: Frankie JYears active2003–presentGenresR&BLabelsColumbia Records Frankie J (born Francisco Javier Bautista on December 14, 1980) is a Mexican American R&B singer.
Frankie J (born Francisco Javier Bautista on December 14, 1980) is a Mexican American R&B singer. He has had several hits in the US, including "Don't Wanna Try" in 2003 and "Obsession" in 2005. His album The One debuted at #3 on the Billboard album charts in April 2005.
Early career
He was born Francisco Javier Bautista (a.k.a. Frankie J.) in Tijuana and raised in San Diego from the age of 2. He comes from a musical background with his father being the lead singer of a traditional band. Frankie J grew up listening to both traditional Latin music as well as R&B. He attended Southwest High School (San Diego, CA) for his high school years.
As a teenager, he started listening to freestyle music by Lisa Lisa, Brenda K. Starr and George Lamond. He started writing his own songs and singing in the same falsetto style as Lamond. At 15, he signed a contract with a Canadian independent label working as Frankie Boy and recorded songs which failed to achieve any success. In 1997, he signed with Jellybean Benitez.
In the late 1990s, he joined Kumbia Kings and was a member of that successful Latin group touring throughout Latin America. The group played in front of 100,000 people in a concert in Monterrey, Mexico.
Frankie's ambitions were always directed to the American pop-music markets. In 2002 He approached Los Kumbia Kings mangement in an attempt to secure record deal as a solo-artist. He proposed that they record, promote, and market him to the "MTV" market. A vastly diffent music culture then what Los Kumbia Kings made their name in, but Management declined, citing the risky investment. Frankie then shopped demos to an array of record companies, and garnered a tremendous amount of interest, but his contract with The Kumbia Kings would prove to be a problem.
Frankie asked to be his released from his Kumbia Kings contract, but they declined. Frankie bolted from the group anyway, but soon found himself in court over the matter.
Lawsuits were filed from both sides, and eventually settled out of court. Details of the settlement were not disclosed.
Solo Career
Frankie J signed as a solo artist with Columbia Records and released his first album What's A Man To Do in 2003 which failed to chart. His self-titled first Spanish-language album was released later in the same year. The single "Don't Wanna Try" peaked in the top 10 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Chart, while "Ya No Es Igual" was top 10 on the World Latin charts.
He collaborated with Baby Bash, a relative, on another pop hit called "Suga Suga" which reached #1 in New Zealand in 2004 and was a top 10 hit in the US and Australia in the same year. Frankie J worked with a number of wellknown producers on The One including Irv Gotti of Murder Inc. on the title track. Mario Winans on a track called "Just Can't Say It's Love". The first single "Obsession (No Es Amor)" featuring Baby Bash has been a big hit on the US pop charts reaching the top 5 in April 2005. The One was released in the US in April 2005 and debuted at #3 on both the Billboard 200 chart. The follow-up singles "How To Deal" and "More Than Words" (released in conjunction with a DualDisc re-release of The One) continued the album's route to platinum sales. However, the fourth and final single, the title track featuring 3LW garnered few spins at radio.
Frankie J's second Spanish-language album "Un Nuevo Dia" was released on June 13, 2006. It spawned the minor hit "Pensado En Ti"
Frankie's third English-language cd, Priceless, was released in stores and online on October 17, 2006. Producers on the album include Bryan Michael Cox, DJ Clue, Soulshock, Play-N-Skillz, Mannie Fresh (who produced Frankie's new single, "That Girl" featuring Chamillionaire), and Frankie himself. This is the first time the Frankie produced any songs on his album since the release of 2003's "What's A Man To Do." The video for "That Girl" was shot in Miami in July and directed by hip-hop director Gil Green, who also helmed "Obsession (No Es Amor)" by Frankie J. The video made its world premiere on Total Request Live on Wednesday, August 16, 2006 at 3:30 pm E/T. Frankie was also in attendance to drop off the video.
Columbia quickly released the second single "Daddy's Little Girl" to radio in early November 2006. It is currently one of the top adds at both CHR Pop and CHR Rhythmic.
Hopefully "Daddy's Little Girl" will help Priceless, which has performed poorly on the charts. The album debuted at #30 and quickly dropped off the Billboard 200 Albums chart after only 3 weeks.
Discography
Albums
Spanish Albums
Singles
External references
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia |
