AUGUST 9, 1955
IN THE BEGINNING
Charlie was born in Hammersmith, London on August 9, 1955. He was educated at Chiswick & Bedford Park Preparatory and Latymer Upper Schools, West London. His musical training includes 2 years of piano whilst still at school. He is mainly self-taught in drums, apart from a handful of lessons from legendary percussionist, James Blades.
THE 70’S
THE EARLY YEARS
In 1973, Charlie toured the US bases in Germany with a rock band. The following 2 years saw a variety of different bands (mostly unsuccessful), until 1975, which were his first excursions into sessions. Kate Bush’s “Lionheart” album in 1978 and a World tour with the Tom Robinson’s band in 1979 were Charlie’s first major breaks.
THE 80’S
SESSION WORK
In 1984, Charlie recorded tracks for Nik Kershaw, Tracy Ullman, Matt Bianco and Gary Moore, as well as Kate Bush’s “Hounds of Love” album. He recorded for several Japanese artists including 3 albums for Epo, one for Hideaki Matsuoko, as well as session work for producer, Kuma Harada. In 1989, Charlie recorded on Kate Bush’s “Sensual World” album, Chris de Burgh’s “Spark to a Flame” and also co-produced a tv broadcast/live album for French artist, Daniel Guichard at the Olympia theatre in Paris. Franz Auffray was executive producer in charge of this project.
ONGOING
CONSULTING
Charlie spent several years as a research/test drummer for Simmons Electronics in the mid 1980’s which provided invaluable experience in the MIDI and sequencing fields. More recently he acted as consultant for Premier Percussion during the development of the Signia and Genista lines in their range.
JULY 13, 1985
LIVE AID
In 1985, Elton John invited Charlie to play with his band at Live Aid. As they left the stage that night, Elton decided to take the band on tour. Charlie would continue on, recording and touring with Elton for the next 13 years.
1985 – 1998
THE ELTON YEARS
Charlie recorded tracks on “Ice on Fire”, “Leather Jackets”, and “Reg Strikes Back” as well as “Live with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra” album which was recorded as part of the 6-week tour with the 92-piece Melbourne Symphony Orchestra while touring Australia and New Zealand. In 1993, he completed a 14-month (160 date) sell-out World Tour. In 1994 he headed to the studio to record “Made In England”. He recorded 3 singles with Elton in 1996, one of them a duet with Luciano Pavarotti. Another World Tour started up in 1997 to coincide with the release of “The Big Picture”.
ELTON JOHN / BILLY JOEL
FACE TO FACE
Charlie toured with the double bill of Elton John and Billy Joel in the summer of 1994, taking in 25 dates in 12 major cities across the US, with the “Two Pianos” tour concluding in April 1995. This was followed by a 9-month World Tour with Elton, ending in Rio de Janiero, Brazil in November. In 1998, Elton once again joined up with Billy Joel. This time to tour Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
EARLY 90’S
TEACHING & LOOPS
During the early 1990’s, Charlie taught Rock Drums & Studio Techniques at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 1992, he released an album of drum loops (Master Drums) on CD-ROM and CD audio that sold well enough to prompt two sequels (Master Drums 2 and 3) and two new sample CDs (Past Masters & The Premier Collection). “This Way Up” Master Drums II was also recorded and released in ’94.
THE 90’S
IN HIGH DEMAND
Charlie started the decade with a tour of Japan and S. Korea with Henry Mancini and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1990. He recorded tracks for Judie Tzuke’s “Left Hand Talking” album in 1991 as well as Kate Bush’s cover of the Elton John classic “Rocket Man” for the “Two Rooms” tribute album. Followed in 1992, by sessions for Tasmin Archer’s first album “Great Expectations” and Chris Farlowe’s “Waiting in the Wings” album. 1994 saw completion of an album produced by George Martin, for Larry Adler’s 80th birthday, working with such diverse artists as Lisa Stansfield, Chris de Burgh, Meatloaf, Kate Bush and Cher.
