Royalprince Franklin Vanderbilt was born to drum.
Born on April 13, 1978, his Grandmother named him Royalprince, anticipating an exciting and worldly future for her young Grandson.
Raised in Chicago’s West Garfield Park, Franklin’s family encouraged the development of his innate musical talents. As soon as Franklin was crawling, he was banging on pots and pans, and by age 5, he was seated on a Ludwig drum kit given to him by his Father and Grandfather. This began a childhood filled with music. Influenced by his Uncle, Robert Vanderbilt, who fronted his gospel group, “The Foundation of Souls,” Franklin played in church and school bands until his teens, where his mentoring by a host of legendary jazz and blues musicians began. Ramsey Lewis, Ernie Adams, Orbert Davis, Willie Pickens, Pat Mallenger, and Clarke Terry were all influential in young Franklin’s musical training.
At Carl Schurz High School, Franklin participated in the Drama Arts program, where he acted and was in the concert band for traditional musicals such as Oklahoma and West Side Story. Franklin was also in The ROTC Drum and Bugle Core, as well as the marching band, concert band, and orchestra under the leadership of Carl Annis and Ricardo Garcia.
Franklin’s music education continued after high school at Eastern Illinois University, training under renowned percussion professor, Johnny Lee Lane. During this time, Franklin formed his first band, “The Franklin Vanderbilt Experience”. This band played the legendary Chicago music scene where Franklin met influential Chicago rock and roll and blues guitarist Gregg Parker, who immediately took him under his wing as his son. Parker encouraged Franklin to expand his music training to include rock and roll and his blues and jazz repertoire.
In 1999, Franklin left Chicago behind for his first professional gig, as a percussionist for the Las Vegas jazz pianist, Ghallib Ghalab. For the next several years he would play show acts, and private events throughout Las Vegas, including a Worldwide tour with Grammy-nominated jazz/urban dance music group, Liquid Soul.
In 2002, when legendary R&B/funk diva Chaka Khan came to Las Vegas to perform, she selected Franklin to hold the drum seat with her and her band for the next 2 1/2 years. When he was not working with Chaka, he toured with fusion jazz pioneer Stanley Clarke, rock guitarist Richie Kotzen, and Billy Sheehan.
In 2005, Franklin had the honor of working with 22-time Grammy winner Stevie Wonder. In 2007, Royalprince Franklin firmly made a name for himself when he received a call from 4-time Grammy winner Lenny Kravitz to become a member of his band. Franklin would then go on to do world tours and make countless TV appearances with Lenny Kravitz for the next 15 years.
Currently, Franklin is working with the rock icon Robby Krieger of “The Doors,” co-writing music with “Robby Krieger and the Soul Savages.” They proudly released their first album in January 2024 and are currently performing around the Los Angeles area. Franklin is also launching his solo career as a singer/songwriter, with an album to be released in 2025 co-produced by the legendary engineer, songwriter, and record producer Alan Parsons OBE.
