Francis Reneau (or Frankie Reneau) is a pianist and composer from

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

. In 1994 he was commissioned by the government to produce a representative compilation of Belizean music, and in 2001 he was awarded an

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

for services to music. In 2007 Francis help create the celebration to the 25 years that Belize has had its independence, for which he was appointed an OBE. He is probably Belize's most accomplished musician, especially in the classical genre. As a teenager he wrote, produced and staged a very successful musical "Mass in Blues". The subsequent recording was also very successful and is considered a collectors item. There is a plan to re-release on CD. Several of the young high school singers and musicians who took part in that project went on to become successful in the industry in their own right. Hugh Fuller Jr. who was on the WAVE Radio in L.A. and is now on KJLH and sometimes on KCET Television sang in it. As did Nellie Castillo, Santino's sister who is also one of Belize's celebrated singers.

References

Belizean pianists Belizean composers Male composers Members of the Order of the British Empire Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Male pianists 21st-century pianists 21st-century male musicians {{NorthAm-composer-stub