“Without even thinking about it, kind of steered me into these kind of songs,” he says.
Instead, Francis says, he wound up with material like “Tourist in Paradise” and “Walkin” - safe, sexless songs that occasionally bordered on novelty. At the time, he was often told it was because he didn’t have “the right material.” He believes he was discouraged from singing any straightforwardly romantic material, for fear that a black man performing songs that could be taken as sexually suggestive - to an audience largely made up of white women - would never fly in the South. We can give other blacks an avenue to come in, through this organization.”ĭespite earning critical acclaim with his first few albums, Francis’ career never fully took off. They let you into the restaurant, they let you be the first to do this or that. Success in Nashville is based on “permission,” Francis, who is now 75, tells Rolling Stone. Before he left, he put in motion an idea that was as simple as it was radical - creating a country-music organization specifically for black artists. In 1995, after struggling to break through in the white industry, a dejected Francis decided to return home to resume his medical practice.
By the early to mid-Nineties, Francis had become one of the few black country artists to experience any mainstream success since Charley Pride first hit the charts in the mid-Sixties.īut Francis’ contribution to country music is much more significant and long-lasting than a few charting songs. His first modest success came before he ever even moved to Nashville, with his 1991 song “Love Light” and a self-financed music video, which led to three albums with Liberty Records. After being discovered by Nashville executive Jimmy Bowen at the age of 46, Francis abandoned his well-established practice as a cardiologist in Virginia to try his luck in Nashville. There was also talk of a proposal for a BET special, a networking event at the Nashville Zoo, and publishing a historical coffee-table book.Ĭhasteness, Soda Pop, and Show Tunes: The Lost Story of the Young Americans and the Choircore MovementĪt the time of the BCMA meeting, Francis was three years into his own country-music bid. Gail Masondo, who ran her own music production company, was excited about an award she and Francis would soon be accepting on behalf of country pioneer DeFord Bailey at the International Association of African-American Music conference in Philadelphia. Nelson Wilson, a vice president at Nashville’s historic American Baptist College, had plans to formally classify the organization as a 501(c)(3) non-profit. MaryAnne Howland, the proprietor of a branding agency, was working on a logo for the organization, which would incorporate an African print in its design. Francis began by stating the BCMA’s mission: to educate the public about the role black artists have played in country music’s history and provide a space for black artists currently working in the genre to join together in force. On March 20th, 1995, country singer Cleve Francis convened a group of 14 artists, journalists, college administrators, branding experts, and music-industry workers for a special occasion - one of the first meetings of the Black Country Music Association.