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Francesca Beghe

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Francesca Beghe is an American singer-songwriter from New York, best known for co-writing "Trust in Me", a song on Joe Cocker's 1987 album Unchain My Heart. A duet version sung by Cocker and Sass Jordan featured in the 1992 film The Bodyguard and its 18-time platinum soundtrack album.

Beghe's albums are Francesca Beghe (1991) and Dreamworld (2006). She has performed at Maxwell's,[1] New York City's The Ritz and The Bitter End, and on The Tonight Show[2][3] and has been reviewed in Rolling Stone, Musician, and Glamour and featured on VH1.

Early life and career

Beghe grew up in Manhattan and studied classical piano and sang in a church choir. In her early teens she started learning songs she heard on the radio by artists such as Carole King, Yes, and Elton John[2] and was hanging out at jazz bars in the city.[4] At this time she also learned to play and sing Aretha Franklin, Betty Carter, Odetta, and Bonnie Raitt.[1] She attended the University of Chicago and left to pursue music with a band while starting to write on her own. The band performed at The Ritz, and The Bitter End in New York City but never got a record deal.[2]

Solo career

Beghe then formed her own band and co-wrote "Trust in Me" with Marc Swersky and Charlie Midnight. She signed to SBK Records at the end of 1990 and released her self-titled debut album in May 1991.[5][6] Rolling Stone noted the album's "slick, catchy tunes" and cited the song "Heaven Knows" in particular.[7] Musician magazine described the album as "the kind of stunning, poised debut they don't make anymore"[4] while CD Review referred to Beghe as "a brilliant new star,"[8] and Glamour 'the year's best kept secret."[9] In August 1991, she was featured as VH-1's Artist of the Month[10] and in November 1991 Beghe toured the US as the opening act for Michael Bolton.[3] Despite these appearances and on The Tonight Show, the album and its singles failed to chart.[11] However, one of the songs on the album, "Trust in Me", was picked up for the soundtrack of the 1991 film The Bodyguard because Kevin Costner, its star, was a Joe Cocker die-hard fan. The soundtrack album became the best-selling of all time with sales of 45 million copies worldwide,[12] and the 15th best-selling album in the United States.[13] Beghe said of the time, "Checks started arriving out of the blue."[2] The soundtrack went on to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year[14] and, in November 2017, was certified 18×platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.[15]

Another song from Francesca Beghe, "Names on a Wall", is about the Vietnam War Memorial Wall in Washington D.C.[16] and was featured in an anti-war video produced by the group Veterans for Peace and was chosen by veteran's groups for the splash page of VietnamWar.com.[1]

In 1993 SBK became EMI while Beghe was working on her second album and dropped her due to the company perceiving it would lack any "hits", and Beghe's follow-up album remaining unreleased.[2] In 2006 she released Dreamworld,[17] which she described as "a 2½ year labor of love. I was fortunate to work with an amazing group of musicians and technicians to hone and polish every song until it felt just right."[18]

Family

Beghe's great-grandfather was Charles S. Deneen, a two-term governor of Illinois and one-term U.S. Senator in the late 1920s.[19] Actor Jason Beghe,[5] who portrays Hank Voight in the NBC TV series Chicago P.D., is her brother.[19]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Francesca Beghe was born and raised in New York City where she grew up studying classical piano". francescabeghe.com.
  2. ^ a b c d e Rooney, Alison (May 17, 2019). "Back from Her Break". The Highlands Current.
  3. ^ a b Mayfield, Geoff (November 30, 1991). "Popular Uprisings" (PDF). Billboard. p. 90. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
  4. ^ a b Pitts, Leonard, "Francesca Beghe: Does It Her Way," Musician, November 1991.
  5. ^ a b Italie, Hillel (Associated Press) (September 7, 1991). "'Tough' New Yorker On Cusp Of Success". Times Union. p. D4.
  6. ^ Lichtman, Irv (April 20, 1991). "Inside Track" (PDF). Billboard. p. 82. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
  7. ^ Eliza Wing, "New Faces: Francesca Beghè," Rolling Stone, June 13, 1991
  8. ^ CD Review. Vol. 8. WGE Pub. 1992. p. 8.
  9. ^ Maurice Wessinger, "Word On...: The Year's Best Music Gifts," Glamour, December 1991
  10. ^ Newman, Melinda (June 15, 1991). "The Eye" (PDF). Billboard. p. 54. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
  11. ^ Mayfield, Geoff (October 26, 1991). "Popular Uprisings" (PDF). Billboard. p. 95. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
  12. ^ Kimberly, Nordyke (October 30, 2017). "American Music Awards: Christina Aguilera to Honor Whitney Houston With 'Bodyguard' Tribute". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 3, 2019. Patrick, Ryan (November 9, 2017). "Exclusive: Whitney Houston's 'Bodyguard' turns 25 with never-before-seen performance". USA Today. Retrieved January 3, 2019. Chuck, Crisafulli (May 15, 2017). "Deep 10: Whitney Houston's The Bodyguard — Original Soundtrack Album". Grammy. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  13. ^ "Top 100 Albums". RIAA. Retrieved October 6, 2015.
  14. ^ "This Is How The Biggest Movie Soundtrack Of All Time Got Made". BuzzFeed News.
  15. ^ "Recording Industry Association of America: Diamond Awards". Archived from the original on July 25, 2013.
  16. ^ Pitts, Jr., Leonard (March 26, 2021). "We do thoughts, prayers, flowers and vigils. We do everything but the obvious". The Miami Herald.
  17. ^ "Dreamworld: Francesca Beghe". Apple Music.
  18. ^ https://francescabeghe.com/dreamworld
  19. ^ a b Wagner, Curt (January 8, 2014). "Chicago P.D.' cast members feel at home'". Redeye.

Official website

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