Charlie Harper | |
|---|---|
 Harper at Hellfest 2017 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | David Charles Perez |
| Born | 25 May 1944 Hackney Central, London, England |
| Genres | Punk rock, Street punk, R&B, garage rock, rock and roll |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter |
| Years active | 1964–present |
Charlie Harper (born David Charles Perez, 25 May 1944) is a British singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the punk band UK Subs.
Charlie Harper was born in London but moved to the Sussex countryside when he was eight years old. Harper is reportedly a nephew of actor Cesar Romero. [1] Harper attended a "radical secondary school" where he was the Chairman of the Young Farmer's Club. He left school at the age of 15 to start a hairdressing apprenticeship. Following the apprenticeship, Harper began busking, playing the guitar and harmonica. In 1970, Harper got married and began working as a hairdresser at his sister-in-law's shop. [2]
A former hairdresser, [3] [4] he was already a veteran of the London R&B scene at the time of the UK Subs being formed in 1976. His first band in 1964 was named Charlie Harper Free Press Band. [5] [6] Prior to performing as the UK Subs, he was the frontman and founder of The Marauders, who were a pub rock band. After seeing a couple of punk rock shows at The Roxy, the band changed their name to the Subversives and started playing punk rock. The name was eventually modified to U.K. Subs. [2]
In 1980 his solo single release "Barmy London Army" spent one week at #68 in the UK Singles Chart. [7] He has also recorded with his side project The Urban Dogs and released a solo album entitled Stolen Property and a second solo single "Freaked". As well as singing he also plays the harmonica and bass, he played rhythm guitar on the UK Subs album Diminished Responsibility. He still typically performs between 150 and 200 gigs per year with the UK Subs. [8]
The Exploited are a Scottish punk rock band from Edinburgh, formed in 1978 by Stevie Ross and Terry Buchan, with Buchan soon replaced by his brother Wattie Buchan. They signed to Secret Records in March 1981, and their debut EP, Army Life, and debut album, Punks Not Dead, were both released that year. The band maintained a large cult following in the 1980s among a hardcore working class punk and skinhead audience. Originally a street punk band, the Exploited eventually became a crossover thrash band with the release of their album Death Before Dishonour in 1987.
Levellers are an English folk rock and anarcho-punk band formed in Brighton, England, in 1988, consisting of Mark Chadwick, Jeremy Cunningham, Charlie Heather (drums), Jon Sevink (violin), Simon Friend, Matt Savage (keyboards) and Dan Donnelly. Taking their name from the Levellers political movement, the band released their first EP in 1989 and LP in 1990, with international success following upon signing to China Records and the release of their second album Levelling the Land. The band were among the most popular indie bands in Britain in the early 1990s, and performed at the Glastonbury Festival, first in 1992, then in 1994, where they performed as the headline act on The Pyramid Stage to a record crowd of 300,000 people. They continue to record and tour.
The Vaselines are a Scottish alternative rock band. Formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 1986, the band was originally a duo between its songwriters Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee, but later added James Seenan and Eugene's brother Charlie Kelly on bass and drums respectively from the band Secession. McKee had formerly been a member of a band named The Pretty Flowers with Duglas T. Stewart, Norman Blake, Janice McBride and Sean Dickson. Eugene Kelly had formerly played in The Famous Monsters.
Charles Robert Simpson is an English singer, songwriter, and musician from Suffolk. He is a member of the BRIT Award winning pop-punk band Busted and he is also lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist in the post-hardcore band Fightstar. AllMusic has noted that Simpson is "perhaps the only pop star to make the convincing transition from fresh-faced boy bander to authentic hard rock frontman". Simpson is a multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, bass, keyboard, piano and drums.
Abrasive Wheels are a punk rock band of the late 1970s – early 1980s. They hailed from Leeds, England and were seldom out of the Independent charts between 1980 and 1984 when the band split. The band were Shonna Rzonca – vocals, Dave Ryan – guitar, Harry Harrison – bass, Nev Nevison – drums. In 2002 the singer Rzonca reformed the band with new members.
