Veteran musician and songwriter Francie Conway has done it all!
From busking on the streets as a young man with British author and Tony Blair political strategist Alastair Campbell, to working with recent American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Chris White of The Zombies, the Kerryman’s new album takes its influences from many of these diverse places.
The seeds for Francie Conway’s album Hidden Gems were sown when The Zombies, who are best known for their !960s hit She’s Not There, were inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.
This led to widespread interest in the individual band members and their current music projects, including those of Chris White.
Francie and Chris have a longstanding musical relationship since the 1980’s and Francie is featured on three of the albums from The Chris White Experience, tracks which are also now included on Hidden Gems.
Hidden Gems is a feelgood rock album, seeing those musical connections with Chris make a real impact.
Francie has a long history in the music industry at home and abroad so it is no surprise to learn that other album contributors include friends such as Jim Rodford of The Kinks, Tim Renwick, who has worked with Pink Floyd, Aslan’s Christy Dignam and Finbar Furey.
Watch the video for one of the album tracks, Somewhere in Heaven, here:
Another track, To The Edge Of Time, will be released as part of the CWE album series in U.S.A., Australia and the UK in May 2021. The version selected is mixed by David Richards, producer with Queen and David Bowie. Watch the video here:
One of the other ‘hidden gems’ from Francie’s new album is a first recording of a new song written by Paul Williams, who won an Oscar and Grammy for Evergreen (from the film A Star is Born), It features Keith Donald and an arrangement by Fiachra Trench, arguably best known for his delightful string arrangement of the original Fairytale of New York.
The album’s songs have received considerable airplay on terrestrial and online radio stations across Europe, Australasia and the USA.
Since Lockdown began last March, Dublin-based Francie has written over twenty-five songs and included his son Rory in all of the uplifting videos that have been posted on social media.
“To see Rory’s confidence grow since the first song, a co-write with Pete St John, is astonishing and has brought great happiness to the special needs community and ‘Enable Ireland’ Crumlin/Rialto, of which Rory is very much a part,” said Francie.
You can buy the new album Hidden Gems at
https://www.hiddengems-francieconway.com/
