Keys to a Better Life : Playing Piano Is Helping Homeless Man Get Back on His Feet

At night, Francois returns to the streets, looking for an alley, a park or an accommodating bench, the familiar haunts of thousands of the city’s homeless.

But during the day, he can be found lost in a melody as he plays “Stardust” and other standards for an admiring lunchtime crowd at an upscale Westwood cafe.

Patrons are stunned when they hear his story. A Skid Row fixture for the last five years, Francois (his first name is Michael, but he says he never uses it) says most people didn’t even want to look at him, let alone give him a chance to play. That was the case when the 64-year-old musician showed up at Bon Appetit in Westwood two months ago, looking very much like a street person, offering to play the piano for food.

He got his chance. After persuading David Gimpel, manager of the cafe, that after living the blues he could also play them, Francois cut his hair, trimmed his beard and found some clean clothes. And then he began returning to the club every day at lunchtime to practice the songs he knew so well before despair and drugs led him to a life in the streets.

“Somebody told me about this place and so I walked here from downtown one day,” Francois said of the 14-mile trek. “I remember going to a catering truck near here to ask them for some milk, and some construction worker says, ‘Why don’t you go get a job?’ I told him I was on my way.

“It’s difficult adjusting (to the mainstream) again. Right now I’m at a point where I don’t know exactly where to go. But I’m just trying to straighten my life out. I’m doing something and I feel good about it.”

His deft touch on the piano doesn’t reveal glimpses of the hard life Francois has endured.

The Los Angeles native said he spent time in jail on drug and vagrancy charges earlier this year. He tried to pull himself out of the tailspin and played for a time at a Venice jazz club, but ended back on the streets.

Actually, Francois spent most of his adult life working in one job or another, spending most of his time as a hairdresser. Music served more as a hobby than a profession. He took lessons to learn the saxophone but taught himself how to play piano.

Francois said his downward spiral started in 1985 when five family members, including his wife, sister and grandmother, died in less than a year. That led him to drugs, he said, and eventually to Skid Row, far from the studios and jazz clubs where he once played and aspired to greatness. (He said he worked as an uncredited sideman with soul groups such as the Impressions and the Temptations.)

No one has been more startled at Francois’ turnaround than Gimpel, who helps to manage his father’s Broxton Avenue cafe and music publishing business.

“He was not in good shape when he came in here but he’s cleaned himself up and now we can’t get rid of him,” Gimpel said. “He comes in the morning to practice, to learn some new songs, and he’s playing pretty well now. He’s adopted us and we’ve adopted him. And he’s really trying hard to do something with his life.”

Others, like Beverly Hills resident Ann Banks, have been so touched by his story that they’ve felt compelled to offer him help. Banks has given him clothing and is telling anyone who will listen about “this incredible musician” who is trying to right himself through his touch on the ivories.

“I was in the cafe one day with my back to the wall, and all of a sudden I hear the most beautiful music,” she said. “He has the most incredible touch on the piano. And when I heard his story, I just couldn’t believe it.”

Today, Francois is still playing for food and tips, but the future looks promising. A record management company official has offered to try and find him auditions and also a room for him to live. And what Los Angeles story would be complete without a movie deal? Francois said he has been approached by a film producer who said he was interested in doing a TV movie on the story of his life.

But, Francois insists, the story is not finished yet. He said he is determined to try and make a living as a musician. But at the top of his list is his goal to rise above the streets and assume a more normal life.

“God was really good to me,” he said. “When I started playing again, the music just came back to me. It’s been easier relearning the songs than it has been adjusting to the other parts of my life.

“Things are just starting to happen now, and I’m happy that I’ve reached this point. Two months ago, I was living on the streets downtown, and now I’m living on the streets in Westwood. That’s better, right?”