[2] He has collaborated with artists including Robert Plant, Ian Brown, Lauryn Hill, Santana and Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe and as a producer and/or collaborator with David Sancious, Chris Difford (of Squeeze), James Sonefeld (Hootie and the Blowfish), Erin Moran, Steven Harris (ex-The Cult, Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction), and Ashley Reaks (Younger Younger 28s).
Francis Dunnery grew up as part of a working-class musical family in the small Cumberland town of Egremont (at 28 Queens Drive on the Gulley Flats estate).
When things got weird at home and the alcohol cycle was in full rotation, I could return to that little piece of upper class England where Peter Gabriel and his boys were playing croquet on the lawn, eating cucumber sandwiches and deciding which one of their country cottages they would visit next.
They had a way about them that made everyone feel welcome in our home... My Mam and Dad would feed them great food, share cigarettes and partake in humorous and interesting conversation.
I somehow made sure that I had other places to live and spend my time (talk about the power of the human spirit) because I couldn't bear to be at home when my parents were drinking.
[8] It Bites released three studio albums, the debut The Big Lad in the Windmill (1986), the critically-acclaimed Once Around the World (1988) and the rock-oriented Eat Me in St Louis (1989).
The band gained a very loyal cult following due to the exceptional Once Around The World album and, arguably, their career peaked with a rapturous show at the Astoria in London in May 1988 to promote it.
[8]Following Dunnery's departure, It Bites briefly continued with a new frontman (Lee Knott) and a succession of new names (including Navajo Kiss and Sister Sarah) but split up after failing to sign a new recording deal.
So I knew I wouldn’t get it, but I wasn’t about to turn down the chance to go to Genesis' studio, sit there and sing "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway".
In 2003, Dunnery performed with fellow former It Bites members John Beck, Dick Nolan and Bob Dalton at the Union Chapel during the headline slot of an Aquarian Nation showcase.
[8] In 2005, Dunnery released The Gulley Flats Boys, a more sedate and acoustic album than its predecessor, featuring next to no drum or percussion parts and sparse use of electric guitar.
For an artist – in fact, for every human being – it's an incredible and fabulous feeling to sense that someone really heard what you said or played... During the house concerts there's the intimacy of one man with an acoustic guitar, talking to people about philosophical things.
In 2005, Dunnery embarked on a "house concert" world tour, suggesting to fans that they book him to perform in their own homes for a paying audience, in a drug and alcohol-free environment.
This lineup was scheduled to play as part of the More Drama Tour of summer and autumn 2005 (alongside two other Yes-related acts, White and Steve Howe).
In October 2007 Dunnery released a free download of Feels Like Summertime, a song which had initially been written for It Bites shortly before the band's original split in 1990 and was reworked as part of the unsuccessful 2003 reunion.
His summer and fall schedule included a full-band tour, culminating in a performance in Seattle which was recorded by Flying Spot, Inc. for subsequent release as a special edition concert/documentary DVD.
[citation needed] In 2008, Dunnery rejoined The Syn as part of a new line-up also featuring Nardelli and keyboard player Tom Brislin.
Kull, Brislin, Ramsey, Bishop and Jackson all appeared on Dunnery's next album There's a Whole New World Out There (released on 3 October 2009) as part of his new group The New Progressives.
Consisting of reworkings of It Bites and solo songs from across Dunnery's career (plus covers of songs by Robert Plant, Genesis, David Sylvian and Joy Division) the album also featured guest appearances from guitarists Phil Campbell (Motörhead), Simon Rogers (Also Eden) and Luke Machin (Maschine, The Tangent), flute player Theo Travis (Soft Machine, Gong, The Tangent) and – perhaps most surprisingly – Dunnery's own replacement in It Bites, John Mitchell.
He also announced that he would be recording a cover version of Peter Gabriel's The Rhythm of the Heat as part of Sonic Elements, a new "fantasy rock" band put together by Dave Kerzner.
[8] Dunnery also made a guest appearance on Hackett's subsequent Genesis Revisited tour, singing at the Arcada Theater show in St Charles, Illinois on 20 September 2013, and at the Scottish Rites Auditorium in Collingswood, New Jersey.
From late 2012 to autumn 2013 Dunnery recorded Frankenstein Monster, a covers album featuring songs from his brother's former band Necromandus.
The Big Purple Castle was a download-only triple album with songs and audio snippets reflecting on Dunnery's past, his life in the music industry and his current philosophies.
The mix featured new overdubs (bass guitar) and an improved sound to the original release, giving the songs "a new life, a new spring in their step" (according to Dunnery on his Bandcamp page).
In addition to Dunnery, the band featured Brown, Quint Starkie (in a multi-instrumentalist role), second guitarist Luke Machin, keyboardist/singer Pete Jones and drummer Björn Fryklund.
It was always that kind of stuff that excited me about music ... Later in It Bites, we were criticised for being virtuosos, but I was silly enough to think that I could change people's opinions about musicianship.
His early musical influences were progressive rock (with Genesis being a particular inspiration)[7] and jazz-rock fusion musicians including John McLaughlin, Soft Machine, Focus, Return to Forever and Jeff Beck.
"[16][31] "If rap stars can go on about the drug dealer on 73rd Street in Compton then why can't I sing about Gulley Flatts or Thornhill?
He married American singer Julie Daniels (frontwoman of the rock band Star 69) on 8 December 1990 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
"[6] The fund raises money for projects and activities supporting the health, wellness and educational needs of children and young people in the Egremont area.