JEANNE BRUNO

Mother of Franklin Bruno

Jeanne: He wanted to be a doctor, then he changed his mind and he didn't want to be a doctor because they hurt people. After that he wanted to be a magician, and then a mathematician. He was going to major in math in college, but he changed his mind and wanted to be a philosophy major. Now he's studying for his Ph.D. in philosophy on a fellowship at UCLA.

When did you notice he might have some musical talent?

Not too early on actually because he was into magic and books. We encouraged him to take piano lessons but he didn't want to.

What sort of magic was he doing?

Sleight-of-hand card tricks, juggling, that sort of thing. He even entertained at a couple little kid parties. He's always been a performer.

How old was he?

Grammar-school age. He even made up a little magic trick and wrote it up and sold it to a magic store locally and they paid him for it.

When he was very young, before he was five years old, he got a hold of this book my husband (he's a psychologist) had, called How to Give Your Child a Superior Mind or something like that. So we put it on a high shelf and the next thing we knew he was sitting at his desk in the playroom looking at it (laughing). He was a precocious child; I have to admit that. He had that performer instinct. When we took him to Disneyland he was five years old and he tap-danced for Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.

He broke out into song?

No just his version of tap dancing. He didn't study dancing. He just jumped around a lot.

Did he have any nicknames?

Frankenstein. That's all I can remember.

Do you listen to much of his music?

I have a couple of his tapes that he's given me. He isn't too generous, but I particularly like the first one. I play it a lot in the car. I enjoy his lyrics. Sometimes I think, "where is this going?" and then he redeems himself, he turns it around and I like it better.

Have you gone to their shows?

Yeah, a few times. I feel something interesting happens to a parent when they see their child perform that way. I guess he kinda takes after his father. His father is musical, too, but in a completely different style.

Really, how?

Well, my husband is the romantic, ballad type of...

You don't think Franklin is romantic?!?

Yeah, but not in the same way. My husband is smaltzy. Bing Crosby, that sort.

Is there something you think fans of Franklin's should know about him that they might not know otherwise?

(laughs) They probably know more about him at this point than I do! He's just a very honest, sincere person. And I think he expresses a lot of his own personality, feelings in his music. It's a good outlet for him.