# Rodney Franklin

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**Rodney Franklin** (born September 16, 1958)[1] is an American [jazz](/source/Jazz) [pianist](/source/Pianist) and [composer](/source/Composer).

## Biography

Franklin was born in [Berkeley](/source/Berkeley,_California), [California](/source/California) in September, 1958.[1] In 1964, aged six, he took jazz piano lessons at the Washington Elementary School and was taught by [Dr Herb Wong](/source/Herb_Wong) who was a jazz journalist, [disc jockey](/source/Disc_jockey) and music teacher. In 1972 at the young age of 14 he led the funk-jazz band *In One Piece* (alt. In One Peace) performing his first 3 recordings at a studio in Ray Dobar's House of Music in [Berkeley](/source/Berkeley,_California), [California](/source/California). Produced by George Semper, only one of the songs has been released on the 2003 Inner City Sounds 2X LP Compilation released on Luv N'Haight [Ubiquity Recordings](/source/Ubiquity_Recordings).[1]

Prior to signing up with [CBS Records](/source/Sony_Music_Entertainment) in 1978, Franklin worked with [John Handy](/source/John_Handy) in [San Francisco](/source/San_Francisco), as well as Bill Summers, [Freddie Hubbard](/source/Freddie_Hubbard) and [Marlena Shaw](/source/Marlena_Shaw).

His debut CBS [album](/source/Album) was *In the Center* (1978), a jazz fusion album featuring "On the Path" and "I Like the Music Make It Hot". Although aged 20 when he [recorded](/source/Sound_recording_and_reproduction) the album, he had already developed his own sound which was influenced by [McCoy Tyner](/source/McCoy_Tyner) and [George Duke](/source/George_Duke), [Chick Corea](/source/Chick_Corea), [Lonnie Liston Smith](/source/Lonnie_Liston_Smith) and George Semper.[2]

In 1980 the album *You'll Never Know* he had major [chart](/source/Record_chart) success with "[The Groove](/source/The_Groove_(Rodney_Franklin_song))" (it reached number 7 in the [UK Singles Chart](/source/UK_Singles_Chart)).[3] The track was released on both 7" and 12" format. It created a [UK](/source/United_Kingdom) [dance](/source/Dance) craze called 'The Freeze' which was started up by DJ [Chris Hill](/source/Chris_Hill_(DJ)).

Additional albums which were also recorded on the CBS label have included *Rodney Franklin* (1980), *Endless Flight* (1981), *Learning to Love* (1982), *Marathon* (1984) (probably his most famous in the UK, [produced](/source/Record_producer) by [bass](/source/Bass_guitar) player [Stanley Clarke](/source/Stanley_Clarke) and the LP which released a single called *Stay on in the Groove*), *Skydance* (1985) and *It Takes Two* (1986).

In 1988 he moved over to the [BMG](/source/Bertelsmann_Music_Group) [record label](/source/Record_label) and recorded *Diamond Inside of You* which introduced [vocals](/source/Human_voice) by [Jennifer Holliday](/source/Jennifer_Holliday) on the [single](/source/Single_(music)), "Gotta Give It Up". In addition, Franklin has also produced and released an album on Nova Records called *Love Dancin'* in 1992.

## Discography

### Albums

Year Title Peak chart positions UK [4] US US Jazz US Cont. Jazz US R&B 1978 In the Center — — — x — 1980 You'll Never Know 64 104[5] 10[6] x 25[7] Rodney Franklin — 207[8] 12[9] x 62[10] 1981 Endless Flight — — 15[11] x 47[12] 1982 Learning to Love — 190[13] 9[14] x 45[15] 1984 Marathon — 187[16] 15[17] x 54[18] 1985 Skydance — — 31[19] x — 1986 It Takes Two — — 34[20] x — 1988 Diamond Inside of You — — — 20[21] — 1992 Love Dancin' — — — — — 1995 Rhythms of Africa (with Bernie Krause) — — — — — Rain Forest Dreams (with Bernie Krause) — — — — — 1998 Ocean Odyssey (with Bernie Krause) — — — — — "—" denotes releases that did not chart. "x" denotes that chart did not exist at the time.

