Charlie Simpson

Charles Robert "Charlie" Simpson (born 7 June 1985) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He is the youngest member of multi-BRIT Award-winning band Busted, and is the lead vocalist, guitarist and co-lyricist in alternative rock band Fightstar.^[1][2][3] AllMusic has noted that Simpson is "perhaps the only pop star to make the convincing transition from fresh-faced boy bander to authentic hard rock frontman".^[4] Simpson is a multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, keyboard, piano and drums.^[5][6]

Simpson has released two solo albums, "Young Pilgrim" in August 2011 and "Long Road Home" in August 2014, both of which charted in the top 10 on the Official UK Album Chart. In 2015 Simpson also released an EP with a side project called Once Upon A Dead Man, which he did alongside his two brothers Will and Edd Simpson and friend Simon Britcliff.

On 10 November 2015, Busted announced they would be reforming with Simpson back in the original lineup.^[7]

Busted's third studio album "Night Driver" was released in November 2016.

Early life and family

The youngest of three boys, Simpson was born in Woodbridge, Suffolk.^[8] He has 2 brothers, Will and Edd;— Will was born in 1980 and is the vocalist and guitarist in Brigade and Edd was born in 1981 and is the lead singer and guitarist in an alternative band called Union Sound Set. Simpson has a very musical family dating back to Sir William Sterndale Bennett (mother's maiden name) who was an English pianist, conductor, and composer, a notable figure in the musical life of his time.^[9]

Simpson was educated at minor private school Framlingham College's prep school Brandeston Hall^[10] – he is the fifth generation Simpson to attend Framlingham^[11] – and Uppingham School, where he was schoolmates with McFly drummer Harry Judd.

Career

Busted (2002-2005) (2015-present)

Charlie first shot to fame with pop rock/pop punk act Busted as a result to responding to an advertisement placed by Matt Willis and James Bourne in NME magazine in 2001.^[12] Busted consisted of Charlie on lead guitar and occasionally drums, Willis on bass guitar and Bourne on rhythm guitar; all three members provided vocals. Over a period of two years, the trio had major success and sold over 3 million records,^[13] won two BRIT Awards,^[14] and also won Record of The Year in 2004.^[15]

On 10th November 2015, Busted announced they would be reforming after 10 years and will embark on a 13-day UK tour as well as recording a new album.^[7]

Fightstar (2003-present)

Despite the huge success of Busted, Simpson began to grow increasingly discontented with the pop star lifestyle and the music he was performing.^[16] As an avid fan of rock music, he felt unfulfilled by the commercial pop songs of Busted.^[16]

He met Alex Westaway in late 2003, forming what became Fightstar shortly afterwards. For over a year he would lead a secret "double life": by night he would attend rehearsal sessions with his new band after completing obligated media work and concert performances with Busted.^[16] During 2004, he and Westaway wrote Fightstar's debut EP, They Liked You Better When You Were Dead. The EP showcased a heavier post-hardcore influenced sound that differed greatly to Busted's material.^[17] The EP was recorded during November with Mark Williams in London.^[16] During this time, speculation began to grow about Busted's future. He announced he was leaving Busted to pursue his career full-time with Fightstar in January 2005.^[18]

Simpson then funded and put together a compilation album called The Suffolk Explosion, which was released through his own label Sandwich Leg Records. It showcased a number of unsigned bands from Charlie's home county of Suffolk, including Brigade and Prego, as well as a solo acoustic track written by him called "Carry Her".^[19] Fightstar went on to record their debut full-length studio album with rock producer Colin Richardson. Grand Unification was released on 13 March 2006, and further proved the initial cynics wrong by receiving widespread positive reviews. In particular, Paul Brannigan of Kerrang! magazine stated the album was "one of the best British rock albums of the past decade".^[20] Scottish music publication The Fly also lauded the album as "one of the 21st Century's ultimate rock debuts".^[21] Shortly afterwards, the band went on to receive nominations at the Kerrang! Awards for "Best British Newcomer" and "Best British Band".^[22] After leaving Island Records due to a disagreement over the band's artistic direction,^[23] the band signed to an independent label called Institute Records which was a division of Gut Records to release their second album.^[24] One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours (2007), peaked at No. 27 on the UK Album Chart,^[25] before releasing a B-sides compilation album titled Alternate Endings (2008). The four-piece then funded and co-produced their third album, Be Human (2009), which became their highest charting album after peaking at No. 20 in the UK.^[26]

On 29 July 2009, he made a Myspace page for his acoustic solo work. There were three songs on the page, "Dead Man Walking", 'Empty Guns (Demo)', and 'Carry Her'.^[27] 'Carry Her' was previously available on The Suffolk Explosion.

