Charles James Cleaver is an American songwriter, singer and guitarist, best known as a member of the Cincinnati-based bands Ass Ponys (formed in 1988, went on hiatus in 2005) and Wussy (formed in 2001).

Biography

Cleaver grew up in

Clarksville, Ohio Clarksville is a village in Clinton County, Ohio, United States. The population was 534 at the 2020 census. It is served by the Clinton Massie branch of the Wilmington Public Library of Clinton County. History Clarksville was laid out in 18 ...

, the son of a factory worker who had very eclectic musical tastes ranging from Manu Dibango to Dave and Ansell Collins. He enrolled in the University of Cincinnati in the late 1970s. In addition to his musical career, Cleaver worked as a stonemason, though he stopped after his chiropractor advised against it. He and Wussy bandmate Lisa Walker both used to be record traders before their musical careers began.

Musical career

Cleaver started Ass Ponys in 1988, and they released their first album two years later. During this time, he lived in

Bethel Bethel ( he, בֵּית אֵל, translit=Bēṯ 'Ēl, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; el, Βαιθήλ; la, Bethel) was an ancient Israelite sanct ...

. With regard to why Ass Ponys broke up, Cleaver says, "I just kind of felt that Ass Ponys had run its course," and "We were coming up with new material, but I just really wasn’t all that interested in it anymore." After he met Lisa Walker in 2001, around the time Ass Ponys released their last album of original material, ''Lohio'', they decided to form a band, which Cleaver decided to call "Wussy" because "I just like the way it looks on a T-shirt. It's another one of my names ensured not to get anywhere." In an interview with '' the Portland Mercury'', Cleaver said that he originally enlisted Walker to sing with him when he was asked to perform solo for a Cincinnati awards show. He has been called one of the best singer-songwriters in America by

Freedy Johnston Freedy Johnston (born Frederic John Fatzer in 1961) is a New York City–based singer-songwriter originally from Kinsley, Kansas. Johnston's songs are often about troubled loners, and cover topics like heartbreak, alienation, and disappoint ...

Musical influences and style

Cleaver has stated that he prefers music that has "something a little messed up with it," and gives

Sparklehorse Sparklehorse was an American indie rock band from Richmond, Virginia, led by singer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Linkous. Sparklehorse was active from 1995 until Linkous' 2010 death. Prior to forming Sparklehorse, Linkous fronted local bands ...

and Tom Waits as examples of his favorite artists. Music critics have described Cleaver's vocal style as an "anxious" and "corkscrew

falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...

," and "a strained, inebriated falsetto that could have easily originated from the mouth of a townie who's witnessed weird stuff for years." Additionally, Neil Strauss has described Cleaver's vocal style as "a cracking, tuneful drawl somewhere between that of Michael Stipe of R.E.M. and Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips."

References

Musicians from Cincinnati Living people People from Clinton County, Ohio American indie rock musicians Singer-songwriters from Ohio 1959 births People from Bethel, Ohio {{US-singer-songwriter-stub