Francine Honey is an internationally acclaimed Songwriter, Singer, Multi-Instrumentalist, Independent Recording Artist, Record and Video Producer. Francine offers a blend of Americana, Alt-Country, Singer-Songwriter, Folk, and Blues, creating a unique and soulful sound. She is known for her heartfelt and authentic music with a mission to help people one song at a time. Francine believes that by sharing her life stories in song, others will know they are not alone through life’s ups and downs.
Francine’s talent and stories have been acknowledged by many including the Austin Songwriting Group in Texas, where she received first-place honours in the Country and Singer-Songwriter categories for her songs “Stay” and “Can’t Break Through to You” in 2022. That same year, she was awarded a scholarship by the Buddy Holly Educational Fund in Lubbock, Texas and asked to be part of the invitation-only Next Level Music Group based out of Austin, writing with current Nashville hit writers. Francine was most recently awarded the 2023 Songwriter of the Year Award by the Austin Songwriter Group International with 10 song placements, winning in the Blues, Folk/Americana, Love Songs and Inspirational categories.
Starting with the story, adding in a rich, warm voice along with either a guitar, piano, lap steel, ukulele or the Crystal Singing Bowls and an empathetic soul, and you have the recipe for a healing experience when listening to her music. With the intent to inspire others, she continues to share her stories through song.
Her own journey through life has been full of twists and turns. Although she’s been making music since childhood, Honey never dreamed of making it a career. Instead, she studied mathematics and computer science, got married, had kids, and worked as a project manager in the Canadian Federal Government. Her life seemed perfect. A near-simultaneous breakup and job loss forced her to relocate, find a new career and raise a family alone. Music went on the back burner; she never stopped writing, and songs went unfinished. “I finally realized I had stories to share, and there was still an opportunity for me to turn my musical hobby into my profession.” She is the graduate of the Berklee College Of Music Professional Singer-Songwriter Certificate Program and has studied songwriting with many of her idols in Nashville.
She left her career in 2013 to pursue music full-time under her maiden name Francine Leclair. She self-produced her 2008 debut album An Ordinary Woman in her living room. It was followed in 2014 by Re-Drawn, produced by Lang Bliss in Nashville. In 2015, she re-recorded many of her early songs for the EP An Ordinary Woman (In Studio) with Mark Plancke of SharkTank Productions in Windsor, ON. Honey took a few years to work on her craft, studying, exploring, and chasing her sound.
As a bilingual artist, Francine released several French singles, including “Chez mon oncle Lucien” and “Floçons de neiges sur mes cils,” which received regular airplay on various radio stations including SiriusXM CBC Franco Country. Her French version of the song “I Soldier On,” titled “Je vis sans limites,” continues to be sought out for Remembrance Day ceremonies in schools.
In 2018, Francine embarked on a collaboration with Grammy-nominated producer Neilson Hubbard in Nashville, TN. She recorded her full-length album, “to be continued…” live off the floor in just six days and found the sound that she had been hearing in her head for her music. The album garnered critical acclaim worldwide, with her song “Stay” reaching the top 10 finalist position in the 2018 International Songwriting Competition in the Americana and Blues categories. among thousands of entries globally. The song “Snowflakes on my Eyelashes” reached millions of people and to this day continues to help people through loss with the music video. Her song “Open Road” received CBC Country Radio airplay.
Francine released the album Take Me to the North Pole in 2019, featuring 2 original songs along with re-imagined Christmas classics infused with a Country-Americana southern swagger. The album was recognized by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the Top 50 Christmas Albums of the Year.
Francine released an A and B side single double release in October 2020, featuring tracks “2020 Vision” and “Can’t Press Reset.” These singles, along with subsequent single releases with “I’m Coming Home”, “Lightning,” “Hunker Down” and “One Big Party” culminated in her full-length album “I Carry On,” released in November 2022. Songs from the album garnered critical acclaim, securing two #1 spots in Canada and London, England, and earning recognition in songwriting contests like the Blues and Roots Radio Songwriting Contest, the International Songwriting Competition, and the UK Songwriting Competition.
In 2023 she began releasing a song a month starting in June with “Come Sit in My Chair” along with a variety of video representations leading up to the release of her 7th album entitled “Rockets In My Boots, Volume I” in Nov 2023. Volumes II and III are being released in 2024.
While Honey is not a touring artist per-se, Francine will be joined by Gabriel Rhodes (Willie Nelson, Kimmie Rhodes) from Austin, Texas in June 2024 for a round of live performances in Ontario, Canada. Outside of that, you will find her performing as part of her international travels at festival showcases; Songwriter In-The-Round events; live streams; private events presenting custom written personal songs; conferences after having worked with a team to write a theme song based on the organizations’ goals and values; or, meeting with music supervisors and writing songs for their upcoming projects. Francine continues to release music. Her 4R motto of wRite, Record, Release and Repeat has her buzzing in the Honey Music Hive.
“I just want to keep going, writing and producing remarkable songs. I am a songwriter and storyteller. I know I’ll do this the rest of my life. This is my legacy, one song at a time.”
In 2021 Francine started writing for a special project entitled “Rockets In My Boots”, her life story in song for far. Honey wrote songs to fill in the gaps and re-recorded some of her previously released songs for the project which consists of 3 volumes in 45 songs. 6 recording sessions taking place since 2018, Honey finished this project in Sept 2023 releasing Volume I in November 2023. Many of the songs on this project have already won songwriting awards which contributed to Honey being named “2023 Songwriter of the Year” by the Austin Songwriters Group International and a nomination for Best International Female Artist of 2023 by Radio Wigwam in the UK.
Honey has showcased at the Buddy Holly Songwriters Festival, Texas Songwriters Symposium six years in a row, NSAI Tin Pan North Festival, Hugh’s Room, the WinterFolk Blues and Roots Festival in Toronto, the Kingsville Folk Music Festival, and the Folk Music Ontario conference. Her music and songwriting have not only taken her through Canada and the U.S but to the U.K., Switzerland, and Italy.
And magic indeed is how Francine feels in the last year, still flying high from the 2023 Austin Songwriter of the Year prize which included 4 days in the studio with Gabriel Rhodes. Honey and Rhodes started writing songs together in 2023. In Feb 2024, Francine recorded a 10 song album live-off-the-floor in Austin, Texas co-produced with Gabriel Rhodes. 7 of these 10 songs co-written with Rhodes. This new album. A Place in Time, will be released starting with a Christmas single “Christmas, What Took You” in Nov. 2024.
In Francine’s own words, “Off the beaten path where the wildflowers grow, beyond the fences I find my soul.”