“If Francis found out there were Curved Air fans in the audience he’d sneak part of Piece Of Mind into his playing of Bach’s music with great feeling.” In recalling their founding member, keyboard and guitar player Francis Monkman, who died in May, UK prog rockers Curved Air perhaps answered a question that some fans may have wondered since he last featured in the band in 1990: whatever happened to Francis Monkman?
In truth, the classically trained musician remained working with music, notably with his beloved harpsichord and the work of composer Johann Sebastian Bach, but stayed out of the public spotlight, something that always seemed to be more comfortable to the musician than hogging the limelight. And yet ironically, thanks to Monkman’s involvement in scores of some of the biggest films of the 1980s and 1990s, millions would have heard his work, albeit possibly without knowing it. And he never forgot his progressive rock roots.
Born Anthony Francis Keigwin Monkman in Hampstead, London, on June 9, 1949, he showed a flair for music at an early age, studying both organ and harpsichord at Westminster School, where he was a pupil. He later attendedRussell prize for virtuosity on the harpsichord, before gaining membership of The Academy Of St Martin In The Fields.
