About Charles

When you first see Charles Alexander perform, two questions pop into your mind.

The first one is “Is that really his name?” The next one tends to be, “Is that really his voice?”The reason you ask those questions is that you find them both unbelievable.

The answer of course is “Yes!” on both counts. Charles was playing self-written songs in the bars and clubs of his native Malaysia, at a time when it simply wasn’t safe to do so. “Exuberant, intoxicated club audiences expected performers to play The Eagles’ ‘Hotel California’, John Denver’s ‘Take Me Home Country Roads ’ and Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven',” he remembers, “But I had more fun playing my stuff. However, it was always interesting when I did pull an original out. They kind of looked at me weird – in a bad way.”

Fortunately, he escaped those trial by fire days unscathed. Those early audiences also proved to be excellent training grounds. “It taught me to get to the point…and quickly!” says Charles appreciatively.

That education has helped him hold his own in Nashville, where he now resides. Alexander arrived in the United States more than 20 years ago as a college student to Rochester, New York. One thing led to another and he ended making a life for himself here in America.

In the summer of 2008, he became a naturalized US citizen.

For Alexander the challenge of crafting a commercially appealing work is just as rewarding as writing a personal, introspective, stream of consciousness composition. Charles grew up listening to all kinds of music. He is especially fond of the sounds of Motown, The Beatles, Elvis and the singer/songwriter movement. As a result, his songs are infused with R&B, soul, folk, rock and even world influences.

He has written and performed as a solo act and as part of larger musical ensembles like that of an a cappella rock group called “Pink Dakota” in Western New York. The group had a rabid following and performed to enthusiastic audiences everywhere they went. A song he co-wrote with two other members of the band received significant radio airplay regionally.

He’s a songwriting bioinformaticist who spends as much time mining the Human Genome Project databases for vital information related to biomedical research as he does matching lyrics to melodies. “When that whole genomics music genre takes off, I’m gonna be right there...riding that wave,” vows Alexander.

His “other life” has inspired a song about DNA called “Twisted” in his upcoming debut CD. The album entitled “Immigrant”, thematically revolves around social justice, one of Charles’ great passions. The songwriting draws from his own experiences as a relative newcomer to the United States. The record is being co-produced by Nashville music savant, Paul Jefferson and will be released in early 2010.

His other interests include having a good time, civil liberties and digital rights management issues.