Frankee

Nicole Francine Aiello, (born , 1983, on Staten Island, New York) is an Italian-American singer known by her stage name Frankee. She grew up with her parents, Matthew and Francine, and her two siblings, elder brother Matthew Jr. and younger sister Monique. Nicole was given the nickname "Frankee," which is derived from her middle name (and is also her grandfather's nickname).

Early life

Frankee's upbringing in Staten Island, New York consisted of singing in her church choir while she attended Bernstein Intermediate School and St. Joseph-by-the-Sea High School. Frankee made a name for herself as a local entertainer, performing in clubs and at a random assortment of venues. She also took voice and dance lessons in Manhattan.

After high school, Frankee won a full scholarship to The University of Tampa in Florida, to study insurance brokering. She left after one year to concentrate on her musical career. She moved back to New York and recorded demos. While many labels were interested, Frankee decided to go with an independent label?Marro Records?because she feared that a big label would bog her down.

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

In early 2004, before Frankee could start work on a debut album, she became the subject of media attention because of the song "Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)", by Eamon. Frankee then released an answer song, "F.U.R.B. (Fuck You Right Back)", with the same musical arrangement as Eamon's song. The song reached the number one position on the UK Singles Chart in May 2004, and the Australian ARIA Singles Chart in June 2004.

Her first album, The Good, the Bad, the Ugly, included contributions from Makeba Riddick (who later co-wrote five songs on Beyonc? Knowles' B'Day album) and Andre Deyo (who co-wrote "Jenny from the Block"), with production by The Trackmasters and Rich Harrison. The Good, The Bad, The Ugly failed to chart, despite "F.U.R.B."'s success.

According to Frankee, when The Good, the Bad, the Ugly was released in April 2004, the public gave the album extra attention. Frankee stated she chose this album title "because it explores the full spectrum of relationships". After touring America following the album's release, Frankee embarked on two UK tours and a German tour in the summer of 2004. Meanwhile, her second single, "How You Do," was released. "It's about falling in love," Frankee explains. "It's totally different from the first single and it's what I want to portray. I don't want it to always be that hard music with cursing. That's not really what I'm all about."

Second studio album "Watch Me"

Frankee was either dropped by, or left her previous record label, Marro Records, in 2006. She then signed with Big Management immediately afterwards in pursuit to extend her career by recording and releasing a new album. She recorded a number of songs for this album and it was rumoured that a sampler was sent out, although this is still unconfirmed to this date. Her management decided the song "Watch Me" was the best of all songs she recorded, and released this as a Digital Download single in 2006. Furthermore, they decided that Watch Me should be the album title*. Due to complete lack of promotion, this song failed to chart and Frankee was dropped from Big Entertainment as a result.

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