Francois Klark is a South African born, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer. This Toronto based artist has caught the attention of music lovers, industry professionals and labels worldwide with his incredible songwriting and powerful vocal performances.
He is a Universal Music Award Winner and has collected a number of other awards including the Oscar Peterson Award, Standard Bank Award for best original composition and Most Promising Performing Solo Artist. Francois was also awarded finalist in the IAMA, John Lennon, and USA Songwriting competitions. He has worked on projects with Universal Music Group UK and has shared the stage with various artists including Grammy winner Jon Bellion (Rihana Eminem), Genuwine, Shawn Desman, Karl Wolf and Sebell.
Netflix’s new dance film, Feel the Beat ─ directed by Elissa Down and starring Disney’s Descendants’ Sofia Carson ─ utilizes indie singer/songwriter Francois Klark’s dreamy, evocative song “Always” as a character and story piece. The song, originally appearing on Klark’s 2018 debut album, Love, captures the beauty and hope of Down’s latest feature. The story follows Carson’s character April, who, after failing to find success on Broadway, returns to her small hometown and is reluctantly recruited to train a misfit group of young dancers for a big competition.
In the production’s casting stage, Emmy Award-winning choreographer Mia Michaels (So You Think You Can Dance) stumbled upon the song and used it to backdrop the audition process. Down was instantly infatuated with the song’s stunning melody, feeling it embodied Carson’s character and eventual arc, and decided to weave the song into the film.
“Always” not only bookends the film with a beautiful orchestral version performed by Sofia Carson herself ─ but the piano ballad prominently features in the film’s climax, a dance sequence choreographed by Michaels dubbed the “petal dance”. Additionally, its melody is peppered throughout the beautifully orchestrated film score (Amie Doherty, Michael Yezerski)
The release of the film is accompanied by a Spanish version of “Always” (“Siempre”) performed by Carson, as well as an official ASL music video by Francois Klark starring culturally Deaf American Sign Language interpreter Sage Lovell and choreography by Matthew Fata featuring dancers Katie Hazard and Ian Chubb. Feel the Beat (screenplay written by Michael Armbruster and Shawn Ku) boasts an impressive ensemble cast: Wolfgang Novogratz (Sierra Burgess Is a Loser), Donna Lynne Champlin (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), Enrico Colantoni (Veronica Mars), and Lidya Jewett (Hidden Figures), among many others.
‘Always’ Available everywhere now! http://hyperurl.co/ListenAlways
Follow Francois:
https://www.instagram.com/francoisklark/
https://www.facebook.com/francoisklark
