- Charlie (band)
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Charlie Origin United Kingdom Genres Rock Years active 1976–1984, 1986, 2009 Labels Polydor Website charlie-music.com Past members Terry Thomas
John Anderson
Steve Gadd
Martin Smith
Julian Colbeck
Eugene Organ
Shep Lonsdale
Bob Henrit
John Verity
Terry Slesser
Graham Broad
Richard Cottle
Felix Krish
Linda ThomasCharlie was a British rock band that was formed in 1971 by singer/songwriter Terry Thomas. The group was most active as a recording unit from the mid-1970s through 1986. Charlie never charted in their home country, but had four minor hits in the US: 1977's "Turning To You"; 1978's "She Loves to Be In Love"; 1979's "Killer Cut" and 1983's "It's Inevitable".[1]
Contents
History
The band was briefly called "Charlie Cuckoo" (after a racehorse), but soon became known simply as "Charlie". Original members included:
- Terry Thomas, Lead vocals & guitar
- John Anderson, Backing vocals & bass
- Steve Gadd, Drums (Not the American session drummer of the same name)
- Martin Smith, Backing vocals & guitar
The band debuted as a recording act in 1976, with the album Fantasy Girls. They toured the UK in the spring of 1976 as support act to the Dutch progressive rock band Focus to promote the album. Their second album, No Second Chance, began the practice of featuring a photograph of a female model as the album's cover. "Turning To You", off that album, became Charlie's first chart hit, peaking at US #96.
The band had a more substantial hit in 1978 with "She Loves to Be In Love," which peaked at #54 in the United States. The following year, the band again had a minor hit with "Killer Cut", which rose to US #60.
Julian Colbeck, who had replaced Martin Smith after the first album, departed four albums later in 1980 amid some turmoil. He writes, "Finally, the touring band line-up of Terry Thomas, John Anderson, Eugene Organ, Steve Gadd, and myself ceased operations once Arista refused to release Here Comes Trouble, and our caring, sharing management company immediately cut off all our money in 1980. That's a whole other story but, for the record, our final gig was in 1979 at the Civic Center in Providence, Rhode Island on Monday 29 October, alongside Foreigner." Thomas commented "Arista our new label in the U.S. wanted more songs - our company in the UK - Trident Audio Productions - refused to put us in the studio or spend any more money. The UK record company - Polydor - wouldn't release it until it had a U.S. release. Effectively Charlie had no record label and no money to live on. Eugene and Julian decided to leave."
In 1982, Terry Slesser joined the group as new lead singer, while Thomas, still a member of the band, began concentrating more on the instrumentation. In 1983, the group had their most successful hit single, "It's Inevitable", which peaked just inside the US Top 40 at #38. The MTV music video featured a rousing pie fight. The accompanying self-titled album was a flop, however, and the band folded.
In 1986, Thomas resurrected the band with a new crew and released In Pursuit of Romance. Thomas writes, "This was basically a contractual album - Steve had gone off to work with Iron Maiden as a drum tech and John had a job in the telecommunications industry. I ended up making the whole album by myself - it put me in the hospital!"
After a long layoff, in 2009 Charlie released their first album of new material in 23 years, Kitchens Of Distinction. The album began life as a Terry Thomas solo project, but as the finished product included contributions from Martin Smith and Julian Colbeck, the decision was made to credit the CD to Charlie.
Discography
Albums
- Fantasy Girls (1976)
- No Second Chance (1977) - US #111
- Lines (1978) - US #75
- Fight Dirty (1979) - US #60
- Good Morning America (1981) - US #201
- Here Comes Trouble (1982)
- Charlie (1983) - US #145
- In Pursuit of Romance (1986)
- Kitchens Of Distinction (2009)
Compilation Albums
- The Best of Charlie (2000)
- Charlie Anthology (2007)
Note that in earlier editions of Joel Whitburn's Billboard chart books, a Charlie album called Fifth Flight is listed as having charted in 1981 at #99. This album did not exist, and never charted—its inclusion in Whitburn's book is either an error or a deliberate copyright trap. In any event, later editions of Whitburn's books (post-2006) make no mention of Fifth Flight.
Members
- Terry Thomas: Lead vocals & guitar (1976-1984, 1986, 2009)
- John Anderson: Backing vocals & bass (1976–1984)
- Steve Gadd: Drums (1976–1984)
- Martin Smith: Backing vocals & guitar (1976–1977, 2009)
- Julian Colbeck: Keyboards (1977–1980, 2009)
- Eugene Organ: Guitar (1978–1980)
- Shep Lonsdale: Drums (1979)
- Bob Henrit: Drums (1981-1983)
- John Verity: Lead Vocals & guitar (1981)
- Terry Slesser: Lead Vocals (1982–1984)
- Graham Broad: Drums (1986)
- Richard Cottle: Keyboards & saxophone (1986)
- Felix Krish: Bass, keyboards, & backing vocals (1986)
- Linda Thomas: Backing vocals (1986)
References
Categories:- British rock music groups
- Musical groups established in 1971
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