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Charlie Simpson

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For the fundraiser, see Charlie Simpson (fundraiser). For the footballer, see Charlie Simpson (footballer).

Charlie Simpson
Simpson performing in 2016
Simpson performing in 2016
Background information
Birth nameCharles Robert Simpson
Born (1985-06-07) 7 June 1985 (age 39)
Woodbridge, Suffolk, England
Genres
Occupations
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • musician
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
  • drums
  • piano
  • keyboards
  • harmonica
  • bass guitar
Years active2001–present
Member of

Charles Robert Simpson (born 7 June 1985) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician from Suffolk. He is a member of the BRIT Award winning pop-punk band Busted and he is also lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist in the post-hardcore 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, bass, keyboard, piano and drums.[5][6]

Simpson has achieved eleven UK Albums Chart top-40 releases across his musical career, six of which entered the UK top 10. He has also had four number-one singles with Busted and a number-one album, as well as two top-20 singles with Fightstar and two UK top-10 solo albums. Between Busted, Fightstar and his solo projects, he has sold over five million records worldwide, winning two Brit Awards and being nominated for two Kerrang! Awards.

Early life and family

[edit]

The youngest of three boys, Simpson was born in Woodbridge, Suffolk.[4][7] He has 2 brothers, Will (born 1980) and Edd (born 1981). Will is the vocalist and guitarist in Brigade,[8] and Edd is the lead singer and guitarist in an alternative band called Union Sound Set.[9] Simpson's musical maternal heritage dates back to Sir William Sterndale Bennett, who was a notable 19th century English pianist, conductor, and composer.[10][11]

Simpson was educated at Brandeston Hall Prep School in Suffolk and then at Uppingham School, where his great grandfather, Robert Sterndale Bennett (1880–1963), had been a Director of Music between 1908 and 1945.[12]

Career

[edit]

Busted (2002–2005; 2015–present)

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Simpson first gained fame with pop rock/pop punk act Busted as a result of responding to an advertisement placed by Matt Willis and James Bourne in NME magazine in 2001.[13] Busted consisted of Simpson on lead guitar and occasionally drums, Willis on bass guitar and Bourne on rhythm guitar and piano; all three members provided vocals. Over a period of two years, the trio had major success and sold over 5 million records,[14] won two BRIT Awards,[15] and also won Record of The Year in 2004.[16]

Simpson left Busted in 2005 to concentrate on post-hardcore band Fightstar.

On 10 November 2015 Busted announced they would be reforming with Simpson back in the original line-up and would embark on an 18 date arena tour around the UK and Ireland. The band sold 100,000 tickets in the first hour of the tour going on sale.[17] Busted's third studio album Night Driver was released in November 2016. In 2018, Busted announced their fourth album Half Way There, along with arena tour dates in March 2019.

After another four year hiatus, whilst the band focused on other projects, in May 2023 Busted announced they would be returning for a 20 Year Anniversary Greatest Hits tour, which went on to become the biggest selling UK arena tour of 2023. They also released a Greatest Hits album which went to number 1 in the UK album charts.[18][19]

Fightstar (2003–present)

[edit]
Simpson performing with Fightstar in 2010

Despite the huge success of Busted, Simpson began to grow increasingly discontented with the pop star lifestyle and the music he was performing.[20] As an avid fan of rock music, he felt unfulfilled by the commercial pop songs of Busted.[20]

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.[20] 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.[21] The EP was recorded during November with Mark Williams in London.[20] 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.[15]

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".[22]

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".[23] Scottish music publication The Fly also lauded the album as "one of the 21st Century's ultimate rock debuts".[24] Shortly afterwards, the band went on to receive nominations at the Kerrang! Awards for "Best British Newcomer" and "Best British Band".[25] After leaving Island Records due to a disagreement over the band's artistic direction,[26] the band signed to an independent label called Institute Records which was a division of Gut Records to release their second album.[27] One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours (2007), peaked at No. 27 on the UK Album Chart,[28] 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). Fightstar released their fourth full length album Behind The Devils Back (2015), which would be their most critically acclaimed album, making Rock Sound magazine's Top 50 Albums list for 2015.[citation needed]

On November 6th 2023 Fightstar announced they would be returning for a headline show at Wembley Arena to mark the bands twenty year anniversary.[citation needed]

Solo career (2010–present)

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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'.[29] 'Carry Her' was previously available on The Suffolk Explosion.

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.[30]

Simpson went into 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 into 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 undertook 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.[31]

In October 2014, Simpson announced that he would play a 13 date UK solo acoustic tour in January/February of the following year.[32]

On 5 May 2016, Simpson released his third solo album, Little Hands, a compilation of rare tracks from 2010 though 2016. The first single was a stripped-down version of "Emily". The album also included the track from the Watch UKTV series Singing In the Rainforest, "Walking With the San", which first aired in 2015. The song was recorded as part of the show in which Charlie travelled to Namibia to spend time living and playing music with the San people. After the show aired, an edit was made to act as a music video for the song and was uploaded to Facebook, the track has since gone viral and has been viewed over 14,000,000 times.

