Charlie Dore

While pursuing drama studies, Charlie Dore first treated music as an after-hours pursuit. She soon assembled Charlie Dore's Back Pocket and began appearing in pubs and clubs across the London circuit. Chris Blackwell noticed the band there and offered a contract with Island Records.

The single “Pilot of the Airwaves,” taken from her debut album Where to Now, rose to number 11 in the United States. Although the record was made in Nashville, it brought her Record World Magazine’s Best New Female Singer award. Her next release, Listen, led to concert tours of Australia and Japan; during the latter she represented Great Britain at the Tokyo Song Festival.

After completing that album she stepped away from music and resumed acting, appearing in numerous British stage, film, and television productions, among them The Ploughman’s Lunch with Tim Curry and Frank Finlay, as well as repertory work in Newcastle.

In 1995 she returned with the album Things Change on Grapevine, enlisting a wide array of collaborators and session players. The Italian production team Souled Out discovered the track “Time Goes By,” reworked it as a dance single, and sent it to prominence in European club markets. The resulting attention drew her into further vocal work on electronic material, including recordings with Slacker and partnerships with Simon Rodgers. She has also established herself as a songwriter, penning songs for Tina Turner, Celine Dion, Barry Manilow, and Yaz.