Chris Franck

Chris Franck is a German-born English musician, songwriter, producer and remixer, best known for his involvement with the bands Batu, Da Lata, Smoke City, and, more recently, Zeep. He is described as a "multi-instrumentalist".

Career

Franck gained initial success in 1992 with Patrick Forge, as Da Lata. In 1997, the Smoke City single Underwater Love was well-received after appearing as part of a Levi's ad campaign in the United Kingdom.

Franck was born in Germany, and has lived in the UK since the age of 6. He has collaborated with a host of artists from around the world including Tony Allen, Ernest Ranglin, Baaba Maal, Marisa Monte, Bebel Gilberto, Vieux Faka Toure, Sly and Robbie, KV5. He has remixed for many artists such as Femi Kuti, Carlinhos Brown, Luciano, Sly and Robbie, Novalima, Arto Lidsay.

The band Zeep is a project created with Nina Miranda, with whom he was also in Smoke City.

Franck's musical influences include Samba, Bossa, Afro, folk, funk, rock.

Chris Franck co-wrote and produced 2 albums for Chris Blackwell's "Palm Pictures" label with the band DaLata. The first album was called "Songs From the Tin" and the second was called "Serious". He also released an album of remixes under the Da Lata name for Palm Pictures.

Franck co-wrote and produced 2 albums with the band Smoke City for Jive records. "Flying Away" and "Heroes of Nature".

Franck collaborated on Ernest Ranglin's album "Modern Answers to Old Problems" alongside Tony Allen, Courtney Pine and Denys Baptiste. The album was engineered by Jerry Boys and produced by Mark van den Berg and Trevor Wyatt.