Today we’d like to introduce you to Anthony Francisco.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I grew up in the SF Bay Area in Fremont, CA. I was born with a heart defect that required open-heart surgery just hours after my birth. As a result, I was never allowed to participate in any sports or high-intensity activities, and as a hyper kid with three older siblings in high school that all played sports, it sucked! I needed an outlet, and for me, it was music. My parents bought me my first drum set when I was four years old after what I’m sure were excruciating hours of listening to me banging on pots and pans and empty coffee cans. Not long after that, my dad noticed me starting to gravitate towards the guitar as well and started to teach me basic chords and songs.
From that point on I was hooked and would spend my days waiting for my favorite music videos and performances to come on MTV and do my best efforts to play along. This was in the golden age of the ’90s when artists of all genres were pushing the boundaries of music/music videos before MTV became a full-fledged reality TV network.
If I wasn’t glued to MTV, I was lost in the headphones of my walk-man cassette player, obsessively rewinding/fast-forwarding sections of songs that I was breaking down and learning by ear. I continued honing my talents, playing in garage bands from 6th grade all the way through high school. It wasn’t until going into college that I started to develop a passion for singing/songwriting, something that was very new to me through all my years of playing music.
After years of being told by others to take the “safe route,” I ignored all doubts and enrolled in the Independent Artist Program at Musician’s Institute in Hollywood, CA. From there my journey has given me the opportunity to play stages, venues and seeing places that I only dreamed of. Fast-forward to today, living in Long Beach and still chasing down this crazy dream of mine!
Please tell us about your art.
I am influenced in some way shape or form by everything, from major genres to some more abstract. My art is best described as a fusion of soul, rock, Reggae, and R&B. I write music inspired by personal and other people’s experiences that incite emotion within me. My goal is always to create art that people can relate to and impact someone, even if its one person. Whether I am creating from a place of happiness, pain, frustration, love or anger, the creative realm of music is the one place where I can figure out what exactly is going on within me, discovering and staying true to my feelings and hope that it finds its way to anyone who is going through a similar trial or path or season in their life.
As an artist, how do you define success and what quality or characteristic do you feel is essential to success as an artist?
Success is a tricky word. I used to think success was the stereotypical view of the Hollywood, red carpet, awards shows, MTV Cribs, etc. and in some ways, I still place value into the potential for art to bring those experiences. But ultimately I think the true success of an artist is defined by whatever it is he/she is trying to accomplish artistically. Everyone has different motives and reasons that brought them to the arts. An artist succeeds when he/she can take whatever their vision is and put it all together into something tangible. To me, that is the hardest part of creating. As creatives we have a million thoughts and ideas firing around in our heads and the challenge is sifting through all of that and producing something out of nothing that others can experience. Whether the money comes or how people receive it are secondary. Make something, be happy with it and put it out there. You are an artist, so focus on succeeding in creating the art that is trying to make its way out of your imagination and into the world. If it’s good, everything else will fall into place.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
My website is www.AnthonyFranciscoMusic.com and has links to my content, music, pictures, videos, social media accounts, etc. I am currently working on my debut EP to release in late summer of this year. I post a lot of clips/updates on my Instagram account, @AnthonyFranciscoMusic, so that is a great place to get the behind-the-scenes and stay up in the loop on shows, releases, videos, and all that fun stuff.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.AnthonyFranciscoMusic.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @AnthonyFranciscoMusic
Image Credit:
Ron Koffeman, Adam Kennedy, Gary Churchill, Mark Wales and Austin Monte
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