Biography
Charlie was born in London, he moved to Ireland with his parents, who were in the entertainment buisness, when he was five. He began his musical experiences in Dublin in the early 70s, mainly by successfully conning a few people that he could play the drums, to the extent that he was invited to play in a couple of bands. His die was cast…
Dublin was going through a musical revolution in the 1970s , similar to what was going on in London at the time, and Charlie played with several bands - including The School Kids and the legendary Berlin. He also deputised for Larry Mullins, playing 6 gigs with U2. It was an exciting time for Irish rock musicians.
Extract from Irish Rock:
"The late '70s saw the height of the punk rock movement. Irish bands such as Dublin's The Radiators From Space, The Boomtown Rats, Berlin, The Blades, The Vipers were in the midst of the new genre….."
After the break up of Berlin, in 1981, Charlie moved to London and worked as a guitar roadie, and then as tour manager, for several bands, some of whom he toured the world with, for the following 10 years.
While not on the road, Charlie had got into photography and he eventually became a professional photographer, mainly shooting live concerts, working for various major rock magazines, and he was also building a reputation as a fashion photographer. Having been through some interesting and challenging experiences and wanting to make sense of them, this is when he began writing songs.
During this time, his friend Mathew Ashman, from Adam and The Ants and Bow Wow Wow, brought him into the studio and produced and played guitar on his first self-composed recording, “Move On”.
Charlie returned to performing in 2010, and went out as a solo support act to The Boomtown Rats (Roberts and Crowe) on their European Tour, playing across Germany and The Netherlands to appreciative audiences. On returning to London after the tour he started writing new material, testing it by doing solo gigs and busking around the UK.
Recording of his first album, Exile, began in November, 2012. It was finally completed in September this year, taking a total time of 3 weeks in the studio.
Charlie is now rehearsing with a group of very talented musicians and they expect to start gigging in late 2013.
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