THE LATE 90’S
MORE THAN DRUMS
In 1996, Charlie completed his first production – a South African act, Jive Nation on which he also played percussion, sang backups and played keyboards. He also drummed on grunge/metal 3-piece, Fleshdevils debut album. In 1998, he played tracks on a new album by the SAS Band, a star-studded “supergroup” of musicians from a huge variety of backgrounds. He also recorded 2 tracks for the Hellecasters’ latest album: “Hell III, New Axes to Grind.” In the early part of the year 1999, employed as an expert witness in the Spandau Ballet law suit, working on behalf of Gary Kemp. The case was won by Mr. Kemp after several weeks in the High Court in London. Also completed sessions for Bjork’s movie “Dancer In The Dark” (winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes 2000).
007
THE BOND SESSIONS
Charlie recorded multiple tracks on the soundtrack to the Bond movie “Tomorrow never Dies” in 1997. In September 2008, he was flown to London to record the Bond theme tune with a 71-piece orchestra, for David Arnold. This was be part of the Bond film “A Quantum of Solace”, released in November.
A NEW MILLENNIUM
THE MOVE TO THE US
After moving from the UK to the United States, Charlie became involved in freelance session work and gigs, mainly working out of Nashville and Los Angeles. He toured the entire summer of 2000 with Trisha Yearwood, one of Country Music’s top female artists. In the Autumn, he returned to the UK to tour with fellow Elton John member, John Jorgenson, to promote his recently released solo album, “Emotional Savant”. He also recorded tracks for Baz Luhrmann’s award-winning musical, “Moulin Rouge” that year. Charlie spent much of the summer of 2006 juggling Orleans gigs with John Jorgenson’s Gypsy Jazz Quintet. John’s expertise in the Django Reinhardt style of jazz guitar was an unusual and exciting departure in style for Charlie!
ORLANDO, FL
MANICDRUMS PRODUCTIONS
After moving to Orlando, Florida in 2000, Charlie invested in equipment and set up a small, State-of-the-Art, Hard Disk based tracking room at home to record drum tracks for clients. He continued to upgrade the studio named Manicdrums Productions, and record sessions for a number of clients, including Michelle Tumes (songwriting demos), Tom Paul, Beth Schafer and Jim Wilson’s 3rd album “Sanctuary”.
MORE MANICDRUMS
In 2001, Charlie recorded the Voices of America CD (post-September 11, for the families of those lost in NYC and DC), using this facility, as well as “Cool Breeze” by Plan9 (which had a successful summer hit on the Adult Contemporary charts), Cyd Ward’s “Between The Lines” and Tom Paul’s debut album “I Was King”. He would go on to work with these clients on other albums including Jim Wilson’s “Beneath Olympian Skies”, as well as parade music for Disneyland Tokyo for arranger/composer Scott Erickson.
VH1, DIRECTTV & TOURING
VCR
In 2001, Charlie’s live work included touring with the Voices of Classic Rock, featuring the vocal talents of such artists as: Spencer Davis, Pat Travers, Larry Hoppen (Orleans), Leslie West (Mountain), John Cafferty (Beaver Brown Band), Ronnie Hammond (Atlanta Rhythm Section), Jimi Jamison (Survivor), Dave Jenkins (Pablo Cruise), Alex Ligertwood (Santana), Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple), JoeLynn Turner (Deep Purple, Rainbow) & Mike Reno (Loverboy). The next year, the band went on to perform for the VH1 Classic concert in Maui. This would be aired by VH1 and DirecTV over the next 18 months.
TOURING
ORLEANS
Charlie played live with Larry Hoppen’s Allstar Band (ex-Orleans) in and around Orlando. This culminated in involvement as drummer and engineer for their latest release “Still the One, Live”, a celebration of their 30 years in the business. Charlie would continue to work with Orleans, both on live shows, and the studio as sound engineer and drummer, recording their first studio album in almost 8 years.
RPM
A new classic rock project was formed, born out of Orleans and VCR called Rock & Pop Masters (RPM) and in July 2010, he toured Iraq/Kuwait with them, (featuring Larry Hoppen, Joe Bouchard (Blue Oyster Cult), Jimi Jamison, Alex Ligertwood, & Skip Martin (Kool & the Gang). The next summer, he played a series of VCR concerts for Spectra Records, featuring JoeLynn Turner, Dave Jenkins, Robbie Dupree, Jimi Jamison, Jimmy Hall (Wet-Willy, Allman Brow), David Pack (Ambrosia), amongst others. He has continued to tour with Orleans, VCR, and RPM, as they expand their roster and increase their share of the marketplace.