John Franchi

John Franchi is one of Britain's finest saxophonists and has a reputation which is almost legendary among the recording fraternity and London's "West End" musicians.Recently he has written a booklet called "Sit Yourself Fit" and this deals with the problems all musicians face - many hours sat in studios or concert rooms, often in chairs that are badly designed. This little booklet aims to alleviate many of the muscular stresses and long term pains caused by hours of inactivity sitting in one position.

"Johnny" (as he is known to his friends) studied clarinet and Sax at the Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall and once he entered the profession soon became highly sought after, touring with every famous name imaginable, including Frank Sinatra, Nelson Riddle, Sammy Davis Junior, Sarah Vaughn, Liza Minelli, Perry Como, Jack Jones and Tom Jones. He has featured on the soundtracks of numerous cast albums and T.V. series and has led the woodwind and sax sections on many major West End musicals on alto sax, clarinet and flute. These include Singin' in the rain, La Cage aux folles, 42nd street, Follies, Mack and Mabel, Kiss me Kate, Anything goes and Aspects of Love (where he met and became a close friend of Leslie Craven). He is currently (2005) playing in the West End production of High Society and in February 2006 leads the saxes in Sinatra at the London Palladium, which is very exciting as it will combine the magic of the theatre with an on-stage 24 piece orchestra.He took a sabbatical in 1992 to move to the Highlands of Scotland where he ran a successful Guesthouse with his wife Ariana, but the call of the music business was too great and eventually he succumbed to the numerous phone calls to return to London. He now lives in Brighton (his birthplace) and commutes daily to the West End.