London soul singer Frankie Oliver releases his brilliant new single, ‘Tell Me,’ the first to be taken from his brand new studio album – ‘Here I Am.’ 

Showcasing impressive song writing and a classic vocal, ‘Tell Me’ combines elements of blues and soul to great effect. It has a timeless appeal to it, one that’s already winning him an army of fans at UK radio.  The track had already received an impressive number of spot plays across BBC Radio 2 before jumping straight onto the C-List. It was also the most popular track on Ken Bruce’s show the day it was played.

‘Tell Me’ is the first track taken from Frankie’s upcoming album, ‘Here I Am’ – a collection of authentically crafted soul songs written straight from the heart, out this June on Good Deeds Music. “I love making music. And I love my wife and family,” Frankie says. “I just want to express how I feel about them and the world, everything rolled into one. This album is my truth.”

For Frankie, the search for that truth has brought some hard choices and long nights of soul searching. He was signed to Island Records by Trevor Wyatt in the early 90s, when he was whisked off to Jamaica to record his debut album, ‘Looking for the Twist,’ with the legendary rhythm section and production team of Sly and Robbie. “I absolutely loved all the musical side of it,” Frankie says. “I found myself working in the studio with guys like Ernest Ranglin, who played on ‘My Boy Lollipop’.” Frankie won lasting kudos with songs including ‘Give Her What She Wants’ and ‘She Lied To Me’. But the pop-star lifestyle and major-label politics did not agree with him. “I was being pulled from pillar to post. I had young kids at home and my wonderful wife was left to build everything on her own, because I was never there.”

To provide a more stable environment – and income – for himself and his family, Frankie qualified to become a black cab driver.  While he mastered the intricate routes of London, Frankie also took time out to explore different musical trails, in particular digging deep into the classic blues and R&B repertoire that had mostly passed him by in his youth.  Then one night two years ago his second musical life began when he was woken in the night by a melody going round in his head. He got up and started writing ‘My Kinda Woman’ at 3.30am. The track was so insistent that the very next day he enlisted the help of his friends the producer Delroy Pinnock and keyboard player Sam Bergliter (Lionel Bart’s nephew) to help him record it. A minor-key song of love and desire, steeped in the soul/blues tradition of stars like Sam Cooke and Screaming Jay Hawkins, ‘My Kinda Woman’ electrified all those who heard it.

Fast forward to 2017, and Frankie is now gearing up to release a brand new 12-track studio album produced by Sam and Delroy and featuring a pool of top-flight musicians including Patrick Tenyue (trumpet), Bass Player Elroy Bailey of Black Slate, Ray Carlos (saxophone), Drummer Nik Bjerre, blues guitarist Steve Haworth and Michael Bami Rose from the Jools Holland R&B Orchestra.

“I’ve been away from the music industry, but the music never left my heart,” says Frankie. “I don’t regret my time with Island at all. They were great with me. But I had to get my life back under my control. This is a more personal thing. What people are going to get now is the real story.”

‘Tell Me’ is available now. Stay tuned for more news on the new album, out this June.