Francisco Javier Bautista Jr. (born December 7, 1976) better known by his stage name Frankie J, is a Mexican-American singer and former member of the musical group Kumbia Kings.

Born in Mexico, Latin America. He is of Native Latino-American descent. He grew up in San Diego and became a freestyle artist under the stage name Frankie Boy in the late 1990s. He then joined Kumbia Kings before re-embarking on a solo career. Frankie J's solo debut album, What's a Man to Do, was released in 2003, followed by more English and Spanish language albums. He received a Grammy Award nomination for his album Faith, Hope y Amor in 2013 for Best Latin Pop Album.

Early life

Bautista was born in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, and raised in San Diego, California, United States, from the age of two, after his uncle brought him and his siblings to the United States. He grew up listening to both traditional Latin music as well as American urban music. He attended Southwest Senior High School in San Diego. The album's lead single "Don't Wanna Try" peaked at #19 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart, while "Ya No Es Igual" went Top 10 on the World Latin charts.

The One and breakthrough

His second album The One was released on March 22, 2005. It was led by the #3 Billboard Hot 100 hit "Obsession (No Es Amor)" featuring rapper Baby Bash, and followed by the Top 40 singles "How To Deal" and "More Than Words". To coincide with the release of "More Than Words", the album was re-released on the DualDisc format in October. By January 2006, The One was certified platinum by the RIAA for shipping over a million copies. His second Spanish-language album Un Nuevo Dia was released on June 13, 2006, and featured the single "Pensado En Ti". The lead single "That Girl" featured Chamillionaire and Mannie Fresh and peaked at number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100. A second single, "Daddy's Little Girl", charted at number 23 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart.

Independent route

Following his departure from Columbia Records, Frankie J released a few singles ("Pictures", "If You Were My Girlfriend", "Crush") between 2008 and 2011, as well as starting his own label, Soulsick Records. He has also written songs for other artists, most recently the number 2 hit song "Take a Chance on Me" in the United Kingdom for boyband JLS.

He released his fourth English-language studio album Courage on December 7, 2011. The lead single "How Beautiful You Are" was released to digital retailers on October 24, 2011. The music video was directed by Mike Ho and premiered on YouTube on September 11, 2011. The video for the album's second single "And I Had You There" premiered on Frankie's YouTube channel on November 26, 2011. Frankie J and Baby Bash shot a video for the album's third single "That's Wussup" in December 2011 in San Diego, California. The video premiered on January 8, 2012.

On July 12, 2012, it was announced that Frankie J will join Jennifer Lopez and Enrique Iglesias on their joint North America tour, serving as a special guest, replacing Wisin & Yandel who were initially the opening act.

Faith, Hope y Amor and Grammy success

In 2011, he signed with Universal Music and began work on a new Spanish-language album. He released two digital singles ("Ay, Ay, Ay" and "Tienes Que Creer En Mi"/"Take a Chance on Me") in late 2012.

In 2013, he released his new album, Faith, Hope y Amor on May 28, 2013. The album was nominated for the 56th annual Grammy Award under the category of Best Latin Pop Album. It was preceded by the release of the singles "No Te Quiero Ver Con Él" and "Beautiful" (featuring Pitbull). "Impossible" was also released as a single.

On November 26, 2015, he premiered the single "Breakin'", with a music video (in English and Spanglish) premiering on December 14. The digital single was released on December 25, 2015. Four additional singles — "Let the Music Take Control", "I Promise You", "Riches in Heaven", and "Body Rock" — followed in 2016. He announced his next album would be titled More Than the Music.

In March 2017, he scored a radio hit with "Si Una Vez (If I Once)" which was a collaboration with Play-N-Skillz, Wisin, and Leslie Grace. In June, he collaborated with Baby Bash for a new single titled "Vamonos". The following month in July, he released a new single "Lowrider" with Baby Bash, C Kan, Ozomatli & Kid Frost.

On July 27, he released his new studio album titled Eleven through his own label Soulsick Musick Inc.

Acting

Frankie appeared as a celebrity guest at the 16th birthday party of Marissa Mishelle on MTV's My Super Sweet 16.

In 2011, he joined the mun2 television series RPM Miami as mechanic Ramon. The series was quickly renewed for a second season.