On 23 October 2020, Simpson released the first track from his upcoming album I See You, which peaked at 39 on the iTunes chart in its first week.[33] In late 2021, Simpson announced his fourth album Hope Is A Drug would be released in March 2022. He announced a planned Hope Is A Drug tour.[34] The tour was later postponed citing delays to album supply chains and shipping caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Other works

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In 2015, Simpson released an EP with a side project called Once Upon a Dead Man alongside his two brothers Will and Edd Simpson, and friend Simon Britcliff. On 10 November 2015,

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 co-wrote and lent his voice for their highly critical acclaimed single, "Tech Noir", of Gunship's debut album.[35] In 2018, he contributed to Bullet for My Valentine's sixth album Gravity, receiving a songwriting credit on the track "Breathe Underwater". He also co-wrote the song Can't Escape The Waves on Bullet For My Valentine's 2022 self titled album.

Charlie has also been involved in 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's Going To Die', which debuted at the SXSW Film Festival in March 2013.[citation needed]

In 2023, Simpson won the fourth series of The Masked Singer as "Rhino", making him the first male winner in the UK.[36] After his victory, he released the EP Kifaru containing songs he performed on The Masked Singer.[37]

In 2023, Simpson appeared on Gunship's third album "Unicorn", lending his voice to "Tech Noir 2", the sequel to "Tech Noir" from the first album. with film director John Carpenter and Tim Cappello from Tina Turner (1939–2023) and the film The Lost Boys (1987) on Saxophone.[38]

Personal life

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Simpson married his long-time girlfriend Anna Barnard in June 2014, following the announcement of their engagement the week earlier.[39] During a show on his 2015 UK Tour at London's Islington Assembly Hall,[citation needed] Simpson announced that he and his wife were expecting their first child together. On 21 July that year, Simpson's wife gave birth to their first son, Arlo Simpson. In February 2018, their second son, Jago was born.[40][41]

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".[42] According to The Guardian, Simpson "was pilloried just like Phil Collins and Geri Halliwell before him".[43] He later denied a political allegiance to the Conservatives, saying, "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."[44]

Discography

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Main articles: Busted discography and Fightstar discography

Studio albums

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Title Details Peak chart positions
UK
[45] 		UK Indie
[46] 		SCO
[47]
Young Pilgrim 6 3 7
Long Road Home
  • Released: 4 August 2014
  • Label: Nusic Sounds / ADA Warner
  • Format: Digital download, CD
 10 1 13
Little Hands
  • Released: 6 May 2016
  • Label: NUA Entertainment
  • Format: Digital download, CD
 — — —
Hope Is a Drug
  • Released: 22 April 2022
  • Label: NUA Entertainment
  • Format: Digital download, CD
 — — —
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released.

Extended plays

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Title Details
When We Were Lions
  • Released: 25 December 2010
  • Label: Independent
  • Format: CD
Kifaru
  • Released: 20 February 2023
  • Label: Independent
  • Format: Digital

Singles

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As lead artist
Title Year Chart positions Album
UK
[45] 		UK
Indie
[48] 		SCO
[49]
"Down Down Down" 2011 65 9 58 Young Pilgrim
"Parachutes" 44 5 39
"Cemetery" — 32 —
"Farmer & His Gun" 2012 — — —
"Haunted" 2014 — — — Long Road Home
"Comets" — — —
"Walking with the San"
(featuring San Bushmen tribe) 		2015 — — — Little Hands
"I See You" 2020 — — — Hope Is a Drug
"Blameless" 2021 — — —
"One of Us" — — —
"All the Best" 2022 — — —
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released.
As a featured artist
Title Year Album
"Do They Know It's Christmas?"
(As part of Band Aid 20 with Busted) 		2004 Non-album single
"Avenue of Heroes"
(This Is Menace featuring Charlie Simpson) 		2007 The Scene Is Dead
"Souvenir from Italy"
(Cry for Silence featuring Charlie Simpson) 		2008 The Glorious Dead
"Separation Season"
(The Travis Waltons featuring Charlie Simpson) 		2015 Separation Season
"Tech Noir"
(Gunship featuring Charlie Simpson) 		Gunship
"Tech Noir 2"
(Gunship featuring John Carpenter, Tim Cappello, Charlie Simpson) 		2023 Unicorn

