Francesco Yates

At age 11, Toronto's Francesco Yates learned that music could be a viable career. After watching School of Rock, he enrolled in "rock camp" and learned piano and guitar. In high school, he joined the band. Work with his vocal coach led to his manager, Chris Smith, and by age 16 he was signed to Atlantic. Wielding a formidable falsetto and a love of funk, he hooked up with Pharrell Williams -- playing guitar on Williams' "Gust of Wind" -- who went on to produce Yates' first album along with Robin Hannibal. An initial set of singles was released in 2014, with a self-titled EP following in 2015 and a Heatseeker Award at the Canadian Radio Music Awards. ~ Neil Z. Yeung