Discography

Studio albums

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"

|-

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:12em;"| Title

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:17em;"| Details

! scope="col" colspan="3"| Peak chart positions

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:12em;" | Certifications

|-

! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| US

! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| US Latin

! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| AUS<br>

|-

! scope="row"| Un Nuevo Dia

|

  • Released: June 13, 2006
  • Label: Norte/Columbia
  • Formats: CD, digital download

| 198 || 9 || —

|

|-

! scope="row"| Priceless

|

  • Released: October 17, 2006
  • Label: Columbia
  • Formats: CD, digital download

| 30 || — || —

|

|-

! scope="row"| Courage

|

  • Released: December 7, 2011
  • Label: Soulsick Musick
  • Formats: Digital download, CD

| — || — || —

|

|-

! scope="row"| Faith, Hope y Amor

|

  • Released: May 28, 2013
  • Label: Universal Music Latino
  • Formats: Digital download, CD

| — || 7 || —

|

|-

! scope="row"| Eleven

|

  • Released: July 27, 2017
  • Label: Soulsick Musick
  • Formats: Digital download

| — || — || —

|

|-

! scope="row"| Canciones Que Recuerdo

|

  • Released: May 15, 2020
  • Label: Soulsick Musick
  • Formats: Digital download

| — || — || —

|

|-

! scope="row"| Back2us

|

  • Released: February 22, 2022
  • Label: Soulsick Musick
  • Formats: Digital download

| — || — || —

|

|-

| colspan="15" style="font-size:90%"| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

|}

Collaborative albums

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"

|-

! scope="col" style="width:12em;"| Title

! scope="col" style="width:17em;"| Details

|-

! scope="row"| Sangría<br /><small>(with Baby Bash)</small>

|

  • Released: October 20, 2017
  • Label: Soulsick Musick
  • Formats: Digital download

|}

Singles

As lead artist

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"

|-

! rowspan="2" scope="col" style="width:24em;" | Title

! rowspan="2" scope="col" style="width:1em;" | Year

! scope="col" colspan="8"| Peak chart positions

! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Certifications

! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Album

|-

! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| US<br />

! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| US<br />R&B

! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| US Rhy.<br />

! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| NZ

! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| UK<br />R&B

! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"| UK

|-

! scope="row" | "Don't Wanna Try"

| rowspan="3" | 2003

| 19 || — || 8 || — || 81 || — || — || —

|

| rowspan="2"| What's a Man to Do?

|-

! scope="row"| "We Still"

| — || — || 22 || — || — || — || — || —

|

|-

! scope="row"| "Ya No Es Igual"

| — || — || — || 11 || — || — || — || —

|

| Frankie J

|-

! scope="row" | "Obsession (No Es Amor)"<br /><small>(featuring Baby Bash)</small>

| rowspan="3" | 2005

| 3 || 69 || 2 || 3 || 5 || 4 || 24 || 38

|

  • RIAA: Gold
  • RMNZ: Gold

| rowspan="3"| The One

|-

! scope="row"| "How to Deal"

| 39 || — || 6 || — || — || — || — || —

|

  • RIAA: Gold
  • ARIA: Platinum
  • BPI: Silver
  • BVMI: Gold
  • RMNZ: 3× Platinum

|Tha Smokin' Nephew

|-

! scope="row" | "Acapella"<br /><small>(Mikolas Josef featuring Fito Blanko and Frankie J)</small>

| 2019

|—

|—

|—

|—

|1

|—

|—

|—

|2

|—

|

| rowspan="1"

|-

!"Beso" (Kamran & Hooman featuring Frankie J)

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|-

| colspan="15" style="font-size:90%"| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

|}

Guest appearances

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"

|-

! scope="col" style="width:24em;" | Title

! scope="col" style="width:1em;" | Year

! scope="col"| Artist(s)