References

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  1. ^ Fightstar (2005). They Liked You Better When You Were Dead (Digipack). Sandwich Leg Records. CID887.
  2. ^ Fightstar (2006). Grand Unification (CD). Island Records. CID8165.
  3. ^ Fightstar (2007). One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours (CD). Gut Records. INSRECCD04.
  4. ^ a b O'Brien, Jon. "Biography: Charlie Simpson". Allmusic (Rovi Corporation). Retrieved 22 August 2011.
  5. ^ Steele, Heather. "Charlie Simpson: Interview". Gigwise. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
  6. ^ Fightstar (2009). Be Human (CD). Search & Destroy Records. SADCDA002.
  7. ^ "Biography for Charlie Simpson (V)". IMDb. Retrieved 22 November 2009.
  8. ^ Mostowfi, Mo (9 February 2009). "Interview: Brigade". Brighton Events & News Magazine. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  9. ^ "Union Sound Set - To The Wolves - Rockfreaks.net". www.rockfreaks.net. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  10. ^ "Brigade – Interview". Designer Magazine. Retrieved 22 November 2009.
  11. ^ "Charlie Simpson – Busted. If Busted were the anti-boy band, Charlie Simpson was the anti-lead singer. The well-bred multi-instrumentalist (a direct descendant of Sir William Sterndale Bennett, no less), had enough of singing suggestive lyrics over pop-punk riffs after three years in the Brit Award-winning trio, & left in 2003. Fightstar, his deliberately emo post-hardcore spin-off band, followed, before he took up a solo career. The unthinkable happened in 2015, with news of a full Busted reunion the next year. | From George Harrison to Zayn Malik: the pop stars who left their bands - Music". The Telegraph. 28 January 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  12. ^ "Robert Sterndale Bennett". www.olduppinghamian.co.uk. 16 March 2022. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  13. ^ Hari, Johann. "Busted: An Interview". Archived from the original on 18 September 2010. Retrieved 22 November 2009.
  14. ^ "America Or Busted Episode 2". Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  15. ^ a b "Busted Confirm Split". NME. 14 January 2005. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  16. ^ "Busted Win Record of Year". Sky. Archived from the original on 15 July 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  17. ^ Mark, Savage (10 November 2015). "Busted announce reunion tour and new music for 2016". BBC News. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  18. ^ Carter, Emily (28 July 2023). "Busted announce Greatest Hits 2.0 album featuring You Me At Six,…". Kerrang!. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  19. ^ Pollitt, Alicia (12 March 2024). "Ollie Horner reflects on BUSTED: 20th Anniversary & Greatest Hits Tour". TPi. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  20. ^ a b c d "I Am Fightstar..." Archived from the original on 14 August 2009. Retrieved 5 August 2009.
  21. ^ "Fightstar Biography". All Music. Retrieved 29 January 2009.
  22. ^ ~ Charlie Simpson. "The Suffolk Explosion: Various Artists: Music". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  23. ^ "INTERVIEW: Fightstar". Yorkshire Evening Post. Archived from the original on 15 February 2009. Retrieved 29 January 2009.
  24. ^ "Fightstar 'Be Human' (Search & Destroy)". The Fly. Archived from the original on 5 August 2009. Retrieved 27 April 2009.
  25. ^ "Fightstar up for best band award". CBBC. 10 August 2006. Retrieved 15 July 2009.
  26. ^ "Fightstar end Island Records contract". Digital Spy. 8 September 2006. Retrieved 8 September 2006.
  27. ^ "Fightstar Biography". NME. Retrieved 15 July 2009.
  28. ^ "One Day Son This Will All Be Yours". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 8 September 2009.
  29. ^ "Charlie Simpson on Myspace Music". Myspace. Retrieved 15 July 2009.
  30. ^ "Fightstar Interview". Norwich Gigs. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011.
  31. ^ Simpson, Charlie. ""HAUNTED" AVAILABLE NOW". charliesimpsonmusic.com. Archived from the original on 6 June 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  32. ^ UK Tour 2015 Announcement Archived 22 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 3 June 2015
  33. ^ I See You by Charlie Simpson iTunes Charts
  34. ^ @CharlieSimpson (16 November 2021). "I'm delighted to announce my new album and tour HOPE IS A DRUG. Pre-order the album now on my official store to get…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  35. ^ Tech Noir Is Your Fantastic '80s Mashup Music Video Of The Day Retrieved 20 September 2015
  36. ^ Bashforth, Emily (18 February 2023). "Who won The Masked Singer 2023 as Rhino is unmasked?". Metro. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  37. ^ Charlie Simpson releases new EP after winning The Masked Singer Kerrang! Magazine. 20 February 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
  38. ^ Crumlish, Callum (31 March 2023). "Busted star Charlie Simpson confirms second Gunship collaboration". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  39. ^ Charlie Simpson Shares Wedding Picture Reveal.co.uk, 23 July 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2015
  40. ^ Today was an amazing day... - Charlie Simpson, Facebook. Retrieved 21 September 2015
  41. ^ Baby & music news Charlie Simpson email update. Retrieved 21 September 2015
  42. ^ Lewis, Jemima (10 October 2004). "Hey, cool! They vote Tory". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  43. ^ Lynskey, Dorian (28 August 2007). "Party For Your Right To ... Life?". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  44. ^ "Simpson: 'I'm No Tory'". Contact Music. 9 February 2005. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  45. ^ a b "Charlie Simpson". Officialcharts.com/. Official Charts Company.
  46. ^ Peak positions for Indie albums in the UK:
  47. ^ Peak positions for albums in Scotland:
  48. ^ Peak positions for Indie singles in the UK:
  49. ^ Peak positions for singles in Scotland:
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