barclay James Harvest. He wanted her to record it as
a single but it was in a much lower key and did nothing to showcase her voice.
She turned it down flat.
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She
was introduced to a DJ at Liverpool's Radio City which resulted in sessions
with airplay and interviews. Round the same time she was also introduced
to Charles Foster who was an announcer at Granada TV. He set up a meeting
with a producer at Radio Piccadilly in Manchester resulting in a prime time
slot on their Night Beat programme. Paul Mitchell-Davidson arranged 5
of her self-penned songs and the programme was broadcast on two separate occasions.
She
carried on recording with engineer Bob Auger at his new studio Arrow Sounds.
It was round this time that she wrote and recorded a musical called 'Child
Of The 60's' which was a conceptual theme about the 1960's, as seen through
the eyes of a teenage girl. This consisted of 11 songs and was recorded
with just acoustic guitar and voice. She made an appointment with a producer
at The Everyman Theatre in Liverpool where she performed several of the songs
live. He seemed very interested in staging it but owing to lack of funds,
it was put on a back burner.
In
London, she was introduced to Laurence Aston of Transatlantic Records and had
lucrative meetings but although he liked what he heard, he could not generate
enough interest within the company as a whole. This set a pattern and
she had numerous interviews with many record companies who professed strong
interest but when it came to a unanimous decision, a contract was not forthcoming.
In
Manchester she performed at Band On The Wall regularly. She also had a
long residency at The Royal Exchange Theatre where the likes of actor Trevor
Peacock used to come out of his dressing room specifically to watch her, with
half of his stage make-up on and a towel thrown round his shoulders! She
went back into Arrow Sounds and recorded a demo called 'People Can Say'
arranged once again by Paul Mitchell-Davidson. She was continually gigging
backwards and forwards between Manchester and London and met a producer called
John Astor who professed a keen interest.
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Her
husband Robert Barrie went into partnership and formed a promotions company.
He signed three bands which she did some backing vocals for. She
also composed a variety of jingles for radio which was not creatively stimulating
but the money was good!!
Back
in London, Fran met Eric Lewis from United Artists. John Astor had been
hawking her demo single around and had arranged to meet up with her. Eric
Lewis played the single and appeared unimpressed so she quickly played him some
live songs on the guitar and his reaction changed instantly and he phoned up
one of his associates. Soon after he flew to the US with the demo and
said he would keep in touch. Tragically he died suddenly, as did any further
interest with his company.
Robert
arranged for one of his bands Steroid Kiddies (who have become part of punk
music history and are still gigging) to back Fran on her song 'Stole All My
Love' in the studio. The demo was heard by Vibes Records who pressed 1000
copies to 7 inch vinyl on their own label to promote it. This single has recently
been re-released in March 2008.
Various
record companies in London were interested but it was after a meeting with Decca
that things started to move. They wanted to hear more songs and paid for
Fran to go into a studio of her choice. Bob Auger was very busy with other
projects so Robert searched around and found a studio in Manchester called Central
Sound. Backing musicians were found and a session was booked to record
5 of her songs.
The
owner of the studio was Dave Christie who was also the lead singer of his own
band, Bacchus. He professed interest in her, as his dream was to nurture
a stable of artists and promote them throughout the UK and Europe.
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Dave
forwarded the tape to Decca but he did not charge studio fees as he expressed
the wish to manage Fran. In the end it worked out for the best as Decca
were undergoing major changes. All his artists were afforded free studio
time and advice. Two of Fran's songs were recorded with Bacchus. He
then set about promoting her as well as his other artists. As part of
this drive he invited Clive Epstein (Brian Epstein's brother) to the studio
to hear all the songs. Clive showed great interest in Fran's work, especially
a new conceptual album she had written called 'Priestess' which was about mysticism.
Subsequently he actually phoned her at home and asked if she would consider
him as her manager but she did not want to break away. She also changed
her name to 'Fran Raya' and has kept the name ever since.
Bacchus
flew to Denmark as they had been booked to perform for several months at a club
in Copenhagen City. Fran was still gigging and recording when she received
a call from Dave to say that the Danish promoter Erik Thomsen who was then a
partner in International Concerts Organisation wished to meet her. He
flew over and while he was in the UK Fran recorded four more of her songs
with a rock group called Fingers.
Erik
had major contacts and as a result Fran gigged with Ritchie Blackmore and Joan
Armatrading. She was also flown out to Denmark for publicity shots, and
press interviews for TV and radio. She was told that arrangements
had been made for her to support Eric Clapton on his forthcoming 'Just One Night'
Scandinavian tour. She was booked into a 32 track recording studio in
Copenhagen to make a project album of her songs with Bacchus. The rock
group Fingers, together with Bob Marshall who was the lead guitarist from Bacchus,
would supply the backing for the live performances. They would be Fran
Raya & Friends performing a forty minute slot of 9 of her original songs.
This was advertised as such on the Clapton poster and Fran had a full
page spread in the programme.
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Although
the tour went well and a project album was recorded, there were managerial problems
and Fran was caught in the political crossfire, so to speak. She was still
gigging, namely at a number of small rock clubs throughout Europe and writing
new material.
Back
in the UK she arranged a collaboration with bass guitarist Ryszard Szafranski
(who was in her first backing group) and keyboard player/arranger Nigel Devereau.
They went into the studio and recorded 3 of her songs with an electronic
twist. Later on they recorded and filmed another session of songs, along
with drummer Phil Watts (who is now a promoter with Bullet Management Ltd.)
She had several gigs to promote them and also sang a duet with 60's singer
P.J.Proby at a private party thrown by a friend.
After
a while she stopped performing and was accepted as a member of BASCA and also
The Guild Of International Songwriters and Composers. However, a golden
opportunity arose to go to perform in Nashville through Tom Paxton but there
was a last minute hitch and it was called off. Round this time singer
Iain Scott, who won a heat in 'Stars In Your Eyes' on ITV (as the singer Peter
Noone from Herman's Hermits) asked her for two original songs. He recorded
them both, namely 'If I Told You' and 'Lesson In Love'.
For the past few years she has concentrated purely on her
literary efforts, which have been rewarded.
Her own book of poetry entitled Thoughts
Of The Poet and written under the pen name of Frances Rochelle Barrie is to be published by United Press and will be available in the shops and libraries by
March 2009.
Also Fran Raya the
performer has come full circle and
is back writing new songs and aiming for them to be recorded by other artists.