! scope="col"| Album

|-

! scope="row" | "Ménage à Trois"

| 2003

| Baby Bash featuring Frankie J & Powda

| Tha Smokin' Nephew

|-

! scope="row" | "Ménage à Trois"

| rowspan="2" | 2004

| Baby Bash featuring Shadow, Don Cisco & Frankie J

| rowspan="2"| Ménage à Trois

|-

! scope="row"| "Hot Zone"

| Baby Bash featuring Frost, Nino Brown & Frankie J

|-

! scope="row" | "Are You Still Alone"

| 2005

| Play-N-Skillz featuring Frankie J

| The Process

|-

! scope="row" | "Los Infieles (Remix)"

| rowspan="2" | 2006

| Aventura featuring Frankie J

|

|-

! scope="row"| "Run Away"

| Bubba Sparxxx featuring Frankie J

| The Charm

|-

! scope="row" | "Lifted"

| rowspan="4" | 2007

| Latino Velvet featuring Frankie J & Malik

| The Camp Is Back

|-

! scope="row"| "Perfect Girl"

| Los Super Reyes featuring Frankie J & Damon Reel

| El Regreso De Los Reyes

|-

! scope="row"| "Tell Me (Remix)"

| Pitbull featuring Frankie J & Ken-Y

| The Boatlift

|-

! scope="row"| "Be Gone"

| First Class Fiction featuring Frankie J

| Overdue

|-

! scope="row" | "Slow It Down"

| rowspan="2" | 2008

| Lil Rob featuring Frankie J

| Twelve Eighteen, Pt. 2

|-

! scope="row"| "To the Top"

| Omar Cruz featuring Frankie J

| Sign of the Cruz

|-

! scope="row" | "Eres (Remix)"

| 2009

| Los Super Reyes featuring Frankie J

|

|-

! scope="row" | "Night & Day"

| rowspan="3" | 2010

| Cuete Yeska featuring Frankie J

| rowspan="2"| Love Stories 2: The Notebook

|-

! scope="row"| "You Deserve Better"

| Cuete Yeska featuring Frankie J

|-

! scope="row"| "Rebound"

| Jump Smokers featuring Frankie J

| Kings of the Dancefloor

|-

! scope="row" | "El Reloj No Perdona"

| rowspan="5" | 2011

| Syko "El Terror" featuring Frankie J

| The Sykology: The Mixtape

|-

! scope="row"| "Number 1"

| Royalty featuring Frankie J

| rowspan="3"

|-

! scope="row"| "La Nave Del Olvido (Remix)"

| Cristian Castro featuring Frankie J

|-

! scope="row"| "Inevitable"

| Gemini featuring Frankie J

|-

! scope="row"| "I'm Not Coming Home"

| Play-N-Skillz featuring Frankie J

| Red October

|-

! scope="row" | "Butterfly Kisses"

| 2013

| Baby Bash & Frankie J featuring Paula DeAnda

|

|-

! scope="row" | "Te Quedarás"

| 2014

| Dulce María featuring Frankie J

| Sin Fronteras

|-

! scope="row" | "Enseñar Amar"

| rowspan="5" | 2016

| Beatriz Gonzalez featuring Frankie J

| Enseñar Amar

|-

! scope="row"| "Bad of the Heart (25th Anniversary Live)"

| George Lamond featuring Frankie J

| rowspan="3"

|-

! scope="row"| "Na Na Na"

| Superstar Guess featuring Frankie J

|-

! scope="row"| "Love Me / Amame"

| J Grace featuring Frankie J

|-

! scope="row"| "Extraño"

| Jon Carmen featuring Frankie J

| Jon Carmen

|-

! scope="row" | "Si Una Vez (If I Once)"

| rowspan="2" | 2017

| Play-N-Skillz featuring Frankie J, Wisin & Leslie Grace

| rowspan="2"

|-

! scope="row"| "Vámonos"

| Baby Bash featuring Frankie J

|-

! scope="row" | "Te Quiero Hacer Feliz"

| 2023

|Morenito de Fuego featuring Frankie J

|TXMX

|-

! scope="row" | "Tu Forma de ser (Love your way)"

| rowspan="6" | 2024

|Magic Juan featuring Frankie J & David Anthony

|

|-

! scope="row"| "Sola"

|xBValentine featuring Frankie J

|

|-

! scope="row"| "Cobarde - Acoustic Mix"

|Christian Alicea featuring Frankie J

|Yo Deluxe

|-

! scope="row"| "5AM"

|Anna Mvze featuring Frankie J

|

|-

! scope="row"| "Beso"

|Kamran & Hooman featuring Frankie J

|

|}

References

  • Official Facebook page