heston Francis
BIOGRAPHY
Heston’s music is beautiful, lyrically refreshing, vocally and melodically unique, timeless, rich and soulful.
He has been compared to legendary artists such as Marvin Gaye and Leon Ware for his honesty and musicality. Heston possesses one of those rare, “instant classic” voices laced with confident sensuality - nostalgic, yet very much his own style.
This Dominican born, Atlanta based, 'Love Junkie' is a hot-blooded man, unabashedly romantic, allowing listeners to enter his most intimate spaces and thoughts. With his polished voice, passion for delivering stellar music, and loyal and growing fan base, Heston is poised to make a legendary impact on the music world.
Heston is a perfectionist and he defines his journey as a full-time musician, composer, songwriter and producer. The precision of his musicality both on his albums and love is unparalleled in this day and time.
Heston lives and loves great music. His music is accompanied by a full band with foundational rhythms that stem back to his island roots, comprised of percussions, horns, acoustic and electric guitars, leaving audiences captivated.
This Soulful Gentleman mesmerizes his audiences all over the World, including London, France, Holland, Japan, UAE- Doha, Middle East, Portugal, Spain and Australia. He has shared the stage with India Arie, Emili Sande, Wycliffe, George Clinton, Kanye West - just to name a few. Heston will soon begin his Transparency 2016 Tour around the globe.
“Creating timeless music has always been my ultimate goal,” says Heston with a poised, yet humble demeanor. “I want to leave the world with music that can be played for a lifetime."
Transparency is Heston's newly released fourth full album and truly an international album - having been written, recorded and produced all over the world - from London to Amsterdam, the United States to the Caribbean. To add further to the international flavor of Transparency, Heston has signed with P-Vine records in Japan for the album release on 20th April, 2016 and US based E1 Distribution for world release in May, 2016.
The meaning of the word 'Transparency' has been defined simply as "the perceived quality of intentionally shared information from a sender" and Heston is clearly transparent with his heart and soul in this album. Along with other amazing artists - you can expect to hear tracks produced by the likes of renowned international DJ - DJ Kemit, as well as the talents of Lorenzo Johnson and Cornell Phillips. Heston says "I've gotten to a point in my life where I feel like I know myself best. I’m truly comfortable with who I am, where I am, and how I am and not afraid to embrace it. I’ve lived long enough to experience a little bit of everything; from the good, to the bad, to the ugly and TRANSPARENCY is my most honest recollection of those experiences."
2016 Transparency 2013 Love Junkie 2011 Warm Human Cold World 2008 Storyteller Heston Special Edition
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
Ebony, Blues & Soul, Soul Tracks, Empire Radio, Jazz In M.E.E., Trendsetter 2 Trendsetter, POSE, Rolling Out magazines and several other publications have featured the soulful artist in their publications
2005
'IF’ – chosen as title track for BET’s Real Life Divas
2008
‘IF’ charted in the “Top five R&B Soul Albums” in Europe
Soul Tracks – “Album of the Year”
nominated for “BET J Virtual Award”.
Debut Album STORYTELLER was released in 2008 with World Soul Music/Dome Records and sold over 30,000 copies
STORYTELLER was named the “Top 5 Soul Albums” of 2008 and was also nominated in the Soul Tracks Awards
2011
WARM HUMAN, COLD WORLD (World Soul Music/Dome Records) was released in 2011 and charted #1 for three weeks on Solar Radio in Europe
WARM HUMAN, COLD WORLD hit the charts as one of the Top 10 Albums on Soul Tracks, Album of the Month in 2011, and nominated for Soul Tracks Awards in 2011
GREATEST LOVER reached ‘Top 20 Soul Tracks of the Year’ on Soul Brothers Records
GREATEST LOVER is featured on the Music Choice Cable Television
Best Male Vocalist of the Year by Soul Tracks
2012
ITunes deemed the song YOU a ’Hot Track’
2013
EOTM Awards - Outstanding Album of the Year for Warm Human Cold World
Love Junkie Album released
Love Junkie #1 on UK SOUL CHART
Sweet Soul Records Love Junkie Promotional Tour - TOKYO
2014
Australian Love Junkie Tour
Jazz Cafe - London UK
Ancona - Italy
Jazz n Creole Festival - Dominica
Reel People Music Remix and release EP of Resign 2 U from Love Junkie Album
Performance Northsea Jazz Club, Amsterdam
Performance Jazz Cafe` - Camden London
Performance Bizz'Art - Paris
Hard Rock Cafe - Philadelphia
2015
Lincoln Jazz Centre - St Regis Hotel - Doha
Release of single Finally Found - collaboration with Tristan (Amsterdam)
Release of single Love Is All Around - collaboration with Reverondos of Soul (Italy)
Performance with Tristan - Jazz Cafe` - Camden, London
Release of single Feet Back on the Ground - Collaboration with Tristan (Amsterdam)
Heston has performed to audiences of up to 40,000 people at international venues including the world's famous Blue Note Jazz Club (NYC), Blues Alley, Apollo Theatre, Acoustix, Center Stage, Sambuca’s Jazz Café, BAM, Highline Ballroom, Hard Rock Café, Bizz Art Club (Paris, France), Jazz Cafe (London, England), Union Chapel Islington (London, England), Emancipation Park (Jamaica) and The French Quarter Café
