Frenchie Davis

Franchell "Frenchie" Davis, born May 7, 1979, in Washington, DC, and raised in Los Angeles, California, is an American Broadway performer and singer whose work spans soul, pop, and dance/electronica. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Howard University, which she earned in 2014. Her performing career began in 2000 with productions of Little Shop of Horrors and Jesus Christ Superstar at the Freilichtspiele Theatre Company in Schwäbisch Hall, Germany.

Davis first gained widespread public attention in 2003 as a contestant on the second season of American Idol, from which she was disqualified early in the season after producers determined that topless photographs taken earlier in her career were incompatible with the show's family-oriented format. Davis stated that she had disclosed the existence of the photographs to production staff during the background check process, and that no action was taken at that time. The situation drew renewed scrutiny in 2007 when revealing photographs of season six contestant Antonella Barba surfaced online and Barba was permitted to remain on the show. Davis addressed the disparity in a March 5, 2007, interview with the New York Post, and the subject was subsequently discussed on the talk show The View on March 6, 2007. Co-host Rosie O'Donnell characterized the difference in treatment as racially motivated, a view also expressed by activist Najee Ali of Project Islamic H.O.P.E.

Following her departure from American Idol, Davis joined the Broadway cast of Rent in 2003, remaining with the production for four years. Her roles within the show included Mrs. Jefferson, a woman with bags, a coat vendor, and Mrs. Marquez, and she occasionally performed the role of Joanne. She also sang the Act Two opening solo in "Seasons of Love." Davis returned to the production on June 1, 2005, and gave her final performance in April 2007, ahead of the show's tenth-anniversary reunion on April 29 of that year. During the weeks leading up to that performance, she appeared in the iTunes podcast Rent: The PodCast and joined the original cast for a special encore performance.

In 2004, Davis was cast as Effie in a West Coast touring production of Dreamgirls, which played Sacramento, San Jose, and Seattle before moving to the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera. In August 2007, she starred as Mahalia Jackson in Mahalia: A Gospel Musical at Hartford Stage, a production written by Tom Stolz and directed by Jeremy B. Cohen, running August 3 through 19. In 2008, Davis starred in the 30th-anniversary national tour of the musical revue Ain't Misbehavin' alongside fellow American Idol season two alumni Ruben Studdard and Trenyce Cobbins. The tour ran through May 2009 and received a Grammy nomination in the Best Musical Show Album category.

In the fall of 2010, Davis was cast as the Fairy Godmother in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella (Enchanted Edition) at the Berkeley Playhouse, the resident theatre company at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts in Berkeley, California. The following year, she competed on the first season of the singing competition The Voice, performing on Christina Aguilera's team. Davis advanced through several rounds, winning a sing-off against Tarralyn Ramsey on the May 10 episode and being saved by Aguilera's personal vote to reach the Elite 8. She was eliminated during the semi-finals, finishing fifth overall, and subsequently joined the other Elite 8 finalists on a U.S. summer tour in 2011.

In December 2012, Davis starred in the musical God Doesn't Mean You Get To Live Forever at the Baruch Performing Arts Center in New York. That same year, she released her debut solo single, "Love's Got A Hold On Me," which reached number 12 on the Billboard Dance Chart. She had previously been featured on Tony Moran's single "You Are," released December 1, 2009, which peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Hot Clubplay Chart. In 2014, Davis made her film debut in the comedy Dumbbells. In 2017, she starred as Henri in The View UpStairs, an off-Broadway musical about the 1973 UpStairs Lounge arson attack in New Orleans. That year she also received the José Esteban Muñoz Award from CLAGS: the Center for LGBTQ Studies at The Graduate Center, CUNY, an award given to an LGBTQ activist who promotes queer studies outside of academia.

Davis possesses a lyric mezzo-soprano vocal range. She came out as bisexual in 2012 and has been an advocate for the bisexual community, LGBTQ youth, and LGBTQ people of color. In 2013, she was the featured performer at the National LGBTQ Task Force's 25th National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change.