Launch of 'To Be Frank' - story of one Roscommon man's journey from music to fashion 

A Hillstreet native will be launching his self-published autobiography, ‘To Be Frank,’ this evening Friday, June 5th at 8 p.m. in Bracken’s Pub.

The autobiography recounts Frank Owens’s life that brought him from his humble beginnings in North Roscommon to the expanses of Australia and China.

It recalls his encounters with U2, Angus Young (AC/DC), the Smiths and Luke Kelly, but also reflects on the lows of his life such as losing his wife Geraldine to cancer.

Music was intertwined with Frank’s life from an early age. His father Patrick Owens was a founding member of the Roscommon Board of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Eireann in 1954, and his brother, the late Jim Owens, was a well-known accordion player and showband show host.

“We were raised on music,” explained the Hillstreet musician. “Our late father was a very well-known fiddle player and Jim was a very good box player.

“I had a brother and sister, I’m the youngest and our house was a stone thatch cottage on a small farm where we were self-sufficient,” he explained.

From there Frank moved to Dublin to work as a lab technician. Then he took the leap into the very different industry of fashion upon meeting his future wife, Geraldine Kelly, who represented Ireland at the 1972 Miss Teen World at the age of 18.

“We went to Australia together, split up, but eventually got back together. She was involved in modelling, and was also managing jeans stores. I got into it by accident when I came back to Ireland,” he explained.

Frank, now based in Clane, County Kildare, was made an agent for Pepe Jeans Ireland in the mid-1980s, just as “the jeans business was getting really big”. From there he was able to set up his own retail shops that spread from Kildare to Sunset Plaza in Hollywood.

For the best part of a decade he was the main supplier of dresses to Miss Ireland, all of which is recounted with great detail in the autobiography.

A chance encounter in a bar in Cork is what inspired Frank to pen those stories and many more to paper.

“It was something that I had thought about for a long time, and mostly because people were saying I could write a book given all my various travels and experiences."

Working at that bar was Andrew Watson, who has co-wrote the book and who Frank described as the “glue” throughout the four year publishing process.

He also extended his gratitude to the book’s foreword contributor Néilidh Mulligan, as well as his three daughters, grandchildren and many friends from both the fashion and music industry.