| Frances Ruffelle | |
|---|---|
| Born | 29 August 1965 London, England, UK |
| Other names | Frankie Ruff |
| Occupation | Actress singer |
| Years active | 1975–present |
| Spouse | John Caird (1990-1992: separated) |
Frances Ruffelle (born 29 August 1965, London, England, UK) is an English musical theatre actress and recording artist. Her mother is Sylvia Young, the founder of the famous theatre school at which Frances trained, and her daughter is recording artist Eliza Doolittle. Her younger sister is actress Alison Ruffelle. Ruffelle originated the role of Éponine in the English language version of Les Misérables for which she won a Tony Award. She has appeared in Starlight Express, Children of Eden and Chicago.
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Ruffelle's first West End appearance was as Louisa in Terence Rattigan's The Sleeping Prince. In 1984, she took on the principal role of Dinah in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express in the original London cast. A year later, she had left Starlight and joined the original London cast of Les Misérables as Éponine. Though virtually an unknown outside of the West End, she and Colm Wilkinson were invited to reprise their roles for the Broadway launch. Ruffelle was nominated for and won multiple awards (including the Tony) for her role. She returned to the role she originated in 1997 in the West End of London. Her subsequent work on stage included the Ian Dury musical Apples in 1989 and Stephen Schwartz's Children of Eden in 1990, featuring on the cast albums of both. She has also starred as the female lead Roxie Hart in Chicago, as well as appearing in Lucky Stiff, and, more recently, in Schwartz Stories.
The creative team behind Les Misérables, Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, also used Ruffelle's vocals as Kim while writing Miss Saigon. Andrew Lloyd Webber also used her while workshopping Sunset Boulevard and Whistle Down the Wind, and she took part in both at the Sydmonton Festival.
In 1994, Ruffelle was chosen to represent the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. She sang all eight (8) songs at the pre-selection, and British televoters chose "Lonely Symphony" to represent the UK, by televoting. It went on to come in 10th at the contest in Dublin. When asked about her motivations for joining the competition, she jokingly replied that since none of the four constituent nations of the UK (Wales, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland) had qualified for that year's football World Cup finals, it was her responsibility to try to restore some national pride.
In 2010, she appeared in the 25th Anniversary Concert of Les Misérables at the O2 Arena as part of the original London cast.
"Lonely Symphony" was released as a single in the UK, as well as in other countries, and also appeared on her first solo album, Fragile. It reached number 25 in the UK Singles Chart in April 1994.[1]
Ruffelle's second album, Frances Ruffelle, came out in 1998, on the small Dress Circle label. It was a change in direction, featuring stripped-down arrangements of mostly musical theatre songs, as well as a couple of classics, original songs and covers. In 2004, she released Showgirl on her own label, a return to fuller arrangements, but far from a pop sound. Ruffelle also collaborated with Sam Bonner in the group, paTala, making an album called Purify, featuring "a fusion of traditional Sanskrit chants with unique arrangements of contemporary Western beats". A new solo album, Imperfectly Me, was released in September 2010.[2]
Ruffelle was set to appear in a revival of the Sherman Brothers musical Over Here! in January 2007, alongside Donna McKechnie, Diane Langton and Richard Fleeshman, however it was postponed, and was scheduled to open in Toronto in 2009.
Ruffelle returned to London's West End to play Roxie Hart in Chicago; she stayed in the role from 5 November to 8 December. This marks her third time in the role, having previously played it from late 2003 to June 2004 and for five weeks in Summer 2005. On 5 December the 10th anniversary celebrations for Chicago in London and Frances were performed at the special celebratory performance. Her return to Chicago marked the first time she has performed in the show in the Cambridge Theatre, having only appeared in it when it was on at the Adelphi Theatre.
In 2006 she performed in a musical based on the works of Stephen Schwartz, Schwartz Stories. In March 2008 she commenced a limited five week season in the musical, Make Me A Song. She played the title role in Mathilde at the Edinburgh festival in 2008.
Frances has appeared in the films The Wildcats of St Trinian's (1980), Secrets & Lies (1996) and The Road to Ithaca (1999, unreleased).
Her television include P'tang, Yang, Kipperbang (1982), Tucker's Luck (1985) where she played Tucker Jenkins' cousin, Headless (for which she also composed music), and An Audience With Ricky Martin (singing 'A Little Fall Of Rain' from Les Misérables). She has also featured in the Sky One TV series Dream Team, playing Dawn Daniel-Spears.
Frances married Trevor Nunn's co-director, John Caird in 1990, in Westminster, London, and had two children: Eliza Sophie (born 1988) and Nathaniel George (born 1990, Westminster). She also has a third child, Felix Bailey (born 1995, Westminster), with former boyfriend Rob Manley.[3]
| Preceded by Sonia with "Better the Devil You Know" |
UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 1994 |
Succeeded by Love City Groove with "Love City Groove" |
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