Chris Franck

{{Short description|British musician}} {{distinguish|Christopher Frank|Chris Franke}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Multiple issues| {{BLP sources|date=May 2009}} {{Cleanup biography|date=June 2011}}}} '''Chris Franck''' is a German-born English musician, songwriter, record producer, and remixer, best known for his involvement with the bands Batu, Da Lata, Smoke City, and Zeep. He is described as a "multi-instrumentalist".<ref name=billboard>{{cite magazine |title=Palm Pix Presents 'Songs' From Exotic Da Lata |magazine=Billboard |date=2000-07-22 |page=48 |author=Roseberry, Craig |accessdate=2011-06-05 | url = http://www.allbusiness.com/retail-trade/miscellaneous-retail-retail-stores-not/4607664-1.html}}</ref>

==Biography== Franck was born in Germany, and has lived in the UK since the age of six. His father is German, his mother is Dutch.

==Career== Franck gained initial success in 1992 in the group Batu, featuring Oli Savill, Franc O'Shea and Tristan Banks, among others.

In 1997, the Smoke City single "Underwater Love" debuted on the UK Singles Chart after appearing as part of a Levi's ad campaign in the United Kingdom.<ref name=billboard2>{{cite magazine |title=Smoke City looking for life after Levi's |author=Kwaku |magazine=Billboard |date=1997-04-19 |page=61| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9w4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA61|accessdate=2011-06-05}}</ref>

The band Zeep is a project created with Nina Miranda, a bandmate from Smoke City.

Franck's musical influences include samba, Bossa nova, the music of Africa, folk music, funk, and rock music.

Franck co-wrote and produced two albums for Chris Blackwell's "Palm Pictures" label with the band Da Lata. The first album was called ''Songs From the Tin'', and the second was called ''Serious''. He also released an album of remixes under the Da Lata name for Palm Pictures. He co-wrote and produced two albums with the band Smoke City for Jive Records: ''Flying Away'' and ''Heroes of Nature''.

Franck collaborated on Ernest Ranglin's album ''Modern Answers to Old Problems'' alongside Tony Allen, Courtney Pine, and Denys Baptiste.{{citation needed|date=June 2011}} The album was engineered by Jerry Boys and produced by Mark van den Berg and Trevor Wyatt.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{Discogs artist|Chris Franck}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Franck, Chris}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:English multi-instrumentalists Category:English record producers Category:English male songwriters Category:British remixers