Charles Alexander Landsborough (born 26 October 1941) is a British

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

and

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

musician and singer-songwriter. He started singing professionally in the 1970s, although his major success did not come until 1994 with his song "What Colour is the Wind". He is one of the UK's top country acts and is also popular in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

Life

Born in

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, Flintshire to the east, Wrexham to the southeast, Powys to the south, and Gwynedd and Conwy to the west. Rhyl is the largest town, and Ruthi ...

, Wales, Landsborough was the youngest of 11 children. Soon after he was born, his mother (Aggie) moved the family back to

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

after the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

bombing raids. He was reared by the docklands of

near the dumps, railway lines, coal

wharf A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (mo ...

and oil factories. He left school early and worked intermittently as an apprentice telephone engineer, on the railways, and in the flour mills before joining the army. He left after four years, in the early 1960s, and joined a group, The Chicago Sect, in

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

, Germany. Returning to England, he married, played in local bands, and worked in a variety of jobs before becoming a teacher at Portland Primary School on Laird Street, Birkenhead. While working as a teacher, he wrote songs and continued to perform on a semi-professional basis, with limited success. However, in 1994 his song "What Colour is the Wind", which tells the story of a young blind child's attempts to envision the world, began to be played in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

after a TV appearance on

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

's ''

Kenny Live ''Kenny Live'' is a televised talk show presented by Pat Kenny on Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). The show debuted in 1988 and aired every Saturday night, except during the summer months, directly after the main evening news. In 1999 ''Kenn ...

'' show. The song was used as the title track of one of Landsborough's albums. Following the album's success in Ireland, Landsborough appeared on several TV shows in the UK. Since then, he has released ten additional albums, including originals, greatest hits and double CDs of previous releases. Overall, sales of his albums have exceeded 700,000 units. He also has had two number ones singles in the Irish pop chart, and several of his albums have topped the British country charts. In 1996, he converted to Catholicism. One of his most successful releases, ''Still Can't Say Goodbye'' was recorded in Nashville in 1999 and resulted in Landsborough winning the BMCA Best Male Vocalist (2000) for the third year in succession, and the Southern Country Award for best album. He has performed at most major concert halls and theatres in the UK, including the

London Palladium The London Palladium () is a Grade II* West End theatre located on Argyll Street, London, in Soho. The theatre was designed by Frank Matcham and opened in 1910. The auditorium holds 2,286 people. Hundreds of stars have played there, many wit ...

. He also toured

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in 2001. His songs have been recorded by

Foster and Allen Foster and Allen are a musical duo from Ireland consisting of Mick Foster and Tony Allen. In their 49-year career, they have released over 52 albums, many of which entered the UK Albums Chart. Along with " A Bunch of Thyme" (entering the Irish ...

("I Will Love You All My Life"),

Roly Daniels Roly is a fictional dog from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. Roly is an apricot coloured standard poodle, who appears in the first episode of the programme on 19 February 1985 and remained in the show until 19 October 1993. Casting Roly was c ...

("Part of Me"), and

George Hamilton IV George Hege Hamilton IV (July 19, 1937 – September 17, 2014) was an American country musician. He began performing in the late 1950s as a teen idol, switching to country music in the early 1960s. Biography Hamilton was born in Winston-Salem, ...

("Heaven Knows"). He believes that growing hair long or growing a

beard A beard is the hair that grows on the jaw, chin, upper lip, lower lip, cheeks, and neck of humans and some non-human animals. In humans, beards are most commonly seen on pubescent or adult males, though women have been observed with beards ...

mustache A moustache (; mustache, ) is a growth of facial hair grown above the upper lip and under the nose. Moustaches have been worn in various styles throughout history. Etymology The word "moustache" is French, and is derived from the Itali ...

is done to be better remembered. There is a mural of him painted on the side of Merseyrail's Birkenhead North railway station.

Discography

Albums

*''Songs from the Heart'' (1992) *''What Colour Is the Wind'' (1994) *''With You in Mind'' (1996) *''Further Down the Road'' (1997) *''Still Can't Say Goodbye'' (1998) *''Once in a While'' (2001) *''Movin' On'' (2002) *''Smile'' (2003) *''Reflections'' *''The Lighter Side'' (Comedy Album) *''The Greatest Gift: An Album of Christmas Classics'' (2004) *''My Heart Would Know'' (2005) *''Heart and Soul'' (2006) *''Under Blue Skies'' (2008) – No. 73 ( UK) *''Storyteller'' *''Nothing Lasts Forever'' (September 2009) *''Love, in a Song'' (2011) *''Destination'' *''Silhouette'' (2013) *''Here, There and Everywhere''

Compilations

*''The Very Best of Charlie Landsborough'' (1998) *''The Collection'' (2000) *''Classic Doubles'' (2002) *''A Portrait of Charlie Landsborough: The Ultimate Collection'' (2005) (2 CDs) *''The Very Best of Charlie Landsborough'' (2011) (2 CDs) *''Ultimate Storyteller'' (2014) (Box Set) *''Charlie Live: From Liverpool Philharmonic''

Singles

DVDs

*Charlie Landsborough – A Special Performance *An Evening with Charlie Landsborough / Shine Your Light – Double DVD Collection

Team

*Jamie Landsborough -

Tour Manager A tour manager (or concert tour manager) is the person who helps to organize the administration for a schedule of appearances of a musical group (band) or artist at a sequence of venues (a concert tour). In general, road managers handle tour det ...

*Ken Davies -

Manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

*Tony Ariss - Keyboards, Vocals *Shane O'Borne Guitar, Vocals *Phil Mcdonough - Guitar, Vocals *Smithy -

Merchandise Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of Product (business), products ("merch" colloquially) to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative w ...

Awards

References

External links

Official websiteBiography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Landsborough, Charlie Living people 1941 births British folk guitarists British male guitarists British country singers Musicians from Birkenhead