A very fine woman, probably the closest person I have to a musical hero(ine). She's worked on a wide variety of different types of music, as a session musician, arranger, and as a member of the
ZTT "We'll do the music, you do the public stuff" gang - providing the musical backbone for the best of
Frankie Goes To Hollywood,
ABC and others. Not to mention, of course, the
seminal Art Of Noise.
She's a superb pianist, equally at home on a concert grand piano or a Fairlight sampler keyboard. I've always loved her keyboard solos, riffs and those little electronic counterpoint twiddles that you hear almost subconciously in the background of tracks she's worked on.
I saw her play live with the Art Of Noise in March 2000 in London, performing tracks from The Seduction Of Claude Debussy. The track La Flûte de Pan was just her on piano and the opera singer Sally Bradshaw - together they captivated the audience.
Recommended listening;
The orchestration and keyboard backing tracks on ABC's The Lexicon Of Love - even today (nearly twenty years on) a virtually perfect pop record, which is made by the interplay of the backing melodies.
The Seduction Of Claude Debussy - as a friend of mine said- "If you ain't got it, there something wrong wiv ya!"
Frankie's debut album Welcome To The Pleasuredome - hasn't aged quite as well as ABC, but still a unique and great 80's record.
She had a relationship with Killing Joke's Jaz Coleman and together they released an album of Egyptian-influenced music, Songs From The Victorious City.