Charlie Simpson
Background information
Birth name	Charles Robert Simpson
Born	June 7, 1985 (1985-06-07) (age 22)
Origin	Woodbridge, England
Genre(s)	Pop rock Pop punk Post hardcore Metalcore
Years active	2002 - 2005 (with Busted) 2005 - present (with Fightstar)

Biography

Charlie Robert Simpson (born 7 June 1985 in Woodbridge, Suffolk, England), was the youngest member of the highly successful pop group Busted, and is now the vocalist and guitarist in Post Hardcore band Fightstar. He has two older brothers, Will and Edd - Will is the vocalist and guitarist in Brigade and Edd plays in a band called Prego. Charlie has a very musical family dating back to Sir William Sterndale-Bennett (mother's maiden name) in 1826 who was a British pianist, conductor, and composer, a notable figure in the musical life of his time.

Charlie attended public school Uppingham to which he obtained a drama scholarship. He left school after his GCSE exams. He managed to achieve an A* for his GSCE music and for his performance in the exam he chose to play 'Miss you love' from Silverchair's 'Neon Ballroom' album. The public school was also attended by Harry Judd (McFly), Stephen Fry and Johnny Vaughan. He was selected as the third member of Busted, after responding to an advert placed by Matt and James in NME magazine in 2001. He plays guitar, piano, drums and bass, and sings vocals.

On 14 January 2005, Charlie caused Busted to split after deciding to leave the band to concentrate on his newer band, Fightstar. The name "Fightstar" was created when bassist Dan Haigh came up with the name "Evenstar" and Charlie thought of the name "A Time To Fight", these names were combined to give the name Fightstar.

Music

He has been the focus of mixed opinions from the media and fans alike, ranging from heavy criticism to high praise and respect. A lot of his support has come from the UK's biggest selling weekly rock magazine Kerrang!, in which the editor Paul Brannigan wrote "'Grand Unification' is one of the best british rock albums of the last decade". Fightstar were also nominated two years running at the Kerrang! awards for 'Best British Newcomer' and 'Best British Band'.

Charlie has been with Fightstar since 2004 and have released a five track EP (They Liked You Better When You Were Dead) and a full length album (Grand Unification). Charlie has been doing extensive touring with Fightstar over the past three years and is just about to sign to a new record company. Fightstar's second full length album will be released later this year.

Fightstar will also be headlining the second stage at Give It a Name 07'.

Miscellaneous

Charlie is an official patron of disabled children's charity Out & About (http://www.out-and-about.org.uk), which supports disabled children in leisure activities in Norfolk and Suffolk (Charlie's home county). Charlie said,

“Growing up in Suffolk, I took part in all sorts of leisure activities and that should be how it is for all young people, whether they’re disabled or not. I’m looking forward to supporting Out & About and getting more involved.”