Charlie's Band fun and funky praise songs for kids

Family News

Jane and I are from Surrey originally and moved to Winchester in 1989 to study for a Primary (Elementary) teaching degree at King Alfred's College. After a fun-packed four years that included a 6 month student exchange at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire USA, we graduated and taught in the classroom for two years. When Jasmine arrived in 1995, we both went part time and divided the "excitement" of looking after her.

Around that time I started a guitar teaching business, and later wrote a guitar tuition book/DVD. We had Jemimah in 1998, and for the last 3 years Jane has been home schooling. We belong to Winchester Family Church, and help run the Alpha course there.

I would love to spend my whole life making films, but there are more pressing priorities at the moment that include buying food and paying the mortgage :-)

So, where did Charlie's Band come from?

I have always been writing Christian songs since my late teens, and made many tapes along the way. It was great to make 'Happy Friday' (1996) and 'Shine on' (2003) but I think it was having children that made me realise I wanted to make the Christian message fun and relevant through music and humour.

Charlie's Band "Don't Wake the Neighbours" (1998) was primarily written for the children's work at the Stoneleigh Bible Week (New Frontiers). Then came 'Home alone' (1999) with a special album the following year for the younger age group called 'The Early Years' (2000). During that same year I recorded 'Unplugged' (2000) with the second 'Unplugged 2' being released in 2001).

In 2002 I turned my attention towards wanting to resource children and youth workers with the 21 Tip-top Children's song series Volume 1, and Volume 2. No crazy voices or funny noises - just simple arrangements of great songs perfect to use in groups, live, any day of the week!

The truth is that children love to sing simple catchy repetitive songs with words that mean something. I just want to help to sow good quality seeds into these young impressionable hearts that will last throughout their lives.

This new site is in some ways a trial run; we have invested much into the site and providing the audio downloads for free. This service will be funded by the by the small charge we are making for the words and music for people who would appreciate having the lyrics, guitar chords, and piano scores (PDF) and also via Paypal's. button.

We are always looking for ways to improve, so your feedback about the songs, the site, or the service, will be very much appreciated!

New Projects
I Want To Play Guitar - ever wanted to learn guitar, but always felt intimidated by the books and players you've come across? Whatever your style of music or type of guitar this book and DVD has been designed to teach you the best possible foundations for playing contemporary guitar (and especially to play all the Charlie's Band songs!!)

I wrote this a couple years ago (using all the experience of teaching guitar for the last 12!) I wanted to make the process as easy and understandable as possible. For everyone. Feel free to check out the new site; Updated, refreshed, and ready for an instant download! You can now get the whole guitar tuition book in PDF format, and the best of the DVD (via 6 Quicktime movies) all from the comfort of your own home, in less than (approximately) 40 minutes!