Frankie B...as in BLAZE!!

Profile courtesy of MySpace Layouts I'm completely self taught. I learned some music theory in high school, but honestly havent applied it since! I also play bass, keys, & drums. There were no musicians in my immediate family, but all of them were music lovers. Because of them, I was exposed to all different genres of music. My mom always had a couple of musical instruments lying around the crib just in case either my bro, sis, or me would develop an interest. I guess I was the only one interested. Anyway, I started fooling around with guitar & bass around seven. By 11, I really started taking guitar seriously after hearing "Machine Gun" by Jimi. I grew up in the era of early hip hop, and of the hair metal bands, so I soaked a lot of that in as well. By 15, I was playing professionally in and around Chicago. Listening to Prince is what gave me my D.I.Y. approach to music, songwriting, & production, and inspired me to look beyond just playing guitar. That's when I taught myself keys & drums. My dissatisfaction with what I was hearing on the radio at the time is what fueled my musical 'vision', so to speak. At 18, I started doing studio session work. I got my first major label album credit playing guitar on Crucial Conflict's "Swing It Over Here" from the 'Good Side/Bad Side' album. I became friends with Wildstyle, the producer/member of Crucial, so I became the go-to guy when he needed guitar on any of his tracks. One of them wound up on Busta Rhymes' "It Ain't Safe No More" cd. Its a track called 'Hey Ladies'. When Wild decided to establish Buckwild Records, he brought me in as a producer as well. That's when I really learned the ins & outs of producing, recording, & engineering. During that period, I was also still gigging in r&b, gospel, funk,rock,& blues acts in Chicago, as well as other cities. Since '96, music has been my sole occupation.Yeah, I've paid my dues and then some! Currently, I'm playing for songwriter/vocalist/guitarist Valencia Bey,Allegra Delores,Discopoet Khari B.,& Eve's Mistake. I just finished doing production on his upcoming cd, "The Rockstar Poetry Project". Crucial Conflict's new cd'Planet CruCon'has a few tracks I co-produced with Wild. My guitar is all over this cd as well.