A few months ago, a long-time friend of mine posted a video of the French Family on his Facebook page! Since that day, I cannot get enough of this family’s music! It was not hard to recognize the professionalism in their performance and surprized that I had not picked up on their music much earlier!
It didn’t take me long to start sharing their Facebook Lives and music videos and could not wait to learn more about their musical history and of course featuring them on this website. That being said; it is with great honor that today I’m proud to introduce their son, 14-year-old Sonny French.
Sonny showed an interest in music at a very young age and made his first appearance on stage when he was just three years old at a country music festival in Tamworth Australia. He was always singing along with all of the songs his parents were singing and Sonny would often sing the guitar riff lines as well.
Watch little country star Sonny singing ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’!
Sonny soon caught onto harmonising, and began singing with his parents Camille and Stuie at all of their gigs around Australia and just loved being a part of it all.
Here is a video of Sonny performing with his parents when he was four years old:
When he was six years old, he began learning to play the ukulele and at seven Sonny recorded and released his debut album titled “Seven”, a collection of his favorite songs and his first original song called “Home”.
Seven by Sonny French on Amazon Music – Amazon.com
When Sonny was eight years old his parents Camille and Stuie got 25 ukuleles donated to Sonny’s primary school Music Department. They soon realized there was no one to actually teach the children how to play so they volunteered. Their influence, along with Sonny’s ukulele skills inspired a lot of Sonny’s school friends to join the ukulele club. Sonny’s parents continued teaching the group for three years with Sonny playing a big part in it, both singing and playing.
Not long after Sonny‘s 11th birthday he had planned on buying a Nintendo switch gaming machine with money he had saved up. Dad, Stuie made a deal with him that he was to now learn how to play the guitar. For every hour he played guitar, in return he would be rewarded one hour on the Nintendo switch. The Switch was purchased, and Sonny held up his end of the bargain practicing daily on the guitar.
He also kept a post-it-note on top of the machine which kept a tally of all of the hours he was “owed” in gaming time. It was only a few weeks later that the Nintendo switch was hardly getting played, as Sonny discovered his greater love was playing guitar.
Sonny also has a love of athletics, in particular track and field. He loves to sprint, long jump, triple jump and high jump and always did well in school competitions. When he was 10, he made it to the Australian School Nationals representing Néw South Wales and came in ninth in the long jump.
At age 11 Sonny was invited to be a guest on Australia’s version of “Little Big Shots”
When Sonny was 13, He became part of the Gibson guitar family in Australia, a brand of guitar he is passionate about. In June 2019 the French Family moved from Sydney Australia to Nashville to pursue their love of country music and experience living life in a new country.
In 2019 Sonny was invited to be a part of the Gibson generation group (G3) which is Gibson‘s two-year mentoring program for the new generation of guitar players. Sonny is endorsed by Gibson brands and showcased across Gibson‘s channels.
Sonny performs with his mother Camille and father Stuie, Brother Chet and sister Manaia as part of the French Family Band. Sonny hopes to one-day perform at the Grand Ole Opry. He loves living in Nashville and has had some wonderful opportunities playing alongside of some of his heroes. Here is Sonny and his dad Stuie performing the “Townhall Shuffle with Tommy Emmanuel.
Aside from learning from his parents, Sonny is taught guitar by Nashville studio legend Gregg Galbraith and has singing lessons with Michael Rogers (multi-instrumentalist/singer).
If you want to know more about Sonny and his musical family visit:
Keep up with Sonny and his family through their Facebook Page. Be sure to also see them in concert either live broadcast or in person if you live or can travel to Nashville. It will be well worth your time.
Right now, this amazing family is making their living out of their living room studio due to all the Covid-19 restrictions! Please support their talents by making a contribution to their tip jar by visiting this PayPal.Me Link!
