US Musician Michael Franti Admits to Past Infidelity with Touring Artist

A Public Apology and a Complex Relationship

A well-known American musician has publicly admitted to cheating on his wife with a younger woman, who he invited to tour with him seven years ago. Michael Franti, the frontman of the band Franti & Spearhead, shared a statement on his Instagram account, which has over 262,000 followers. In this message, he described a "completely consensual" relationship between himself and another musician.

The 59-year-old acknowledged that the relationship ended because his wife discovered it. He began his statement by admitting, "Seven years ago, I had a romantic relationship outside of my marriage." He explained that this relationship was with an artist who was touring with him. Franti admitted to breaking his wedding vows, his wife's trust, and causing her heartache. He expressed deep regret for the pain he caused.

Franti mentioned that he and the artist wrote a song together, and his team offered her a spot on his tour. He added that they spent a lot of time together on the road, and soon developed strong feelings for one another. "I made the most regrettable mistake of allowing the relationship to become romantic," he continued.

This public admission comes just a week after an upcoming singer named Victoria Canal posted her own statement on Instagram. She claimed she had been groomed and sexually abused by an older, powerful musician. While Canal did not name Franti in her post, she referred to the fact that this man had discovered her on Instagram when she was 19 and invited her on his headline tour.

Canal described the man as "loving, charismatic, and principled," but also mentioned that he had a history of damaging behavior. She alleged that he isolated her, took advantage of his position of power, groomed her, and touched her. "However, behind closed doors, this person has a history of incredibly damaging behaviour," she wrote.

Franti did not name Canal in his statement, but he addressed allegations made towards him by the woman he had an affair with. "I am aware of recent posts this artist made about our relationship," he said in his Instagram post. While he supported her need to express herself publicly, he emphasized that the relationship was completely consensual, based on mutual feelings and attraction. He vehemently disputed any version of the story that suggested otherwise.

Franti also took full accountability for not recognizing the power imbalance, as the artist was younger than him and he was the headliner on the tour. "For those reasons alone, I never should have allowed the relationship to become romantic."

He went on to apologize to his wife, Sara, with whom he has since had two children. "During the last seven years, my wife and I have done an incredible amount of work for me to repair the damage that I did," he continued. He expressed his ongoing apologies to his wife and family for the pain he caused.

Franti also extended his apology to the artist for the pain she was going through. Canal responded in a statement to her Instagram story, saying she had seen his response. She described it as challenging to read, given the truth of her experience, but stated that she was not in a position to go to war on this. "I am used to gaslighting from this person, it's not unfamiliar to me... people are going to believe what they believe – I'm the one that has to live with the effects."

She continued by stating she had "no agenda" for sharing her story and simply wanted to let go.

Franti is the lead singer of his band Franti & Spearhead, which was formed in 1994. The band has had multiple albums chart on the Billboard 200 and has won multiple Billboard top 5 Rock Album awards. Their most popular song, "Say Hey (I love you)," has over 1 billion streams on Spotify. Franti often shares photos and videos of his wife and children on his Instagram account.