- Rodney Franklin
Rodney Franklin (born
16 September 1958 , Berkeley,California ) is an Americanjazz pianist andcomposer .At the age of just six he was taking jazz piano lessons at
Washington Elementary School .He was taught by Dr Herb Wong who was a jazz journalist,disc jockey and music teacher.Prior to signing up with
CBS Records in 1978, Franklin worked withJohn Handy in San Francisco, as well as Bill Summers,Freddie Hubbard andsinger ,Marlena Shaw .His debut CBS
album was "In The Center" (1978), a jazz fusion album featuring "On the Path" and "I Like the Music Make It Hot". Although only aged 21 when he recorded the album, he had already developed his own sound which was heavily influenced by famous jazz pianistsMcCoy Tyner andGeorge Duke . Other influences wereChick Corea andLonnie Liston Smith .In 1980 the album "You'll Never Know" saw some major chart success with "The Groove" (it reached number 7 in the
UK Singles Chart ). The track was released on both 7" and 12" format. It created a famous UKdance craze called 'The Freeze' which was started up by DJChris Hill .Additional albums which were also recorded on the CBS label have included "Rodney Franklin" (released in 1980), "Endless Flight" (1981), "Learning To Love" (1982), "Marathon" (1984) (probably his most famous in the UK, produced by bass player
Stanley Clarke ), 'Skydance' (1985) and 'It Takes Two' (1986).In 1988 he moved over to the
BMG record label and recorded "Diamond Inside Of You" which introduced vocals byJennifer Holliday on the single, "Gotta Give It Up". In addition, Franklin has also produced and released an album on Nova Records called "Love Dancin' " in 1992.External links
* [http://www.soulandfunkmusic.com/artist/rodney_franklin Discography]
* [http://www.answers.com/topic/rodney-franklin?cat=entertainment Musical Career]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJt5HY5MgHs Stay on In the Groove from 1984 LP 'Marathon']
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