Michael Charles (born 23 February 1956) is an Australian born

blues music Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

ian, songwriter, guitarist, and singer. He is an inductee into the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame.

Early life and education

Charles was born in Australia."Michael Charles"
''Prairie Dog Magazine'', By Gregory Beatty on December 8, 2015 His father was a music hobbyist and taught his son his first chords. At nine years old Michael formed a band and put on his first live paid performance. In 1970 he traveled with older musicians performing shows, corporate gigs, and weddings.

Career

In 1972, Charles formed the band Black Venom. They performed live on television. In the early 1980s Charles joined the band Magnum and they released "Bring Back Your Love” – “Coming Back Home”. In 1983, Charles released his first solo recording “I’m A Puppet”. In 1984 he met record producer Greg Williams of Dex Audio of Australia and Charles produced several releases. Charles performs on Dex Audio's record label Newmarket Music in Australia. Greg Williams continues to produce and master Charles’ recordings. In 1985, Charles formed an independent record label, Moonlight Label. From 1986 through 1989 Charles and Salik Silverstein of SOS Silver Spoon Productions produced three videos which aired on Australia’s Night Shift, Rage, and MTV. In 1987 and 1988 he traveled about Australia on a promotional tour. In 1990, Charles traveled to the USA to perform at

Buddy Guy's Legends Buddy Guy's Legends is a blues club in Chicago, Illinois. It was opened in 1989 by blues musician Buddy Guy who still owns the club and who still makes regular appearances, performing a month of shows each January. Legends is one of the few bl ...

in Chicago, Illinois. From 1990 to 1995 he traveled several times to America, performing with

Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray V ...

Eddy Clearwater Edward Harrington (January 10, 1935 – June 1, 2018), better known by his stage name Eddy Clearwater, was an American blues musician who specialized in Chicago blues. ''Blues Revue'' said he plays "joyous rave-ups…he testifies with stunning ...

, George Baze,

Junior Wells Junior Wells (born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr., December 9, 1934January 15, 1998) was an American singer, harmonica player, and recording artist. He is best known for his signature song "Messin' with the Kid" and his 1965 album ''Hoodoo Man Blues'' ...

James Cotton James Henry Cotton (July 1, 1935 – March 16, 2017) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who performed and recorded with many fellow blues artists and with his own band. He also played drums early in his career. ...

Phil Guy Phil Guy (April 28, 1940 – August 20, 2008) was an American blues guitarist. He was the younger brother of blues guitarist Buddy Guy. Phil and Buddy Guy were frequent collaborators and contribute both guitar and vocal performances on many o ...

. In 1991 Jerry Bryant of

JBTV ''JBTV'' (a.k.a. ''JBTV Music Television'') is a Chicago-area broadcast, weekly 60-minute music television show featuring live in-studio performances, music videos, and music-related interviews from emerging and established musicians. Based in Ch ...

in Chicago Illinois featured Charles on JBTV's blues show, Blues Oasis. In 1993 he released his first solo album. (In late of 2006 Jerry Bryant of

and Michael reunited to start a DVD project which continued on into 2007). In 1995, Charles toured with blues musician

Jimmy Dawkins James Henry “Jimmy” Dawkins (October 24, 1936 – April 10, 2013) was an American Chicago blues and electric blues guitarist and singer. He is generally considered to have been a practitioner of the "West Side sound" of Chicago blues. Career ...

, and was signed by producer Jack Mehl to his record label, Moonlight Records; a year later Moonlight released "My Shadow", Michael’s first CD in the USA. Charles joined

NARAS The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous for its Grammy Aw ...

, the Grammy Award Association where he also entertained monthly for two years at the Chicago Chapter. In 2005 he was the recipient of an award from the Grammy Award Association and NARAS commemorating his ten year anniversary. In 1996, Charles built a recording studio in America. In 1997 he performed at the Crossroads Festival in Memphis Tennessee as the guest of

Sam Phillips Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, ...

. Beginning in 1990, Charles appeared on DJ John Gorny's Blue Midnight show on WPNA radio, Chicago, Illinois many times through the years. In 1997 Charles appeared for the first of six appearances on

WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister station, sister to the company's sole radio property, talk ra ...

. He built a second recording studio in America. During the next ten years Michael performances included the

Chicago Blues Festival The Chicago Blues Festival is an annual event held in June, that features three days of performances by top-tier blues musicians, both old favorites and the up-and-coming. It is hosted by the Chicago, Illinois, City of Chicago Department of Cu ...

