Frenchie Davis

First known for her 2003 stint on American Idol, Frenchie Davis refashioned herself as a Grammy-nominated Broadway star and LGBTQ activist. After her time on Idol, where she was disqualified after topless photos of her appeared on the Internet, she joined the cast of Rent in 2003 and remained with the show until May 2007, singing the powerful solo during "Seasons of Love" and intermittently playing the role of Joanne. In 2008, she joined R&B vocalist Ruben Studdard (who won the American Idol competition from which Davis had been ejected) in a national tour of Ain't Misbehavin' that was ultimately nominated for a 2009 Grammy Award in the Best Musical Show Album category. That year, she also appeared on Tony Moran's single "You Are," which hit number five on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play chart. Following a 2010 stint as the Fairy Godmother in Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, Davis appeared on the first season of The Voice as a contestant in 2011, ultimately finishing in fifth place and joining the rest of the finalists on tour. In 2012 she released her debut single, "Love's Got a Hold on Me," starred in a production of God Doesn't Mean You Get to Live Forever, and came out as bisexual. During the rest of the 2010s, Davis divided her time between the stage, studio, and LGBTQ activism. After making her film debut in the 2014 comedy Dumbbells, she released a viral cover of Fetty Wap's "Trap Queen" as well as her own single, "Stand (By Me)," in 2015. Two years later she appeared as Henri in The View UpStairs, a musical about a 2010s fashion designer who revamps a '70s gay bar and learns about two generations of queer history in the process. The original cast recording arrived in mid-2017.
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