FIREDUP
DANIELLE MUSTARDE MEETS SINGER-SONGWRITER KARIMA FRANCIS TO CHAT LIFE, LOVE AND LONDON
KARIMA FRANCIS
PHOTO ROSIE MATHESON
Karima Francis first made waves across the UK music scene in 2009. But after a promising start, including an appearance on the coveted BBC show Later With Jools Holland, the Blackpool-born artist disappeared – struggling through what she described in a 2015 interview with the Manchester Evening News as a “mini crisis”. Now, almost a decade after her music career first took off, Francis is back – and so is the fire in her belly.
DIVA: When did you first get into music?
KARIMA FRANCIS: I’m from Blackpool, and when I was in school, my attention span wasn’t all too good. I was a bit naughty and so my teachers offered me other lessons that I could go into that were more creative. That was when I decided to give drumming a go. My tutor actually thought I’d done it before because I was really good. He told me then to stick at it.