|
Already
a massive success in France this year with number 1 single and platinum
album British musician, Charlie Winston, gears up for UK campaign on
Peter Gabriel's record label Real World
Charlie Winston grew up, with his folk-musician parents and his musical
siblings, in a Suffolk hotel through which passed an endless procession
of itinerant artists, orchestras, actors and thespians. Such an
environment had a great impact on Charlie giving him a deep love for
the performing arts and entertainment whilst nurturing his musical
talents.
At the age of eight he learned to play the drums, before turning his
hand to the piano when he was and two years later writing his first
songs. Aged seventeen Charlie relocated to London, studied music at
Brunel (“I later realised that I got too caught up in the
'technicalities' of music, I had become engrossed in the world of Jazz
and Minimalism”), subsequently leaving college penniless and
piano-less. Living in Clapham with his brother (Tom Baxter) the only
instrument he played was a beaten up bass found “just lying around”. So
with Charlie now playing bass they formed the band 'Baxter', a period
that lasted three years and that Charlie regards as his degree course -
An Introduction To The Real World Of Music.
Charlie’s musical development continued - writing music for theatre
productions (The Almeida, Sadler’s Wells, The Gate, The Unicorn and
others) and writing and playing music for short films, dance
productions, TV adverts as well as producing and recording records with
various artists. “This was a fantastic training ground for me. I
learned to write to a brief with a deadline. This became an invaluable
discipline, and a very important part of my 'process'. A little
pressure can produce a lot.”
Singing or playing with many different bands on either bass, piano or
percussion, Charlie wrote and arranged music for brass and strings
including the London Symphonietta and the BBC Concert Orchestra and
came to the fore of the stage as lead singer in an eight piece reggae
band “it brought out my strength as a front man”. In his early twenties
he picked up the guitar for the first time “it helped me focus on the
beauty and simplicity of songwriting and storytelling once again - the
precise things that had drawn me into writing in the first place when I
was in my teens.”
In 2003, when Charlie was recording bass for his brother Tom’s album at
Real World Studios, he was introduced to Peter Gabriel and became
friends with Peter’s daughter Mel. “Although I had a new EP that I was
anxious to give him, I decided to wait until he knew me as a person
first, before introducing him to my music. It turned out to be the
right choice.” A year later, when he was babysitting for Peter’s son,
Charlie finally gave him his EP – in return Peter gave him a recording
contract, produced his first album ‘Make Way’ and invited Charlie to
open for him on his European tour.
A Volkswagen television advert, in which Charlie was the voice of a dog
who unleashed a mightily impressive rendition of the classic Spencer
Davis Group song 'I'm a Man', became a global smash and is also now a
YouTube classic.
Charlie’s story then moved to France where he had come to the attention
of record label Atmosphériques who introduced him to Mark Plati (David
Bowie, The Cure, Louise Attaque) with whom Charlie recorded his second
album ‘Hobo’. The "Hobo" sessions took place primarily in Paris, at the
Pigalle Studios, with brass and strings added in London and the
finishing touches added at Plati’s New York studio. The core of the
record sees Charlie on guitar, piano, and "vintage" keys
(Wurlitzer-Celest-Hammond), Ben Edwards on his harmonicas, Daniel
Marsala on the bass and Medi on the drums.
The resulting album is a collection of songs with soul inspired by the
great ‘soul men’ - Ray Charles, Randy Newman, Richie Havens, Tom Waits.
Thoughtful and captivating and musically witty the stories are at times
serious, at others ironic but always profoundly human.
‘Hobo’ was released in France in January 2009. The single ‘Like A Hobo’
shot to number one in the iTunes chart within forty eight hours; the
album followed suit within a week. ‘Like A Hobo was number one on all
download charts for four weeks, a feat only ever achieved by four other
artists. Certified platinum, the album CD has now been in the top ten
of the physical charts since its launch in January and the single
topped the French CD charts on its release.
Featured in all the main French press, Charlie has performed on the
influential TV show Taratata an unprecedented three times and on Le
Grand Journal in both Paris and at the show’s Cannes Film Festival
opener. He is currently on an extensive sold out headline tour of
France and has been invited to play at all the major summer festivals
in France, Belgium and Switzerland. On stage Charlie the “song-singer”
becomes Charlie the entertainer, one steeped in music, dance and
theatre who puts on quite a show - “Because I am a songwriter with an
album called ‘Hobo’ it can easily be misconstrued that I’ll just be on
stage with a guitar or a harmonica. But I’m a performer and an
entertainer and my experience with theatre and dance means that it’s
more about being an artist than just a songwriter.”
The hobo will now return to Britain where Charlie is performing at
festivals during the summer. ‘In Your Hands’ will be released on vinyl
and download on July 27; the album ‘Hobo’ and the single ‘Like A Hobo’
will be released in September.
|
