Francois Spannenburg

Session musician, Live music consultant and Live Performance Coach

I started working as a musician professionally in 1995 after winning the French harmonica championship 2 years in a row. The first time in 1994 in the category amateur and then twice in 1995 in the categories professional solo and duet. I started working with diverse bands in diverse music styles and touring within France. Quickly I felt the desire to create my own band (The Naughty Harps) in 1994 while severely lacking experience still. From 1996 on I started touring outside France and regularly in Germany. From 1999 I welcomed in my band Frederic Yonnet for 2 years (as a second Harmonica player) who has played later on with Prince, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones to name a few. His showmanship was highly impressive and I have learned the passion for stage performance itself with him. A few years later, after a lot of digging into the art of performing and stagecraft, i started to work as a stage performance coach for a few artist and imported my knowledge to some of the bands I was touring with. From that period on I have been hired by different bands and artists as a live music consultant and session/touring musician; I have toured in over a dozen countries and have fine tuned my skills at arousing all kinds of audiences. I have played alongside various artists such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Screaming Jay Hawkins, Chris Farlow & Clem Clempson, Focus, Ted Oberg and many others... I have performed and toured all over Europe, as well as Indonesia and Russia with Livin' Blues Xperience (previously called Livin' Blues) who shared stage with pop giants such as Steve Lukather (Toto), Peter Green (Fleetwood Mac), Desmond Dekker, Canned Heat, Adje van den Berg (white Snake), only to name a few, for 7 years. I won, together with the bandLivin' Blues Xperience in 2008, the "Dutch National Blues Award” for the “Best Live Performance of the year" and we have been voted by the main Blues magazine in Poland“Two Blues” as “Best International Blues Band”. I now keep working as a session/ touring musician and involve even more time in my consultancy/coaching for live performances and teach stagecraft. I recently started a joined venture with British producer and music business expert Tom Pearce (Elton John, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Georges Harrison etc) where he teaches music business and I teach stage performance to independent artists.

Profile

Instruments

Genres

Influences

Equipment

Languages

What is music to you? What does it give you?

Music is the essence of who I am. listening to it brings me a whole range of emotions and performing it is a pleasure difficult to describe...

What is your music dream?

Sharing my energy with as many audiences as possible...

If you could change the world - what would you start with?

The lack of compassion in general...

Which is the most memorable song from your childhood?

Too many to pick one only

Who are your favorite musical artists or bands?

Wolfstone - Red Hot Chilli Pipers - Manrán...

What inspires you to make music?

The love and energy from the audience...

What is the message you want to send with your music?

Be happy, be excited with the present and what it has to offer. We live only one time and it's today!!

How do you feel when you perform in front of an audience?

An exchange of love and energy!!!!!

How do you see the musicians’ reality nowadays? What could be improved?

We have many more opportunities than ever to connect with our fan base. We also need less and less record companies and labels. A good publisher is a priority, together with a passionate team to achieve good work.

What do you think of Drooble?

it is a great place to network with other musicians. It is not yet a place to network with none musicians but Drooble is improving constantly and at a steady pace.

What frustrates you most as a musician?

Lazy and unreliable people who talk too much and act very little...

Do you support your local scene as a fan? How?

I go to various concerts and show to either see my buddies performing or to discover new talents...

What qualities should a musician nowadays have in order to get their music heard by a larger audience?

Hard working - choosing well who to work with - be always prepared and ready for opportunities coming your way because opportunities do always come but we are not always ready for them nor to see them... and last but not least, actively seek for or create opportunities...