I first heard the lyrical voice of Charlotte Campbell a month or so ago; I was crossing Golden Jubilee Bridge in my usual insular bubble when her melodic voice caught my ear and drew me in. For a good ten minutes I stood and enjoyed her music. She is a truly unique and incredibly talented singer/song-writer.
Probably best described as having a quirky, folk-pop style, Charlotte’s music has her own unique stamp on it. From original songs written by herself to covers of works from other artists, she performs every song with her own personal interpretation. It’s clear that performing is close to her heart, every song is sung from the soul and her passion and her personality shine through in both her live performances and videos on YouTube.
Words really can't do Charlotte justice (I should know, I've spent half an hour trying to conjure the right adjectives to describe her and her music!), so here's a video of her performing Waterloo Sunset by The Kinks on the Southbank.
Charlotte has been composing her own material since she was 15, but has been singing for as long as she can remember. "I first started singing on long journeys and I was constantly being surrounded by music and singing as its a big part of our family life," she says, but it was when she wrote her first song at 15 that she really wanted to be a musician, “I felt like I was really saying something and people were listening. I wanted to keep doing that.”
Charlotte is also a graduate of the prestigious BRIT School (known for it’s notable alumni, such as Adele, Amy Winehouse and Kate Nash) and hopes to follow in the footsteps of the school’s former students. Her time at the school has lead to some fantastic opportunities too, having performed at Glastonbury Festival 2008 and Camden Roundhouse to name but two. She was also featured on Howard Goodall’s Class Acts show on BBC Radio 2 as one of the latest talents from the BRIT School.
More recently, Charlotte competed in the Mayor of London Presents Gigs competition, in which hundreds of young singers and musicians took part. Charlotte made it into the grand final, winning a scholarship at the Institute of Contemporary Music; certainly a well deserved award. Charlotte Campbell is definitely a name to keep an eye out for in the near future!
Charlotte can often be found performing on the Southbank, where she tends to draw quite a large crowd and a lot of new supporters - it’s absolutely well worth going to watch her perform live on the Southbank if you get the chance. She also uploads song covers to her YouTube channel every Saturday, which you can subscribe to here, and you can purchase her EP from her Bandcamp page here.
Check out her website at www.charlottecampbell.co.uk, and Like her on Facebook to subscribe to her latest updates.
