FAC Insights: Introducing FAC new Board observers, Aluna Francis & Kelli-Leigh

FAC Insights is a forum for us to showcase and share long form pieces looking at various parts of the music industry and the society that shapes it. Pieces take the form of videos, interviews, discussions, articles and more. This week we are delighted to introduce our new Board observers.

2020 saw some extraordinary artist ambassadors joining the FAC, including Aluna Francis and Kelli-Leigh. The last eight months have been unprecedented as the music industry has tried to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and has rightly looked inwards at its role in perpetuating inequality. The challenges have been severe and there is a great deal still to do in bringing about meaningful and sustained social change. 

Earlier this year during our AGM, we announced that we have made changes to our governance procedures to ensure that we approach the future with processes in place to diversify and reinvigorate the FAC for the artist community.  We also announced two new Board observers, ambassadors Aluna Francis and Kelli-Leigh who will take up these positions from the next Board meeting later this month. We are delighted to welcome them and the experience that they bring.

FAC is uniquely run by artists for artists, each and every one of the FAC family brings something unique to the organisation, be that our BEAT Board, Board of Directors, Advocates or Ambassadors. You can find out who we are here.

Aluna Francis

"Being an FAC member means access to vital information that helps me understand the industry as a whole, but the most valuable thing is having an invitation to make change to support artists from an insider perspective." Aluna

The desire for change stirs from the inside. We either listen to it—or not. Aluna chose to listen. After generating over one billion streams, selling out shows around the world, and receiving award nominations and widespread critical acclaim as one-half of multi-platinum duo AlunaGeorge, the singer, songwriter, and producer established an unpredictable and undeniable signature sound on her 2020 solo debut. The music represents the culmination of her journey from “a black girl in an all-white British suburb back in the day” to launching a rule-breaking revolution where rigid boundaries dissolve between culture, race, gender, and genre.

“The recent ‘Black Renaissance’ is so inspiring to me,” she explains. “There has been a pivot in all creative endeavors from film and television to plays and comics. Black people have begun involving themselves in non-stereotypical things regardless of who agrees. The outcasts have found each other. This project sums up a defiant, rule-breaking, and transitional election of new culture. To me, this album represents that within its own small, individual world. I’ve gone through the process of owning myself, and this is the celebration.”

“I feel like this is a time of rebirth for everyone,” Aluna says. “That can be both scary and really exciting depending on which way you conduct your mind or your emotions. For me, music has always been able to shift me towards the future, positivity, and high energy in order to do more.”

Kelli-Leigh

“I’m so happy the FAC exists and I ’m really happy to be a part of it. Having an organisation to look out for the rights of Artists is paramount. I’m most excited at bringing a voice for the Female artists, independent artists and singers community especially. I’ve also been speaking out this year for better rights for Black and mixed-race singers in Dance music which I’m really proud to have great support from the FAC for.” Kelli-Leigh

Known for her soaring vocals and instantly catchy dance classics, few emerging artists know the music industry better than Kelli-Leigh. Her astonishing career spans a total of 8 years and includes over 500 million streams on Spotify, 2 UK numbers 1s and 3 UK Top 10 hits. Her unmistakable vocals feature on the club anthems, ‘More Than Friends’ (James Hype), ‘I Wanna Feel’ (Second City) and the Billboard dance chart and GRAMMY nominated number 1 ‘I Got U’ (Duke Dumont & Jax Jones).

In 2010, Kelli-Leigh sang with Adele at the televised Royal Variety Performance and accompanied her on the rapidly-growing tour. She sang with Adele at the Grammys in 2012 and the Academy Awards in 2013 and, as a BV, toured with her friend Leona Lewis and Jessie J, though the latter was overshadowed by personal trauma. 

The day before Kelli-Leigh’s first gig with Jessie, she was involved in a car crash. With no obvious injuries, Kelli-Leigh performed the next day as planned. She didn’t realise there was anything wrong until, during the tour, her back slowly started seizing up, the pain gradually increasing. She rallied through several more tour dates, ignoring the pain, and even jetting to New York to sing with Leona whilst on crutches. But the pain became so excruciating, she collapsed in Times Square. Back home, Kelli-Leigh was diagnosed with a severely prolapsed disc and a fractured pelvis; injuries which would leave her hobbling around and even relying on a wheelchair at times, unable to work. She couldn’t complete Jessie’s tour. 

Even with this set-back, her career showed no signs of slowing down; in 2014 she got a call to sing a sample of a Whitney Houston song for Duke Dumont. They didn’t need her walking or even standing; just her power-vocals. ‘I Got You’ went on to be one of the biggest hits of the year, dominating radio playlists and the UK charts. A month later, she was asked to sample Toni Braxton for ‘I Wanna Feel.’ It was another number 1 hit. “If I’d been on tour I might never have had the opportunity to sing on those tracks. You have to believe that everything happens for a reason. The problem was, however, my voice was everywhere but my name wasn’t anywhere.” 

In 2015, Kelli-Leigh was asked to go back on the road: Adele was touring her 25 album. She said no. “It was a huge risk. But I’d become so good at being in the background, being part of someone else’s journey. It was time for me to discover my own style and my own mindset.” She set up her own company, Music Core, that same year, which would go on to become its own fully independent label. The name not only relates to music being at the core of everything Kelli-Leigh does, but refers to the core strength she had to rebuild following her accident. Going from strength to strength, Kelli-Leigh oversees every aspect of every element of her music and image that is put out to the world. She’s making her own music on her own terms and reaping the benefits.