# Cleve Francis

Cleveland Francis (born April 22, 1945) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and cardiologist. Active since the late 1960s, Francis has recorded a total of nine albums, including three for Liberty Records. He has charted four times on Billboard Hot Country Songs, most successfully with "You Do My Heart Good" in 1992.

## Biography

Francis began his music career as a folk and blues singer and songwriter in the late 1960s while still a graduate student at the College of William & Mary, where he graduated with a Master of Arts degree in 1969. He attended medical school at the Medical College of Virginia (now Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine), eventually becoming a cardiologist. However, in the late 1980s, he switched his focus to country music, signing first to Playback Records. His debut country album Last Call for Love was released that year. The album included a single titled "Love Light", which was also made into a music video.
After seeing the video for "Love Light" on CMT, record producer Jimmy Bowen signed Francis to Liberty Records in 1992. Between 1992 and 1994, Francis released three studio albums on Liberty, in addition to charting four singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts. In 1994, Francis returned to his medical practice in Northern Virginia. He is president of Mount Vernon Cardiology Associates. Francis has performed at The Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia, and has a live album recorded there in 2006 called Storytime. In 2022, Francis released "Beyond the Willow Tree" on Forager Records, a remastered reissue of his 1970 self-released folk album, "Follow Me," which includes several other folk songs Francis had recorded as demos in 1968 and 1970.

## Discography
### Albums

| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions |
| Title | Album details | US Country | US Heat |
| Follow Me | Release date: 1970 Label: Self-released | — | — |
| Last Call for Love | Release date: 1990 Label: Playback | — | — |
| Tourist in Paradise | Release date: March 16, 1992 Label: Liberty | 58 | 34 |
| Walkin' | Release date: May 10, 1993 Label: Liberty | — | — |
| You've Got Me Now | Release date: August 23, 1994 Label: Liberty | — | — |
| Meet Cleve Francis | Release date: 2000 Label: K-Tel | — | — |
| Storytime | Release date: 2006 Label: Self-released | — | — |
| Lovelight | Release date: 2021 Label: K-Tel | — | — |
| Beyond the Willow Tree | Release date: 2022 Label: Forager Records | — | — |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart ||||

### Singles

| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Album |
| Year | Single | US Country | CAN Country | Album |
| 1990 | "Love Light" | — | — | Last Call for Love |
| 1992 | "Love Light" (re-release) | 52 | — | Tourist in Paradise |
| 1992 | "You Do My Heart Good" | 47 | 76 | Tourist in Paradise |
| 1992 | "How Can I Hold You" | 74 | — | Tourist in Paradise |
| 1993 | "Walkin'" | 63 | — | Walkin' |
| 1993 | "I Won't Let You Walk Away" | — | — | Walkin' |
| 1994 | "Love or the Lack Thereof" | — | — | You've Got Me Now |
| 1994 | "We Fell in Love Anyway" (with Patti Austin) | — | — | You've Got Me Now |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart |||||

### Music videos

| Year | Video | Director |
| 1990 | "Love Light" | D.J. Schweitzer |
| 1992 | "You Do My Heart Good" | Bill Young |
| 1993 | "Walkin'" | Sara Nichols |
| 1993 | "I Won't Let You Walk Away" | Joanne Gardner |
| 1994 | "Love or the Lack Thereof" | L. J. Kreussling |
| 1994 | "We Fell in Love Anyway" (with Patti Austin) | Dominic Orlando |