Francisco, Roger | University of Illinois Archives

Roger Francisco was born in Decatur, Illinois in 1938. In 1946 his family moved to Springfield, Illinois, where he developed a love for music, playing bass in his high school orchestra and earned a job at a local radio station, cataloging the 78RPM promotional records that the station received. After moving to Urbana in 1956, he began persuing a degree in electrical engineering at the University of Illinois. Shortly after this, he worked as an environmental testing technician at Magnavox, where he stress-tested missle components and explosive fuses. Eventually, he transfered to the publications department, where he wrote and edited technical manuals.

On a part-time basis, Francisco performed upright bass through the local musicians union, the earliest of which was a booking with a jazz band at the Illini Union's Jazz U Like It series. In 1963, Francisco began working with a roadhouse band and teaching guitar lessons. He soon joined The Galaxies, a local band, on bass. In 1964, the Galaxies signed with Lesley Records and recorded four of Mike Brewer's, the band's frontman, original songs at Fred Foster Monument Sudios in Nashville.  In 1966, he formed RoFran Enterprises, the home studio where he recorded radio and television commercials as well as records for local bands and ensembles including: The One Eyed Jacks, The Finchley Boys, The Lindsey Triplets, and Marvin Lee.

By 1968, RoFran Enterprises began attracting jazz and experimental ensembles including The University of Illinois Jazz Ensemble and Howie Smith. Smith and Francisco also worked together as band mates in The Prodigies, which eventually changed its name to Sound Studio One. In the late 1960s, Francisco also performed within the groups The Expressions and The Spoils of War.

By 1970, Francisco had recorded groups like REO Speedwagon, Dan Fogelberg, Head East, Starcastle, and US Senator Al Franken. His business began to include talent management and music publishing. In the early 1970s, Francisco also became the co-manager for the folk ensemble The Ship, recording their Elektra Records album in Los Angeles.  After selling RoFran Enterprise's Publishing Catalog to singer-songwriter John Denver in 1974, Francisco became the chief engineer at Creative Audio Studios. Between 1969 and 1971, he recorded the annual Red Herring Coffee House folk festival as well as groups like: The Elvis Brothers, Champaign, and Duke Tumatoe and the All-Star Frogs.

In the early 1980s, Francisco began working on the soundtrack for the CBS miniseries "Alice in Wonderland," whose album was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1985. In the mid-1980s, he began working with the video production company Prairie Production Group, which produced video spots for Human Kinetics, a publisher of physical education books. One of the visual segments he created appears in the Acadamy Award-nominated documentary Cosmic Voyage from 1997, in which Francisco performed the voiceovers. This led to regular talent assignments for companies like Hamm's Beer, NAPA Auto Parts, Amoco, Allstate Insurance. He even made occasional on-screen appearances in films like Code of Silence, starring Chuck Norris. In 1994, Francisco earned the presitgious Zimmerman Award for lifetime achievement by the Ad Council of Champaign-Urbana. Francisco retired from Human Kinetics in November 2016 at the age of 78.