Charlie Landsborough born 26 October 1941

Charlie Landsborough, (born Charles Alexander Landsborough, 26 October 1941) is a British country and folk musician and singer-songwriter. He started singing professionally in the 1970s, although his major success didn't come until 1994 with his song "What Colour is the Wind" and since the hit in 1994 he is now one of the UK's top country acts. He is also popular in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

Born in Wrexham, Wales, Landsborough was the youngest of 11 children. Soon after he was born, his mother (Aggie) moved the family back to Birkenhead after the World War II bombing raids. He was reared by the docklands of Birkenhead near the dumps, railway lines, coal wharf 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, Germany. Returning to England, he married, played in local bands, and worked in a variety of jobs before becoming a teacher at Portland Combined 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, eventually reaching No. 1 in the Irish charts after a TV appearance on RTE's Kenny Live Show. The song was used as the title track of Landsborough's first album.

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 charts, and several of his albums have topped the British country charts.

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. He also toured Australia and New Zealand in 2001. 

Charlie’s popularity continues to get stronger year after year; he has a huge fan base in not only the UK, Ireland and Europe but all over the world. In 2011 Charlie’s achievements were recognised when he was inducted into British Country Music Hall of Fame.

Charlie has won just about every award possible in the UK country scene and are too numerous to mention here individually suffice to point out that Charlie has won Best Songwriter, Best Song, Best Male Vocalist, Best Album and International Country Album of the year. He has also received a nomination as Best Global Country Artist in the Country Music Association Awards in Nashville. Many of his albums have topped the country charts as well as getting into the British pop charts. He is a true and immensely talented star having sold well over a million albums.

2014 was the 20th anniversary of the release of Charlie Landsborough's signature tune “What Colour Is The Wind” and to commemorate the event, Charlie released a new studio album called  “Here, There and Everywhere,”featuring the great songwriting talents of Sir Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison. The album title also aligned itself closely to Charlie's faith and belief.

(Info mainly Wikipedia)