King Charles (born Charles Costa) is an English singer-songwriter from

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: North Londo ...

. Charles plays the guitar, piano, and cello. He is also a classically trained singer. He began writing songs when he was 17. In 2009, he became the first British person to win the International Songwriting Competition in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

, for his song "Love Lust". The competition was judged by

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...

, Jeff Beck,

Loretta Lynn Loretta Lynn (; April 14, 1932 – October 4, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. In a career spanning six decades, Lynn released multiple gold albums. She had numerous hits such as "You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Ma ...

and

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as " rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis ma ...

, and following this victory King Charles was signed by Universal Republic/Island. In 2012, he teamed up with the record producer

Matthew Wilder Matthew Wilder ( Weiner; January 24, 1953) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. In early 1984, his single " Break My Stride" hit No. 2 on the ''Cash Box'' chart and No. 5 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. He also wrote t ...

and released his first album ''Loveblood'', to critical devastation and charted at No. 36 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

. After an extensive international touring period he released his second album, ''Gamble for a Rose'', in 2014. Produced by

Marcus Mumford Marcus Oliver Johnstone Mumford (born 31 January 1987) is a British singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is best known as the lead singer of the band folk band Mumford & Sons. He also plays a number of instruments with the group ...

, it saw Costa return to his folk roots whilst keeping a modern edge to his sound. In 2020, Costa teamed up again with Matthew Wilder on ''Out of my Mind''. In April 2020, '' Clash'' magazine noted "They say the freaks shall inherit the earth, and it will be King Charles will crush them all with his outrageous, god sized ego'.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

References

External links

*
New band of the day – No 653: King CharlesBBC – Glastonbury 2009 – King Charles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Charles, King 1985 births Living people English male singer-songwriters 21st-century English singers 21st-century British male singers