A second former American Idol contestant will be performing at Artscape 2025, and she’s scheduled to appear both dates of the festival, May 24 and 25.
Franchell “Frenchie” Davis, the singer who was controversially ousted on the second season of “American Idol” due to topless photos taken earlier in her career, will perform during Artscape After Dark, the “afterhours” portion of the festival.
In February, Mayor Brandon Scott announced that Fantasia Barrino, the 2004 “American Idol” winner, will be the headliner on Saturday, May 24, and Robin Thicke will be the headliner on Sunday, May 25. Also performing on Saturday will be the hip-hop duo Little Brother and R&B singer-songwriter Tweet. Opening for Thicke on Sunday will be country music singer-songwriter Tanner Adell.
While Barrino and Thicke will perform on Artscape’s main stage near City Hall, Davis will appear at the Hotel Ulysses in Mount Vernon, according to Robyn Murphy, interim CEO and board chair of the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts (BOPA). BOPA is working with the Mayor’s Office to produce the festival. The 116-room boutique hotel at 2 E. Read Street is one of the locations designated for Artscape After Dark activities, along with the Ikonic Live/Vibe events venue at 316 Guilford Avenue.
Murphy said at a recent public meeting of Scott’s Arts & Culture Advisory Committee that the Mount Vernon hotel’s two main gathering spots, Ash Bar and Bloom’s cocktail lounge, will both be settings for live entertainment during Artscape After Dark.
“We are programming a speakeasy-jazzy vibe both nights in both of those spaces,” Murphy told the committee. “One night is spoken word, on Ash Bar side, and both nights Frenchie Davis…is doing a jazz and blues set” on the Bloom’s side.
‘Fallen Idol’
Davis, now 45, is a Broadway veteran and a successful soul, dance/electronica and pop singer. Born in Washington, D. C., and raised on the West Coast, she was 23 when she appeared on American Idol in 2003 and became an audience favorite singing “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” and “Band of Gold.”
Her time on the reality show ended when she appeared to be headed for the final rounds and production staffers asked her to fill out paperwork as part of a background check. She disclosed that she posed for revealing photos when she was younger and wanted to be upfront about it, and that led to her disqualification on the grounds that her continued participation would be inappropriate.
“They had decided that because American Idol was a family show, that they could not have me on the show because of the pictures I had taken – though they had never seen the pictures,” Davis said in an interview with EuroWeb, entitled “American Idol Double Exposure Double Standard: Ousted 2003 hopeful Frenchie Davis Speaks Exclusively to EUR.”
The decision drew widespread attention, fueled by a skit in which guest host Queen Latifah impersonated Davis on Saturday Night Live. It sparked more discussion in 2007 because in that year, during the show’s sixth season, revealing photos of American Idol contender Antonella Barba surfaced online and the producers kept Barba on the program, with host Ryan Seacrest and judge Simon Cowell defending her. She was voted off shortly afterwards.
Observers compared Davis’ treatment with Barba’s, and it became fodder for public debate, especially since Barba is white and Davis is black. Davis was dubbed the ‘fallen idol’ and the “idled American idol.’
On “The View,” then co-host Elizabeth Hasselbeck argued that the difference was that Davis was paid for her photos but Barba wasn’t. Co-host Rosie O’Donnell disagreed, saying “I think it’s racist…I think it’s because she’s black.”
Project Islamic H.O.P.E. activist Najee Ali also accused American Idol producers of having a double standard, saying it’s “obvious that it’s a racial bias…when you have a situation where a black contestant is punished and a similar situation happens to a white contestant and there is no punishment and they’re allowed to continue on the show.”
Davis expressed her views in a 2007 interview with The New York Post that was later picked up by other outlets.
“I couldn’t help but notice the difference between the manner in which she was dealt with and how I was dealt with,” Davis told the Post. “I think it’s fantastic if ‘Idol’ has evolved, and I think it’s fantastic she won’t have to go through what I went through four years ago…but if the rules have changed, I believe there should be something to make up for the fact that I was humiliated needlessly.”
Davis said the photos in question were taken five years before she appeared on American Idol.
“It happened and I was honest about it…and weeks later they decided to kick me off the show,” she told the Post. “They said it was because of the photos, but my photos certainly weren’t sexual…It’s not necessarily something that I’m proud of, but not something I regret either.”
Successful career
Davis was able to move on from the 2003 controversy, making her Broadway debut in “Rent” shortly afterwards. She started as the “Seasons of Love” soloist on May 16, 2003, and remained with the cast for four years.
In 2011, Davis reached the top eight on the first season of another singing competition show, “The Voice,” and finished fifth. She has appeared in “Dream Girls”; “Mahalia Jackson”; “Ain’t Misbehavin’”; Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Cinderella”; “Little Shop of Horrors”; “Jesus Christ Superstar”; “Timbuktu!” and other musical productions.
In 2012, Davis released her debut solo single, “Love’s Got A Hold On Me,” and it peaked at Number 12 on the Billboard Dance Chart. The same year, she came out as bisexual and has been an outspoken advocate for the bisexual community, LGBTQ youth and LGBTQ people of color.
In 2014, she drew attention when she spoke out in response to the verdict in the shooting of Jordan Davis by Michael Dunn, where the jury deadlocked on the charge of first-degree murder.
“As an LGBT woman of color, I am having an extremely difficult time grasping WHY Matthew Shephard’s life is so much more valuable than Trayvon’s or Jordan’s????!?!?!,” she posted on Facebook. “Help me understand, y’all! Help me understand!”
‘Hidden gem’
Murphy called Hotel Ulysses an “amazing hidden gem” and predicted it will be packed during Artscape After Dark.
“I do not anticipate it being seats in Bloom’s for Frenchie Davis,” she said.
More information about the festival is at Artscape.org and on Instagram @promoandarts.
