Franc Cinelli will be bringing his award-winning songs to Café René tomorrow evening.

The acclaimed singer and songwriter has fond memories of playing at the popular Gloucester venue, and says tomorrow’s gig, which gets underway at 9pm, is one he’s been looking forward to for a long time. He said: “I absolutely love playing at Café René, there’s always such a warm and welcoming atmosphere there. I’ll be playing a bunch of new songs as well as tracks from my previous albums. I’ve not been on tour for a while so I’m really looking forward to getting back on the road and travelling up to Gloucester.”

Franc was born in Rome but moved to London when he was four years old. He started playing the violin when he was 10 but quit that in favour of the guitar a few years later, a wise decision looking back. His introduction to music came via his mother’s record collection. Franc continued: “Growing up I listened to a lot of music, artists like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Marley.”

It’s easy to see how those two legendary performers have influenced Franc’s musical direction, his style has been described as a blend of folk, country and rock and roll. Franc continued: “I enjoy writing songs with meaningful lyrics. Some people might write music by sitting down with a pen in their hands but that doesn’t work for me.

“I don’t have a rule or a formula I follow when it comes to writing, sometimes an idea will engage me and then I’ll sit down with my guitar and see what happens. Quite often an idea for a song will jump into my head and I’ll scribble down lyrics and melodies, it can be quite a random process.”

Franc has built up a healthy fanbase over the years, something he says inspires him to carry on writing and performing. He continued: “The whole point of writing songs is to get an emotional response from people, so seeing messages of support is extremely humbling. To think people have gone to the effort of listening to my songs and then posting messages of support, that’s a wonderful feeling.

“I’ve been lucky to have played at some great venues over the years. There is one that stands out above the rest though. A couple of years ago I was given the opportunity to play at the Royal Albert Hall, one of the iconic performance venues not just in London but the whole world.

“I’ve spent the last 30 years in London and have been to the Royal Albert Hall many times to see gigs. To be asked to perform there was a day I’ll never forget. I was singing on the same stage that has hosted some of the most famous performers of all time, that’s been the undoubted highlight of my performance career so far.”

After tomorrow’s gig in Gloucester Franc will be heading back to London to work on his new album.

He added: “I’m going to be releasing some new songs in the coming few weeks, leading up to a new album that’s hopefully going to be released next month. It’s a very busy time as I’ll be returning to Rome for a few gigs next month as well. Tomorrow evening is my main focus though, I’m really excited to be back at Café René.”