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France's latest superstar of pop ... and he's an Englishman
Tim Cooper in Paris8 Jul 2009
For 10 years he travelled Britain playing pubs and clubs to tiny audiences, trying in vain to make his name in the music business.
But six months after moving to Paris, 30-year-old Charlie Winston has become a superstar in France.
Since January he has topped the French singles and album charts, outselling groups such as U2.
Legions of largely female fans copy his trademark style of hats, spats and waistcoats, he is a regular on prime-time TV and he is on course to become the year's biggest-selling music artist.
His debut album, Hobo, has sold more than 200,000 copies, earning him a platinum disc, and is being tipped to top Coldplay's Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends, which was last year's best-selling album.
Yet Winston, who grew up in his parents' Suffolk hotel before moving to London to study music at Brunel University 12 years ago, remains unknown in his homeland. Since graduating he has played hundreds of shows in tiny venues.
"I sold my home-made CDs for a tenner after each show and used the money to pay my band," he said. "And I paid the rent by writing music for London theatres like Sadler's Wells and The Almeida."
He also arranged brass and strings for orchestras and played bass for his singer-songwriter brother Tom Baxter.
Winston's first break came two years ago when he was babysitting for Peter Gabriel and left a CD. The former Genesis singer offered him a contract with his Real World record label.
But it was only when he moved to Paris last December that his career took off. French music fans were immediately taken by his theatrical shows - he body-pops, moonwalks, beat-boxes, does a routine with a mime artist and plays instruments such as the stylophone and hammered dulcimer - and quirky song titles such as My Life As A Duck.
His single Like A Hobo has become a jingle on nightly television show Le Grand Journal and is France's biggest selling single this year.
Winston was tired of the London music scene when he left the capital. "I wanted to get out of London because the music is driven so much by the latest trends, and I've never been interested in following fashion," he said. "I had been travelling around Europe and wanted to learn a language. My initial idea was to go to Spain but I met a friend in France who got me some gigs."
Winston says his elevation to stardom on the other side of the Channel has not surprised him. "I know it sounds really arrogant but I have been playing in France on and off for three years and I have seen people going crazy. "
He returns to London this month to release his first British single, but is not worried about it being a success. "I was in no rush to be a star overnight. My father had a hotel and then he went bankrupt, so I have seen how success can destroy you. If I never make it big in England it doesn't matter," he said.
Reader views (1)
Hi, My husband mentioned Charlie Winston's name to me a while ago, then I was in a hostel in Nice just last week and I heard his music. I bought a copy of HOBO from the Virgin store in Ave Jean Medicin and I have not stopped listening to it since! I love the rhythms, the melodies, the lyrics, the CD artwork. It's tremendous, and yes the UK is missing out, and I do hope he tours here so I can see him, but also, he can have cult status with me, I don't care about the wider listening public. Nice one Charlie, Heatherxx
- Heather, Berwick-upon-Tweed, 17/10/2010 10:54
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