Gregory Charles
(born February 12, 1968 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Quebec performing artist of French Canadian and Trinidadian origin.
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Biography
At the age of 7, he won the national
Canadian piano contest, after which he performed with most of the country's
symphonic orchestras. In 1979, he represented Canada at an international piano contest in
Paris. He was also a part of
Petits-Chanteurs du Mont-Royal choir, which performs at the
Saint Joseph's Oratory in
Montreal. He is still somewhat involved in this choir.
Shortly after entering law school in 1989, he obtained a television role which brought him to the attention of a wider public: that of Julien, a young student who comes to study in
Montreal, in a
TV show called
Chambres en ville
(
Rooms in Town
).
He then became host of a daily radio show at the Montreal station
CKOI in 1991. The year after he began hosting a television game show
Que le meilleur gagne
(
May the Best Man Win
), for five years. In 1995, he got the job of host on a late evening television talk-show
Cha-ba-da
.
In 1998, he worked on
Céline Dion's world tour, mostly as a chorister but also as a pianist. The same year he made the first of nine appearances at the
Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal.
Since 2001, he has hosted a weekly radio show on the national
Radio-Canada network, as well as a series of television shows, such as
Culture Choc
and "Les Debrouillards", in French and English, and a variety show on the France channel.
He is now conducting the
chœurs du nouveau monde
(
New World Choirs
) which includes notably
les petits chanteurs de Laval au Canada
(The Little Singers of Laval),
les voix boréales
(Northern Voices), and before that,
le Chœur Gospel de Laval
(the Laval Gospel Choir), which included Marie-Christine Depestre (now singer for the show
Generation Motown
), Christian Lazarre, and Mirkessa Telsaint.
He presented his first variety show,
Noir et Blanc
(
Black and White
) to more than 400,000 spectators across Quebec and the rest of Canada. He also performed in
New York City in 2004. A unique feature of his show is the second half, in which he offers to sing and play on the piano any known song submitted randomly by the spectators.
At the end of 2004, he released his first album, from his show, called
Gospel Live Noir et Blanc
.
On
October 16,
2006, he launched his album
I Think of You
, which sold 109,000 copies in its first week, making Charles the highest selling Canadian artist in a one-week period for the year 2006. It debuted at number 1 on the
Nielsen SoundScan album chart.
[1] It sold 41,000 units in its second week, to bring it to a total of 150,000 units after two weeks. Charles sold more albums in 2006 than all other Canadian musicians except
Nelly Furtado.
[2]
Charles was one of the headliners on
Parliament Hill at the 2007
Canada Day celebration there, playing the evening's longest set, to an audience of thousands. He performed in both
English and
French.
However, one of his next scheduled appearances in Ottawa, where audiences were required to pay, did not fare so well. According to reports in the
Ottawa Sun
, Doug Moore, the city's manager of Venture Properties, said that Grégory Charles' scheduled concert at the Ottawa SuperEx was cancelled due to poor ticket sales.
[3]
In the fall of 2007, he began hosting a CBC radio program,
In the Key of Charles
which was last broadcast in June 2009.
[4].
Discography
I Think of You (2006)
#"I Think of You"
#"Our House"
#"I Put my Trust on You"
#"Unlabel'ble"
#"Promise That You Love Me"
#"No Love"
#"Your Love Will Lead Me Back to You"
#"You are Near"
#"Til the Day I Die"
#"Life Goes On"
#"Solo pienso en ti (Prima)" ("I think of You" - Spanish Version)
This album was
certified 2x platinum in Canada in December 2006.
[5]
Loin de la lumière (2007)
#"Au fond de moi"
#"Mariko "On n'se comprend pas"
#"Quand on se voit"
#"Loin de la lumière"
#"Chocolat"
#"Sur ma peau"
#"On sera deux"
#"Tu as rejoint les anges"
#"Elle était belle"
#"Toi et moi"
#"Je reviens"
References
- Charles beats The Hip, Sarah to No. 1
- Grégory Charles thinks of conquering Canada
- Cancellations leave city singing the blues
- Grégory Charles to host new Sunday show on CBC Radio Two
- CRIA Gold & Platinum certifications for December 2006. Retrieved July 25, 2007.