, New Orleans Jazz and Blues Festival, Philadelphia Blues Fest, Memphis Tennessee Crossroads Conference, New Orleans Cutting Edge Conference. In 1999 Michael moved to Nashville for 18 months and was featured in Nashville's "Rock and Read". In 2000 Michael Charles moved back to Chicago and built a third recording studio. His fourth and latest studio was built in 2003 and was called Sammary Studio. Charles traveled around North America on a number of musical tours. He gave each a name, including the Full Circle tour in 2008, the Another Time Another Place Tour in 2010, the Connected tour in 2011, the Road Dawg tour in 2012, the Undercover Tour in 2013, the Three Hundred Sixty Tour in 2014 (including a performance at the Chicago BluesFest), and the RIFF Tour in 2015. In October 2015, Michael Charles was inducted into Chicago Blues Hall of Fame. At that time he had recorded about 34 albums of blues rock music. In 2018 as Charles travelled his from A to Z tour, Salik Silverstein, movie and film producer from Australia, released the documentary on the life and musical career of Michael Charles, ''All I Really Know from A to Z''. The DVD was released in 2019. "Soundtracked", the CD soundtrack to the documentary was also released in 2019. In 2020 Moonlight Label released “The Early Years" , a CD of the complete 45 r.p.m. singles released 1984-1988 by Michael Charles in Australia before he moved to the U.S.A. in 1990. Also, in 2020 “19”, the downloadable album of all the Alone and Acoustic songs recorded during the pandemic became available. In 2021 a 2 CD and 1 DVD Box set chronologizing the entire pandemic experience from the recording studio was released making the total of Charles' releases thirty-eight. After the pandemic of 2020 MC continues to tour internationally with his band in 2021.

Discography

Singles

*"I'm A Puppet" 1983 Quasi Productions 45rpm *"Time Just Keeps Calling" 1986 Moonlight Label 45rpm *"Imaginations And Mind Games" 1987 Moonlight Label 45rpm *"Long Way To Go" 1987 Moonlight Label 45rpm *"She's My Woman" 1987 Moonlight Label 45rpm *"Without Your Love (For Company)" 1986 Moonlight Label 45rpm 12 inch *"Crawling on the Floor" 1996 Moonlight Label CD *"Simple Day" Living 2000 Moonlight Label CD *"Simple Day" Living Limited Edition 2000 CD *"MC Shuffle" 2002 Moonlight Label CD *"Come’ Melodia" 2002 Moonlight Label CD *"Connected (For the Radio)" 2010 Moonlight Label CD *"After Midnight" 2011 Moonlight Label / Newmarket Music CD *"Going Down" 2012 Moonlight Label / Newmarket Music CD *"Crosscut Saw" 2013 Moonlight Label / Newmarket Music CD *"Hey Joe" 2013 Moonlight Label / Newmarket Music CD *"Cover Tunes" 2013 MoonlightLabel /Newmarket Music CD *"Why Am I Here?" 2015 Moonlight Label CD *"Long Way To Go" ive2015 Moonlight Label Download *"Coming Back Home" 2016 Moonlight Label Download *"All I Really Know" 2018 Moonlight Label Download *"Key To The Highway" 2021 Moonlight Label Download

Albums

*''Try Another Key'' YPRX2237 1985 Quasi Productions Vinyl *''Home Through The Streets'' 1986 Moonlight Label Vinyl, Cassette, 2008 CD *''The Wind'' 1989 Moonlight Label Vinyl, cassette, 1998 CD *''My Shadow'' 1996 Moonlight Records cassette, CD *''Hard Days & Long Nights'' 1990 Moonlight Label CD *''Keep Walking'' 1999 Moonlight Label CD *''Recall'' MLL-008 2004 Moonlight Label CD *''I’m Nobody’s Fool'' 2006 Moonlight Label 2008 Newmarket Music *''Connected'' 2010 MLL-010 Moonlight Label CD *''Michael Charles Three Hundred Sixty 2014'' "Concert preview: Bluesman Michael Charles takes Edmonton audience down memory lane"
''Edmonton Journal'', January 21, 2015 CD *''Concert at the Nest'' 2015 Moonlight Label CD *''Sandstone'' 2017 Moonlight Label CD *''Sondtracked'' 2019 Moonlight Label CD *''The Early Years'' 2020 Moonlight Label CD *''19'' 2020 Moonlight Label Download *''19+'' 2021 Moonlight Label CD / DVD Box set

DVD

* ''Michael Charles Live at JBTV Live TV 2006-2007'' DVD * ''All I Really Know'' 2018'' DVD

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Charles, Michael 1956 births Living people Australian blues singers Australian blues guitarists