Fran Healy

Some Lesser Known Facts About Fran Healy

• He moved from Stafford, England to Glasgow, Scotland with his mother in 1973 after his parents divorced.

  

• He performed for the first time at the age of 6 in his school. He sang the traditional Scottish song ‘Westering Home’ wearing a miniskirt due to a lack of a kilt that could fit him.

• He won a book of Robert Burns poems and a certificate for ‘Outstanding Singing Abilities’ for his performance.

• He didn’t perform again till his teenage years due to his shyness.

• After getting inspired by watching American musician, Roy Orbison play the guitar on the British TV show ‘The Last Resort with Jonathan Ross,’ he bought his first guitar at the age of 13 and started writing songs.

• His first song was about his school headmaster, Peter Mullen and was titled ‘Mr. Mullen Blues.’

• When he was 16 years old, his hand got injured by a glass door after his girlfriend had closed it on him, causing him to get stitches. Later when she called him, he accidentally tripped and a nail went through his knee while trying to pick up the phone.

• He became a singer in the band, ‘Strange Relationship,’ when he was 16 years old.

• When he was 17 years old, one of his teachers Gerry Kelly taught him and his friend, David Bell how to write songs properly by focusing on writing what they were feeling and telling the truth.

• Gerry also introduced Fran to Canadian-American singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell whose songwriting inspired Fran greatly.

• Fran had borrowed £600 from his mother to record his early songs.

• In an interview, he talked about Gerry writing one of his songs and teaching its cords to them. Fran talked about performing the song at the end of his art course and feeling amazed by the reactions it generated and said,
  

  We ended up performing it at the end of the art course. I’d been singing and, at the end of the song, I looked up and almost everyone was crying!”

• In an interview, he revealed that he wanted Jacques Brel’s ‘Le Tango Funèbre (Funeral Tango)’ (1964) song to be played at his funeral.

• The first album he owned was the original motion picture soundtrack of the film, ‘Annie’ (1982).

• The first music concert he attended was of Owen Paul in Glasgow in 1986.

• In 1991, he joined the Scottish alt-rock band Travis, then known as Glass Onion in Glasgow.

  

• He has sung and written various songs and albums for his band Travis such as ‘All I Want to Do Is Rock’ (1995), ‘The Man Who’ (1999), ’12 Memories’ (2003), ’10 Songs’ (2020), and ‘L.A. Times’ (2024).

  

• He has also established a solo career as a musician and released songs such as ‘Do What You Do (Earworm Song)’ (2000). ‘Buttercups’ (2010), and ‘Here With Me’ (2012).

  

• On 15 March 2003, he performed at the anti-war ‘One Big No’ concert at Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London.

• He has participated and spoken against the Iraq War (2003-2011) at several anti-war demonstrations.

• In 2004, he participated in the charity group Band Aid 20’s re-recording of the song, ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’

  

• In 2005, he participated in the ‘Live 8’ charity concerts in London and Edinburgh as part of ‘Make Poverty History’ campaign.

  

• He has appeared in various films including ‘Son of Rambow’ (2007).

  

• He has visited Sudan twice as part of the Save the Children organisation and launched a global campaign to prevent the yearly deaths of millions of children in the region in 2008.

• To thank British musician Paul McCartney for playing bass on his solo song, ‘Wreckorder’ (2010), he became a vegetarian.

• He was a member of Bellahouston Harriers, an athletic club of Glasgow during his youth and is an avid runner. He participated in the Berlin Relay Marathon in 2012.

• He was a member of the band BNQT, from 2015 to 2017.

  

• He has directed several videos for his band Travis. In 2016, he directed and created a 30-minute promotional video for the album ‘Everything at Once.’

• In 2017, he moved from Berlin, Germany to Los Angeles, America with his family.

• He purposely chose journalist Wyndham Wallace as the narrator for his band Travis’ documentary, ‘Almost Fashionable: A Film About Travis’ (2018) as Wyndham had informed him in their first-ever meeting that he hated his band.

  

• In 2019, he separated from his wife.

• During the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, he drew and animated the music video for Travis’ single, ‘A Ghost’ by drawing 10 seconds of footage every 16 hours. He produced the entire video in 30 days with over 2,500 drawings on his iPad.

  

• In 2021, he had to undergo surgery after a stray dog mauled his hand that he was trying to save from the traffic outside his home, which caused him to lose movement in his fingers.

  

• In 2022, he was attacked by a car thief in L.A. who tried to pull Fran Healy out of his car through a window. Fran had to punch him several times in order to get away from the thief.

• In February 2025, he was rushed to a hospital after he sprained his ankle which, at the time, he thought was a broken ankle, during a live show.

• On 7 March 2025, he performed for ‘Musicians for Fire Relief,’ a collective of artists and fans supporting Los Angeles musicians who were impacted by the Pacific Palisades and Altadena fires in January 2025.

  

• He is a travel enthusiast and has lived in various countries including Scotland, England, Germany, and America.

• He has a black belt in Shotokan karate.

• In an interview, he revealed that he was inspired by songwriters such as Paul McCartney and Graham Nash.