Kuala Lumpur, 9 August 2006-- The Cotton Club Jazzaurant, located at the ground floor of Maju Junction Mall is fast becoming a favorite watering hole for many, as it is the place of choice to unwind and have a good time after a long day. They offer an impressive selection of contemporary western cuisine for lunch and dinner. The Cotton Club has become a popular place for the lunch crowd, who come here for that much-needed respite from the maddening afternoon traffic, noise and heat, where delectable dishes are served at reasonable prices.

Besides dining, Cotton Club also showcases live Jazz performances in the evenings. They aspire to promote Malaysian Jazz players and bands and also feature regional Jazz bands, such as Razak Rahman, Double Take, Saharadja from Bali, Mr. Gambus Band (featuring Chie Hanawa) from Japan, Lazy Monday from South Korea, Jaja from Japan and Steve White from the United States.

This time around, The Cotton Club takes privilege in featuring our very own Francissca Peter, or Fran, as she is affectionately known, who has enjoyed a fruitful and distinguished musical career in Malaysia with over twenty No. 1 hits in the local music charts and the title of “Best Female Vocalist” for five consecutive years. This year, 2006, Fran embraces and celebrates her 27th anniversary as an artiste / Singer / Composer and lyricist.

In 1990, with three Platinum discs and Gold discs to her name and numerous awards, Fran set off for the United States of America to widen her horizons internationally. During her two years in Los Angeles, Fran had the opportunity to work with various artists including Jazz Fusion pianist Brian Simpson, Sam Simms, Michael Winans of the gospel group “The Winans”, Vassal Benford, Kirk Whalum, Scott Maio and Himalaya. She also appeared as guest vocalist on Jazz Saxophonist Cal Bennett’s album “Stolen Moments” singing “Liberian Girl”, “Jazziz Magazine” and “Bre Magazine” in the USA called her vocals “A Lush Standout, An Ingenious Outing and the Most Outstanding Track”.

With a perpetual hunger for new musical experiences and different audiences Fran, who springs from a multi-ethnic background (father a retired Journalist / Editor of Sri Lankan and Scottish background with a penchant for Jazz and Latin American music and a ballad loving Chinese mother), has managed to blend in culturally to any situation during her extensive travels and this unique ability has enabled her to achieve a warm and spontaneous rapport wherever she performs.

With a fluency in English, Cantonese and Bahasa Malaysia Fran enjoys performing tunes in a wide variety of languages including English, Bahasa Malaysia, Cantonese, Mandarin, Hindi / Tamil, French, Italian, German, Latin and Spanish.

Fran was also the first Asian artiste to inaugurate and perform at the brand new Derby Jazz Bar at the prestigious Jockey Club in Hong Kong in 2003. She crooned jazz standards, Broadway and classic tunes which are her fortes, along with top bassist Paul Candelaria, who has played at numerous World Jazz Festivals including The Montreal Jazz Festival and pianist Adonis V De Jesus, to packed audiences every night.

Among the countries that Fran has performed in are Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines, Maldives, Germany, Oman, Spain, United Kingdom, Mainland China, Hong Kong and the United States of America. She has worked with numerous musicians in London including Peter Churchill, Mark Fletcher, Tim Wells and David Lim of Yokohama Sinners. On the home front, she has worked with maestro Michael Veerapen, Lewis Pragasam, Khairil, Dato’ Mokhzani – RTM’s (National TV) Musical Director, Gary Gideon, David Yee, Mac Chew, Paul Candelaria – the most renowned bassist in Hong Kong, Adonis V De Jesus, Singaporean bassist – Tony Makarome Yue, Greg Lyons and Jose Thomas, to name a few.

Fran has also lent voice to numerous Jingles – Embracing Proton (The National Car Company) – Fran was the very first Proton Girl and took stage at the National Grand Parade launching the 1st ever Malaysian car, Malaysian Airlines (The National Carrier) with the theme song “To Know Malaysia is To Love Malaysia” and the ever-popular local favourite, considered a second national anthem, “Setia”. Other commercial credits number those for McDonalds, Nescafe, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Carlsberg, recently, Honda and many others.

Along the path of her musical journey, Fran has performed for many distinguished guests, a list which includes members of the Malaysian Royalty, Federal and States Ministers, The Sultan of Brunei, numerous Ambassadors and “Captains of Industry”.

She is World Vision’s Ambassador for 2006, and had performed at several of the organisation’s events. These included the World Vision 30-Hour Famine and The World Vision Charity Golf and Dinner.

Francissca Peter will be performing at Cotton Club from the 16th until 31 August 2006, at 9.30pm. Fran will be playing three sets a night, six days a week. There will be no cover charge and early birds can enjoy front seating (first-come-first-serve basis), diners can also make reservation for front seating. Cotton club is open from 12pm to 1am, Mondays until Thursdays; 2am on Fridays, and Saturdays 6pm until 2am. They are closed on Sundays.

Source: Maju Holdings Sdn. Bhd.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
FARIDAH MOHD ALI
TEL.: 2772 8888
DATE OF RELEASE: 9 AUGUST 2006
RELEASED BY BERNAMA MEDIA RELATIONS & EVENT MANAGEMENT