Charlotte was a working rock guitarist even before she left her West London
high school. Working towards her A levels during the day, the 15-year old was
playing loud, scungy gigs round the London club scene with the proto-riot girl
group, Nightnurse.
Aged 17,
Charlotte joined Northern Irish rockers Ash, her guitars adding beef to their
heavy schedule of live performances. She had two weeks in a rehearsal studio
before making her Ash debut at the V97 Festival in front of an audience of
50,000!Her first studio recording with Ash was on the 1997 single A Life Less
Ordinary, then on the 1998 album Nu-Clear Sounds. Just as touring the world
became normal for her, so did Charlotte's cool persona and driving talent become
a solid feature of the 'new Ash'.
Writing on the road
Whilst on the
road she was inspired to start writing songs of her own. Her first song Taken
Out appeared as a B-side on the 1998 Ash single Jesus Says, and Gonna Do It
Soon was on the Wild Surf single of the same year. Fans really started to
take notice when her song Grey Will Fade appeared on the 2001 single There's
A Star from Ash's 2001 No. 1 album Free All Angels. Reaction to the song came
as a surprise and a challenge to Charlotte (when Ash fans vote for their
favourite B sides, Grey Will Fade regularly appears among the top 5), so she
decided to write a whole album of songs.
But writing, recording demos and organising the album had to be done while
Ash continued their punishing non-stop schedule. It wasn't until the group
settled in Los Angeles for a few months in 2003 to record Meltdown that
Charlotte was able to get together with her chosen producer Eric Drew Feldman
(once part of legendary Captain Beefheart's Magic Band and Frank Black's solo
producer), drummer Rob Ellis (PJ Harvey, Marianne Faithful) and top recording
engineer Rob Laufer to put down the ten tracks that would form her first solo
album, also entitled Grey Will Fade.
Grey Will Fade
In
the Summer 2004 when Charlotte commenced an 18 month tour of the world with Ash,
her own website 'charlottehatherley.com' was launched with a free download
single Kim Wilde to a fantastic response. Her next single Summer was
released in the UK in August 2004 and entered the UK national chart at
31.
Charlotte found time to play the
headline slot on the Red Marquee stage at Fuji Rock in Japan and play second
headline on the Carling Stage at Reading and Leeds festival in the summer of
2005, whilst still touring the world with Ash. In February 2006 Ash and
Charlotte parted ways and she is now looking forward to asserting herself as a
full time solo artist and hitting the road, starting with a UK tour in February
2007.
The Deep Blue
Eagerly awaited new album The Deep
Blue was written and recorded in Italy in the summer of 2006. The album is
produced by Eric Drew Feldman (once part of Captain Beefheart's Magic Band and
producer of Frank Black and Deus), Rob Ellis (best known for his work with PJ
Harvey) and Charlotte herself, and is mixed by Ben Hillier (Blur, Elbow). The
album develops beyond the post-punk melodies of first album Grey Will Fade, to
a grander, more elaborate sound with influences ranging from Kate Bush to David
Bowie to The Flaming Lips. In addition to this ambitious new musical direction,
Charlotte has also co-written a remarkable collaboration with one of her musical
heroes, XTC's Andy Partridge.
The Deep
Blue was released on Little Sister Records, set up by Charlotte and her
manager Ann-Marie Shields, with distribution by Vital, to make sure the artist
has complete creative control.
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Austin Wilde
