Frances Dickinson is a New Zealand-based musician and vocal coach. She is the former vocalist of alt-folk band Forbidden Joe and is a vocal coach for New Zealand recording artists such as Lorde.[1]
Dickinson was the lead singer and songwriter in the alt-folk band Forbidden Joe. The trio formed in 2008 after they met at the Devonport Folk Club (Auckland)[2] and went on to record an EP entitled Oh, what a queer sensation later that year. The EP was described as being "very contemporary and yet at the same time having everything that you'd want from a really traditional folk view" whilst demonstrating "really good vocals (and) some really good songwriting" by Manu Taylor on National Radio's Nine till Noon music review.[3]
Music reviewer Graham Reid discussed Dickinson's songwriting in a review of the EP where he remarked that " as a writer, just on this one showing, she seems to be a rare one". Aside from one co-write with Arthur Baysting on the full album, she did not write any more songs with Forbidden Joe.[4] [5]
Forbidden Joe produced their only full-length album In Mourning for the Pride of Petravore in 2010, which was part funded by Creative New Zealand.[6] The trio separated in 2011 and their album was a finalist for the Vodafone New Zealand Music Award for Best Folk Album in the same year.[7]
Dickinson is a vocal coach for Establish Music[8] and has worked with a number of New Zealand artists. In 2013 Dickinson worked with Ruby Frost while she was a judge on New Zealand's X Factor show.[9] She has also coached NZ Silver Scroll winner Lips, Six60 and actress Robyn Malcolm.[10]
Dickinson was hired in 2011 by Universal Music to coach Ella Yellich-OConnor (who would later adopt the stage name Lorde) twice a week while she was signed to their label on a development deal.[1] They worked together for over a year; Lorde described working with Dickinson in an interview for Rolling Stone Magazine:
"One of the coolest things was that I could have vocal lessons twice a week," she recalls. "I've always had a low voice, but you can find a couple of shitty covers on YouTube from when I was 12 or whatever, and my voice is quite nasal. Strange tonally. I got to strip all that stuff back and kind of rebuild the machinery, take a lot of twang out of my sound.".[11]
Soon after her work with Dickinson, Lorde recorded her EP and full-length album. She won the award for Best Pop Solo Performance for her vocal performance on her song "Royals" at the 2014 Grammys.[12]