### Singles

Year Single Peak chart positions BE (FLA) [22] CAN AC [23] NL [24] UK [4] US Dance [25] US R&B [25] 1978 "I Like the Music Make It Hot" — — — — — — 1980 "The Groove" 30 — 31 7 27 41 "In the Center" — — — — — 91 1981 "Windy City" — — — — — 89 "The Theme from Hill Street Blues" — 29 — — — — 1982 "Enuff Is Enuff" — — — — — 68 1983 "That's the Way I Feel 'Bout Your Love" — — — — — 64 1984 "Stay On in the Groove" — — — — — 72 1985 "Fiesta" (Promo) — — — — — — 1986 "Look What's Showing Through" — — — — — 59 "The Eagle and the Condor" — — — — — — 1987 "Bustin' Out" — — — — — — 1988 "Gotta Give It Up" — — — — — — "Stop to Love" — — — — — — "—" denotes releases that did not chart.

## References

1. ["Rodney Franklin Biography"](https://www.oldies.com/artist-biography/Rodney-Franklin.html). *Oldies.com*

1. Bush, John. ["Rodney Franklin - Artist Biography"](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/rodney-franklin-mn0000294144/biography). *[AllMusic](/source/AllMusic)*

1. Roberts, David (2006). *[British Hit Singles & Albums](/source/British_Hit_Singles_%26_Albums)*. 19th ed. London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 213. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.

1. ["RODNEY FRANKLIN | full Official Chart History"](https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/18384/rodney-franklin/). *[Official Charts Company](/source/Official_Charts_Company)*. Retrieved 2020-09-24.

1. "Billboard, June 14, 1980". *[Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))*. Vol. 92, no. 24. 14 June 1980. p. 75.

1. "Billboard, July 5, 1980". *[Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))*. Vol. 92, no. 27. 5 July 1980. p. 30.

1. "Billboard, May 24, 1980". *[Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))*. Vol. 92, no. 21. 24 May 1980. p. 33.

1. "Billboard, November 29, 1980". *[Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))*. Vol. 92, no. 48. 29 November 1980. p. 29.

1. "Billboard, January 10, 1981". *[Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))*. Vol. 93, no. 1. 10 January 1981. p. 84.

1. "Billboard, December 6, 1980". *[Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))*. Vol. 92, no. 49. 6 December 1980. p. 27.

1. "Billboard, November 28, 1981". *[Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))*. Vol. 93, no. 47. 28 November 1981. p. 53.

1. "Billboard, December 19, 1981". *[Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))*. Vol. 93, no. 50. 19 December 1981. p. 67.

1. "Billboard, February 5, 1983". *[Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))*. Vol. 95, no. 5. 5 February 1983. p. 67.

1. "Billboard, April 2, 1983". *[Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))*. Vol. 95, no. 14. 2 April 1983. p. 42.

1. "Billboard, January 15, 1983". *[Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))*. Vol. 95, no. 2. 15 January 1983. p. 40.

1. "Billboard, March 10, 1984". *[Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))*. Vol. 96, no. 10. 10 March 1984. p. 73.

1. "Billboard, April 7, 1984". *[Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))*. Vol. 96, no. 14. 7 April 1984. p. 49.

1. "Billboard, April 14, 1984". *[Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))*. Vol. 96, no. 15. 14 April 1984. p. 50.

1. "Billboard, August 3, 1985". *[Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))*. Vol. 97, no. 31. 3 August 1985. p. 58.

1. "Billboard, August 16, 1986". *[Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))*. Vol. 98, no. 33. 16 August 1986. p. 37.

1. "Billboard, December 24, 1988". *[Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))*. Vol. 100, no. 52. 24 December 1988. p. 60.

1. ["ultratop.be - ULTRATOP BELGIAN CHARTS"](https://www.ultratop.be/nl/search.asp?search=rodney%20franklin&cat=s). *ultratop.be*. Retrieved 2020-09-24.

1. Library and Archives Canada. ["Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada"](https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.0429&URLjpg=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f4/nlc008388.0429.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.0429). Retrieved 2020-09-24.

1. ["Dutch Charts - dutchcharts.nl"](https://dutchcharts.nl/search.asp?search=rodney%20franklin&cat=s). *dutchcharts.nl*. Retrieved 2020-09-24.

1. ["Rodney Franklin Songs ••• Top Songs / Chart Singles Discography ••• Music VF, US & UK hits charts"](https://www.musicvf.com/Rodney+Franklin.art). *Music VF*. Retrieved 2020-09-24.

## External links

- [Rodney Franklin](http://www.soulandfunkmusic.com/artist/rodney_franklin) discography at SoulAndFunkmusic.com
- [Rodney Franklin](https://www.youtube.com/pJt5HY5MgHs) on YouTube video "Stay On in the Groove" (1984)
- [Liner notes at ubiquityrecords.com](http://www.ubiquityrecords.com/press/lh040.htm)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Rodney Franklin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_Franklin) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_Franklin?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.