Charlie Brown
Charlie Brown is the talented soulful singer who is due to release his latest single ‘Floodgates.’
The UK star burst onto the music scene with his debut single 'On My Way’, which became a top ten hit. We caught up with the singer/songwriter to discuss his latest single, what inspires him to write and touring with Craig David!
Hi Charlie! Your latest single ‘Floodgates’ is available from the 14th July. So could you tell us what this track is about?
I wanted to do a follow up from my last single and I just wanted to use lyrics that meant something to people and to do a really great, soulful pop record if I could.
The location for your video, ‘Floodgates,’ was shot in a beautiful location. Is this one of the pros of being an artist travelling and seeing the world?
Well now as I’m releasing more singles, we got to go to Spain for the second video and that was amazing. The video to the location was right outside my window, so we got to wake up and just head down to the beach and start shooting the clips for the video.
Where did your love of music develop from?
When I was a kid, my dad would always be playing motown around the house. And I got really into 90’s RNB, so I just use to listen to that and that developed my love of music from there really. I don’t think that I am an RNB artist, but you can definitely hear influences of it, but if I had to be described as anything, I’d be described as soul/pop.
What inspires you to put pen to paper?
Anything that’s going on really. I think I’m always hearing different things that I want to use and when I hear a beat that I like, I just start to put lyrics to it.
You have been supporting Craig David on his world tour. What has this experience been like?
Well he is one of my idols and ‘Born to Do it’ is one of my favourite albums by him. He is very humble and he makes a lot of effort backstage, which I think is quite unique because a lot of the time when you are supporting a bigger act, you kind of just stay in your dressing room and keep to yourself, but he was talking to me during my sound checks, chatting to me back stage and he even met my parents last night.
You have a busy summer ahead of you singing at Wireless Festival, Capital’s Summer Time Ball and the Isle of Wight festival alongside Rita Ora. You must have to pinch yourself every now and again to realise what’s going on?
Yes! Well I thought Capital’s Summer Time Ball was at Wembley Arena, but it’s now at the stadium, so literally, 80,000 people will be there, so yeah, no pressure! (laughs). But performing at the Royal Albert Hall at the same time as JLS, ‘Ray of Sunshine’ charity event that I attended were also great experiences. All that stuff is kind of crazy! And to perform with Rita Ora is just amazing.
You have penned songs for Jay Sean and The Script. How does it feel listening to them on the radio or TV knowing that the songs lie close to your heart?
That was really surreal. The Jay Sean stuff happened quite early in my writing career so that was one of the first big things to happen to me. I actually worked with The Script before they became The Script. Mark and Danny were writers beforehand as well, and we wrote for a couple of Pop Idol acts together, and I did see the CD’s in HMV and that was really surreal, and obviously Mark and Danny have gone on and done really well with The Script.
How did you get to write songs for these particular artists?
I was founded by a guy called Simon Fuller and that is how I met Mark and Danny from The Script because Simon sent me to Canada to write for the Canadian Idol winner at the time.
Would you have considered song writing for the long-term or was becoming a solo artist always the main goal?
I love being a song writer and I think I will always be doing that and I have been doing that for 10 years. It was kind of the long haul for me because for a long time, I didn’t think I’d get the opportunity to become an artist but luckily I am now performing as well.
To keep up to date with Charlie Brown follow him on Twitter @charliebrownldn