Paul Charles (born 1949,

Magherafelt Magherafelt ( ; , ) is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 9,071 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. It is the biggest town in the south of the county an ...

) is a

Northern Irish The people of Northern Ireland are all people born in Northern Ireland and having, at the time of their birth, at least one parent who is a British Nationality Law, British citizen, an Irish nationality law, Irish citizen or is otherwis ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

concert promoter Tour promoters (also known as concert promoters or talent buyers) are the individuals or companies responsible for organizing a live concert tour or special event performance. The tour promoter makes an offer of engagement to a particular artist, ...

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 ...

and

talent agent A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds work for actors, authors, broadcast journalists, film directors, musicians, models, professional athletes, screenwriters, writers, dancers, and other professionals in various entertainm ...

. Charles managed his first act, The Blues by Five, when he was 15 years old, and had to list the number of his local telephone call box on business cards. The telephone would be answered by whoever was passing, who would then walk to Charles' house and knock on the window to let him know there was a call for him. In 1967 he moved from Northern Ireland to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, planning to study

civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

, but soon began writing for

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

-based magazine ''City Week'', filing live reviews of Irish groups performing in London, and returned to the music business full-time. He then became manager, agent, lyricist and roadie for

progressive 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 ...

band Fruupp. When Fruupp disbanded Charles formed a promotion agency, Asgard, with associate Paul Fenn. The agency's first big signings were English

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

bands

Radio Stars Radio Stars are an English punk rock band formed in early 1977. They released two albums and had one UK Singles Chart, UK Top 40 single. Career Radio Stars were formed by Sparks (band), Sparks exile Martin Gordon (bass, songwriter) and also i ...

and the

Buzzcocks Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band that singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto formed in Manchester in 1976. During their career, the band combined elements of punk rock, power pop, and pop punk. The ...

. Charles' clients now include

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on society's underworld and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He began in the American folk music, fo ...

Ray Davies Sir Raymond Douglas Davies ( ; born 21 June 1944) is an English musician. He was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter for the Rock music, rock band the Kinks, which he led, with his younger brother Dave Davies, Dave pro ...

Christy Moore Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore (born 7 May 1945) is an Irish folk singer, songwriter and guitarist. He was one of the founding members of the bands Planxty and Moving Hearts and has had significant success as a solo artist. His first albu ...

Don McLean Donald McLean III (born October 2, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Known as the "American Troubadour" or "King of the Trail", he is best known for his 1971 hit "American Pie (song), American Pie", an eight-and-a-half-minut ...

Waterboys A water boy is a boy that brings water to people. Waterboy(s) may also refer to: *''The Waterboy'', a 1998 film starring Adam Sandler * "Waterboy" (song), a traditional folk song performed by Fats Waller, Odetta, John Lee Hooker, and many others, ...

Nick Lowe Nicholas Drain Lowe (born 24 March 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer. A noted figure in Pub rock (United Kingdom), pub rock, power pop and New wave music, new wave,Lisa Ekdahl Lisa Ekdahl (born 29 July 1971) is a Swedish popular music singer and songwriter. She has so far released 10 albums, most of them in Swedish, but some entirely in English. Her voice has been described as "child-like" and "soft, supple and smoot ...

Ronnie Spector Veronica Yvette Greenfield (, formerly Spector; August 10, 1943 – January 12, 2022) was an American singer who co-founded and fronted the girl group the Ronettes. She is sometimes referred to as the original "bad girl of rock and roll". ...

Marti Pellow Marti Pellow (born Mark McLachlan; 23 March 1965) is a Scottish singer. He was the lead singer of the pop group Wet Wet Wet for 28 years: from their formation in 1982 until their split in 1997, and again from their reformation in 2004 to his d ...

Ani DiFranco Angela Maria "Ani" DiFranco (; born September 23, 1970) is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums. DiFranco's music has been classified as folk rock and alternative rock, although it has additional influenc ...

and

Paul Carrack Paul Melvyn Carrack (born 22 April 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter and composer who has recorded as both a solo artist and as a member of several popular bands. The BBC dubbed Carrack "The Man with the Golden Voice", while '' ...

Personal life

Charles lives in

Primrose Hill Primrose Hill is a Grade II listed public park located north of Regent's Park in London, England, first opened to the public in 1842.Mills, A., ''Dictionary of London Place Names'', (2001) It was named after the natural hill in the centre of t ...

, London, and

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

with his wife Catherine.

Bibliography

Detective Inspector Christy Kennedy series

*''I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass'' (1997) *''Last Boat to Camden Town'' (1997) *''Fountain of Sorrow'' (1998) *''The Ballad of Sean and Wilko'' (2000) *''The Hissing of the Silent Lonely Room'' (2001) *''I've Heard the Banshee Sing'' (2002) *''Justice Factory'' (2004) *''Sweetwater'' (2007) *''The Beautiful Sound of Silence'' (2008) *''A Pleasure To Do Death With You'' (2012) *''Departing Shadows'' (2019)

Inspector Starrett series

*''The Dust of Death'' (2007) *''Family Life'' (2009) *''St Ernan's Blues'' (2016)

McCusker Mysteries

*''Down on Cyprus Avenue'' (2014) *''A Day In The Life of Louis Bloom'' (2018)

Other fiction

*''First of the True Believers'' (2002) *''The Last Dance'' (2012) *''The Prince of Heaven's Eyes'' (A Novella) (2012) *''The Lonesome Heart is Angry'' (2014) *''One of Our Jeans is Missing '' (2016)

Non-fiction

*''How To Succeed in The Music Business'' (2002) *''Pocket Essentials: The Beatles'' (2003) *''The Complete Guide To Playing Live'' (2004) *''The Essential Beatles Book'' (2021) *''Adventures in Wonderland'' (2023)

References

External links

Paul Charles Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Charles, Paul 1949 births Living people People from Magherafelt Male novelists from Northern Ireland Crime fiction writers from Northern Ireland Irish mystery writers Irish talent agents Music managers from Northern Ireland 21st-century writers from Northern Ireland Writers from County Londonderry 21st-century male writers from Northern Ireland