Lightyear is a seven-piece British ska punk band formed in Derby, England, in 1997. They were part of a UK music scene that mixed ska punk with other genres including funk, indie-rock and hip-hop. The band signed to Household Name Records in 2001, and released two full-length albums before splitting in 2003. Since 2006 the band have had a number of reunions.
Richard Michael Barrett, better known as Dicky Barrett, is an American singer who was the frontman of ska punk band the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. He was the announcer for Jimmy Kimmel Live! until 2022. Barrett is known for his distinctive, loud, gravelly voice.
U.K. Subs are an English punk rock band, among the earliest in the first wave of British punk. Formed in 1976, the mainstay of the band has been vocalist Charlie Harper, originally a singer in Britain's R&B scene. One of the first hardcore punk bands, elements of rhythm and blues music - including harmonica - also remained an occasional element of their work.
Punks Not Dead is the first studio album by the Scottish punk rock band The Exploited, released in April 1981 on Secret Records. Working class and loyal to the first impulses of the 1970s punk movement, the album was a reaction to critics who believed the punk rock genre was dead, and went against popular trends such as new wave and post-punk. It contains the double A side singles "Army Life/Fuck the Mods" and the later follow up "I Believe in Anarchy". "Army Life" details the experiences of Wattie Buchan when he was a 17-year-old squaddie on a tour of duty in Belfast in the 1970s.
The Straps are an English streetpunk band, formed in 1977 in Battersea, South London by vocalist Howard Jackson and guitarists Dave Reeves & Steve MacIntosh & Brad Day on drums
Easterhouse was a British indie rock group from the mid to late 1980s, known for jangly guitars and leftist political leaning.
Setanta Records was a British independent record label led by founder Keith Cullen. Setanta published UK and Irish indie music in the late 1980s and in the 1990s.
The discography of the British space rock group Hawkwind spans from their formation in 1969 through to the present day, with consistent output of live and studio albums, EPs and singles. The group have used aliases to release some albums in an attempt to either redefine themselves, as with the 1978 album 25 Years On released under the name Hawklords, or simply to distinguish the piece of work from their usual output, as with White Zone released under the name Psychedelic Warriors.
Knox, also known as I. M. Carnarchan, is a British musician and founding member of the seminal punk band the Vibrators.
Freq is a 1985 album by English singer and musician Robert Calvert. It was recorded during the time of the UK miners' strike (1984-1985) and in between the songs it features snippets of field recordings by Calvert with miners on a picket line, with Calvert displaying his sympathy for their cause.
"Freak Scene" is a song by American alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr., the opening track on the group's third studio album Bug (1988). Written and produced by frontman J Mascis, the song was recorded at Fort Apache Studios by engineers Paul Q. Kolderie and Sean Slade. "Freak Scene" was released as a single on SST Records in the United States and was also Dinosaur Jr.'s first release on Blast First in the United Kingdom. The band also made a music video to promote the single.
Another Kind of Blues is the first studio album released by English punk band, the U.K. Subs. It was released in the UK on 14 September 1979 on GEM Records, a subsidiary of RCA. It is considered a classic from the punk era. Produced at Kingsway Studio by John McCoy.
Steve Marriner is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter and record producer based in Toronto, Ontario. He first garnered attention in the Ottawa blues scene in his early teens as a prodigy blues harp (harmonica) player. He also plays baritone guitar, electric guitar, piano, Hammond organ, upright bass and electric bass. Since 2008, he has been the frontman, singer, one of two guitarists and harmonica player for the Canadian rock'n'roll-blues group MonkeyJunk. The band's album To Behold won the 2012 Juno Award for Blues Album of the Year.
Brand New Age is the second studio album released by English punk band the U.K. Subs. It was released in 1980 on RCA/GEM Records. It is the U.K. Subs' most successful studio recording, reaching number 18 in the UK album charts and staying in the chart for nine weeks.
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