Charlie recently got involved with film scoring, stating in an interview that this was something he was keen to pursue later in his career. He wrote the score for an independent British film Everyone Is Going To Die, which debuted at the SXSW Film Festival in March 2013.

Solo career (2010-present)

Fightstar announced a hiatus at the beginning of 2010, stating that they were "taking some time off" for the remainder of 2010–11 to work on separate projects before regrouping in 2012 to begin working a new record. Simpson has started working on a solo acoustic album, while Westaway and Haigh will be completing post-production on the bands film and working on some music videos.^[28]

Simpson went in to the studio in June 2010 to start recording his full-length debut album with producer Danton Supple, whose previous work includes Coldplay and The Cure. The album was funded through PledgeMusic and as one of the main incentives for the campaign, fans received an EP called When We Were Lions on Christmas Day 2010. The full-length album was finally finished in February 2011 and was mastered by John Davis at Metropolis Studios in London. The first single to be taken from the album was called "Down Down Down" and it had its first radio airplay on 11 April, as Radio 1 DJ Fearne Cotton's Record of the Week. The single was officially released on 16 May, though it was made available to buy on iTunes straight away. The album, titled Young Pilgrim was released on 15 August 2011. It went straight into the UK album chart at number 6, having been at number 5 in the midweeks. Simpson signed to PIAS Records in Germany and the album was released in Europe in August 2012.

On 2 February 2013, it was reported that Simpson had finished writing the follow up to his 2011 solo debut 'Young Pilgrim' and he would be heading in to the studio with producer Steve Osbourne (U2/Placebo) to start recording in early March.

Simpson spent the summer of 2013 playing on the Vans Warped Tour in the US, which was the first time he has played live as a solo artist in America. During October 2013, Charlie went on a tour of the UK supporting rock band, Deaf Havana. He previewed two new tracks from the forthcoming album 'Winter Hymns' and 'Ten More Days'. In 2014, he will be undertaking a small run of solo shows in the UK in the lead up to the release of his second solo album.

Simpson announced on 28 April 2014 that his second solo album is to be called Long Road Home and will be released later that year, since revealing the release date would be 4 August 2014.^[29] He also announced that he will be doing his biggest headline show to date at the London Roundhouse on 14 October.

In October 2014 Simpson announced through social media that he would play a 13 date UK solo acoustic tour in January/February of the following year.^[30] It was also announced in the following month that he would be supported on this tour by Emma Blackery, Willow Robinson (for UK dates) and Pete Gardiner (for IE dates).^[31]

On the 5th May, Simpson will release his 3rd solo album titled 'Little Hands' a compilation of rare tracks from 2010-2016. The first single release is set to be a stripped down version of 'Emily'.

Other works

Outside of his main musical activities, Simpson also has frequently collaborated with other musicians, which include This Is Menace, Gunship (the side project of his Fightstar bandmates, Alex Westaway and Dan Haigh) as well as indie band, The Travis Waltons. With Gunship, he lent his voice for their highly critical acclaimed single, 'Tech Noir', of Gunship debut album.^[32]

Personal Life

From Suffolk, Simpson is a lifelong Ipswich Town F.C. fan and was in attendance at the 2000 Division One play-off final between Ipswich and Barnsley F.C. with the match finishing 4-2 to Ipswich, winning promotion to the Premier League. He also has shares in the club.^[33]

Simpson married his long-time girlfriend Anna Barnard in June 2014, follow the announcement of their engagement the week earlier.^[34] During a show on his 2015 UK Tour at London's Islington Assembly Hall, Simpson announced that he and his wife are expecting their first child together.^[35] On July 22, Simpson's wife gave birth to their first son, Arlo Simpson.^[36][37]

In 2004, Simpson was quoted in Tatler magazine as saying he supported the Conservative Party, stating that he'd "grown up with their views" and "way of doing things".^[38] According to The Guardian, Simpson "was pilloried just like Phil Collins and Geri Halliwell before him".^[39] However, he later denied this claim of a political allegiance to the Conservatives: "The Tory thing is complete bulls--t! It came out of Matt's mouth in an interview taking the complete p--s, and it was on the front cover of a newspaper. He was like laughing when he said it. Matt's Labour! He said something like, 'Now I've got loads of money I'm a f--king Tory boy,' laughing."^[40]

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

References

External links

• Official website
• Charlie Simpson at AllMusic