Charlene Soraia Santaniello Jones, known as Charlene Soraia, is an English singer-songwriter. She first became known with a cover of the Calling's " Wherever You Will Go", which peaked at number 3 in the UK Singles Chart. She released her debut studio album, '' Moonchild'', in November 2011, which features "Wherever You Will Go" as a bonus track. She released her second studio album, '' Love Is the Law'', in September 2015, which features the singles "Ghost", "Broken", "Caged", and "I'll Be There".

Early life

Born and raised in

Sydenham Sydenham may refer to: Places Australia * Sydenham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Sydenham railway station, Sydney * Sydenham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne ** Sydenham railway line, the name of the Sunbury railway line, Melbourne un ...

London Borough of Lewisham Lewisham ( ) is a London boroughs, London borough in south-east London, England. It forms part of Inner London. The principal settlement of the borough is Lewisham. The local authority is Lewisham London Borough Council, based in Catford. The ...

in London, Charlene Soraia grew up with her parents. She first picked up her father's guitar at the age of 5, and played her first show at 8. She was inspired by artists such as

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

and

King Crimson King Crimson were an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald (musician), Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. Guitarist Fripp remained the only constant member throughout the ...

, and was very interested in the

prog-rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed "progressive pop", the ...

genre. While still at school, Soraia used to appear at open mic night at The Studio,

Beckenham Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. Prior to 1965, it was part of Kent. It is situated north of Elmers End and Eden Park, east of Penge, south of Lower Sydenham and Bellingham, and west ...

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

in London around 2004, where her style and songwriting were still developing. She used the time before her performances to do her homework. She attended into the BRIT School alongside future chart artists

Adele Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (; born 5 May 1988) is an English singer-songwriter. Regarded as a British cultural icon, icon, she is known for her mezzo-soprano vocals and sentimental songwriting. List of awards and nominations received by Adele, ...

and

Kate Nash Kate Marie Nash (born 6 July 1987) is an English musician and actress from North Harrow. Her singles "Foundations (song), Foundations" (2007) and "Do-Wah-Doo" (2010) charted at numbers 2 and 15 on the UK singles chart and her albums ''Made of Bri ...

. While being there, she formed a rock band called Retrospect, with whom she released an EP entitled ''Long Hair, Short Memories''. She also joined a psychedelic blues band, Electriq Mistress. At the same time she released a solo EP, "Lemonade", which was mainly created to get her bookings. She began performing as a solo artist in 2008, releasing further EPs ''Daffodils and Other Idylls'' (March 2008); ''Postcards from iO'' later in the year and third in the series, ''One of the Sun''. The former reached the top of the UK Folk Chart on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

. An iTunes Live Sessions EP was also released after she performed at the festival in early 2008.

Career

Soraia became noticed by a mainstream audience in 2011 when her cover of " Wherever You Will Go" by the Calling was featured in a

Twinings Twinings () is a British marketeer of tea and other beverages, including coffee, hot chocolate, and malt drinks, based in Andover, Hampshire. The brand is owned by Associated British Foods. It holds the world's oldest continually used company ...

commercial. The song was subsequently released as a digital download on iTunes and reached number 2 on the

UK Singles Downloads Chart The UK Singles Downloads Chart is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) on behalf of the music industry. Since July 2015, the chart week runs from Friday to Thursday, with the chart date given as the following Thursday. The main chart con ...

and number 3 in the UK Singles Chart. The original version of the song, which itself peaked at number 3 in the UK in June 2002 from the album "Camino Palmero", also re-entered the top 40 as a result, this time reaching number 16. Her debut album '' Moonchild'', featuring the song as a bonus track, was released on 21 November 2011. On 10 January 2013, Soraia released the video for her song "Ghost". On 21 July 2014, she released another video for her song "Caged". And on 11 September 2015, she released her second studio album '' Love Is the Law''.

Personal life

Soraia has been diagnosed with

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder (BD), previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of Depression (mood), depression and periods of abnormally elevated Mood (psychology), mood that each last from days to weeks, and in ...

, specifically stating that she suffers from

cyclothymia Cyclothymia (, ), also known as cyclothymic disorder, psychothemia / psychothymia, bipolar III, affective personality disorder and cyclothymic personality disorder, is a mental disorder, mental and Abnormal behaviour, behavioural Disease#Disorder ...

. which she describes as a less severe form of bipolar disorder. .''I wrote song on the LP called'Bipolar' and it came out really upbeat and funny despite the fact I was actually in pieces.'' ..

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soraia, Charlene 1988 births Living people Singers from the London Borough of Lewisham Musicians from the London Borough of Lewisham People from Sydenham, London English women singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters English folk musicians English women guitarists English guitarists People with bipolar disorder People educated at the BRIT School Child pop musicians Musicians from Kent 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers 21st-century British guitarists Peacefrog Records artists 21st-century British women guitarists