Singers, Songwriters, Sisters

Frankel Sisters bring rhythm, family center stage

Photos courtesy of the Frankel Sisters
Jaymee, left, and Lianne, right, along with their dad, Josh, not pictured, make up the Frankel Sisters band and they typically record at DCity Studios in Huntington village.

By Carrie Parker

info@longislandergroup.com

For the Frankels, show business is family business.

Taking their passion for music from the living room to The Paramount in Huntington and beyond, sisters Jaymee, 27, and Lianne, 22, along with their dad, Josh, 62, share one beating heart for performing.

“Although Lianne is five years younger, our DNA is just so the same,” Jaymee said. “We just get each other. She’ll write a song and I’ll harmonize. I think it comes out musically, and not just in our personalities.”

Music has always been a part of the girls’ lives, long before Jaymee and Lianne – lifelong artists, sisters, and best friends – combined musical forces in their singer-songwriter group, the Frankel Sisters, around five years ago.

The girls remember how their dad, who was a wedding singer for nearly 20 years, always played the guitar and sang with them around the house when they were young.

“He exposed us to all types of music before we could even speak,” Lianne said.

For some reason, the girls took a love to music right away, said their mother, Jan Frankel. Because she felt the girls were passionate about music, Jan, 56, said she began looking into activities and auditions for them.

“It just catapulted from there,” she said, and performance opportunities began opening up at churches, fundraisers and festivals.

Now, the Frankel Sisters’ performance credits include Fox’s “The X-Factor,” HBO’s “Talent Showcase,” NBC’s “The Voice,” and shows at Manhattan’s Webster Hall and The Bitter End, and more.

But the sisters say The Paramount in Huntington village, where they opened for a Motown show featuring Prentiss McNeil of the Drifters last August, is without a doubt their most memorable performance.

“To play a stage that big and to be in front of a crowd that big, it’s almost frustrating, to be honest,” Jaymee said with a laugh, because she didn’t want that “amazing feeling” to end. She described the night as something she’ll “never forget.”

But the girls don’t just do it for the thrill of performing. They want to convey a message that is “real and relatable.”

“Even though everyone’s different and our listeners come from all walks of life,” Lianne said. “We all share the same emotions of love, power and strength, disappointment and hope.

“It’s so satisfying when the song reaches someone else and touches them in some way.”

Jan said watching the girls sing got her through some really tough times. As a breast cancer survivor, Jan found the girls’ music was a great positive distraction.

“It just took my mind off things when I was going through things, and it continues to just make me happy,” Jan said, adding that she believes the lyrics have the potential to resonate with and inspire others.

Lianne said her songs always spring from an “honest emotion” evoked by life experience.

“I’ll sit at the piano and match the cords to how I’m feeling,” Lianne said, “and the lyrics just kind of come naturally.”

Their developing sound falls under the umbrella of pop music. While the sisters grew up listening to Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, the Beatles and Billy Joel, they are huge fans of modern artists Charlie Pooth, Jon Bellion, Tori Kelly, Meghan Trainor and Kimbra.

A mix of blues with a little country influence, the girls said, and their three-part harmonies with their dad, set their music apart. In their covers, they often add a “blues pop spin,” Jaymee added.

Working as a family creates a constructive dynamic.

“There’s no egos involved because we know each other so well,” Jaymee said. “We could be brutally honest, which could be seen as a negative or a positive.”

While they hail from East Setauket, the Frankels frequent Huntington village, enamored of its restaurants, shops and performance venues. The sisters also record at DCity Studios on Lake Place in the village.

Studio owner and musician Don Chaffin said it is a privilege to have worked with the sisters over the years. He described their music as having “an R&B backbone with a very catchy and melodic structure in the vocal delivery.”

The girls remain down-to-earth even while their “talent is at such a high level,” Chaffin said in an email. “They are very hard workers and put forth 100 percent effort into everything that they are involved in, whether they are singing, writing, dancing or performing.”

Both girls are extending their musical abilities into new territory. Lianne is self-taught on the piano and has picked up enough guitar to write a new song, “Run.” Jaymee said she plays “a mean tambourine” and loves percussion, and hopes to start exploring different techniques so she can play the bongos in shows.

They’re currently gearing up for the summertime release of their first EP. It will be a “versatile” collection including their single “Sidekick,” plus at least five more tracks ranging from piano ballad “Anxiety,” to summer jam “Garbage.” The sisters are “really excited” about the EP’s eponymous track, “Don’t Judge Me,” a new song that hasn’t been played live yet.

“We want our listeners to feel comfort in knowing that they’re not alone and the highs and lows of life, but at the same time we want it to be sort of feel good and fun as well,” Lianne said. “I think it sort of has both those elements to it.”

The sisters’ next performance is scheduled for Saturday, April 8, 9 p.m. at The Bitter End in Manhattan.

Their music is available at Frankelsisters.com, or on YouTube, Spotify and iTunes.