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1971
CHARLIE starts in London with Terry Thomas (guitar, lead vocals), Martin Smith (guitar), Ray Bulloch (bass) and Nikko McBraine (drums). Nikko leaves after two rehearsals and Steve Gadd comes in on drums. Ray then decides to leave as the music isn't heavy enough and John Anderson comes in on bass. The name of the band at the time is "CHARLIE CUCKOO", but that addition is dropped soon. Eugene Organ writes in the year 2000 about this time:
As far as I can remember the name for the band came from a racehorse. I think it was called 'Charlie Cuckoo'. Some of us liked to put a little wager on the horse races.
The band plays for that moment - among own concerts - with Tim Rose, Tom Rush and the Doobie Brothers.
1973
The first single - "I Need Your Love" - is released on Decca. Although the band has a contract for four singles, only one more - "Knocking Down Your Door" - is recorded but never released.
1976
The first LP, "Fantasy Girls", is released in Europe (Polydor) and the U.S. Martin Smith leaves the band and is replaced by Julian Colbeck (keyboards, backing vocals).
1977
The second LP, "No Second Chance", is released in Europe (Polydor) and the U.S. It reaches place 85 of the U.S. charts. Eugene Organ (guitar, backing vocals) makes the band complete.
1978
The third LP, "Lines", is released in Europe (Polydor) and the U.S. The single "She Loves To Be In Love" reaches the top 50 of the U.S. charts. Shep Lonsdale (drums) becomes a member of the band as a second percussionist.
1979
The fourth LP, "Fight Dirty", is released in Europe (Polydor) and the U.S.
1980
The recordings for the next LP, "Here Comes Trouble", are completed. But the LP is not released, what results in Eugene Organ and Julian Colbeck leaving the band. In 1999 Julian writes about this time:
Finally, the touring band line-up of Terry Thomas, John Anderson, Eugene Organ, Steve Gadd, and myself ceased operations once Arista refused to release "Here Comes Trouble", and our caring, sharing management company immediately cut off all our money in 1980. That's a whole other story but, for the record, our final gig was in 1979 at the Civic Center in Providence Rhode Island on Monday 29th Oct, alongside Foreigner.
Terry Thomas relates this time as follows:
Arista our new label in the US wanted more songs - our company in the UK - Trident Audio Productions - refused to put us in the studio or spend any more money. The UK record company - Polydor - wouldn't release it until it had a US release. Effectively CHARLIE had no record label and no money to live on. Eugene and Julian decided to leave [...].
Thomas, Anderson and Gadd re-form CHARLIE with Bob Henrit (drums) and John Verity (guitar, backing vocals) and join the studio once more.
1981
The fifth LP, "Good Morning America", is released in Europe (RCA) and the U.S. John Verity leaves the band again. He writes about this chapter:
I was brought in to 'rough up' CHARLIE's sound [...]. I thought the CHARLIE album was good, but I didn't enjoy the 'painting by numbers' approach, so I left [...].
1982
The recordings from 1980 yet are released as the sixth LP, "Here Comes Trouble" (Polydor), in Europe only. The new manager - Bud Prager who worked also for Foreigner at the time - asked Terry Slesser (lead vocals) to join the band. Terry Thomas comments this:
The new US management - Bud Prager [...] - decided that I wasn't a good enough singer and we needed a rock singer. Terry Slesser was picked for that reason.
1983
The seventh LP, "Charlie", is released in Europe (Polydor) and the U.S. (Mirage). The single "It's Inevitable" reaches medium chart places in many countries. Nevertheless the group splits. Terry Thomas writes about that time:
Although we had a top 40 single in the US with "It's Inevitable" the album didn't sell and the US company Mirage refused to let us tour. Once again there was no money and so the band decided to call it a day.
1985
Terry Thomas re-enters the studio with the session musicians Linda Thomas (backing vocals), Felix Krish (bass, keyboards, backing vocals), Richard Cottle (keyboards, saxophone) and Graham Broad (drums).
1986
As a result of this, the eighth LP, "In Pursuit Of Romance", is released in the U.S. (Mirage). Looking back Terry Thomas writes:
This was basically a contractual album - Steve had gone off to work with Iron Maiden as a drum tech and John had a job in the telecommunications industry. I ended up making the whole album by myself - it put me in hospital!!
1993
The first album, "Fantasy Girls", is re-issued on CD in Germany (ATM Records).
1994
The album "Charlie" is re-issued on CD in Germany (ATM Records).
1996
On one CD each, the LP's "No Second Chance" / "Lines" and "Fight Dirty" / "Good Morning America" are re-issued in the U.S. (Renaissance Records).
1998
In the U.S. previously unreleased, the album "Here Comes Trouble" is re-issued on CD (Renaissance Records). On this occasion Terry Thomas and Felix Krish are recording five new songs which are included on this CD as bonus tracks. Renaissance Records announces the appearance of a compilation ("Second Chances - Best of Charlie") and a CD re-issue of "In Pursuit Of Romance". The latter did not take place to date.
Terry Thomas offers Renaissance Records a new CHARLIE album. He describes this:
I have asked the company in Nashville if they want a "new" CHARLIE album, but unfortunately this company re-releasing our albums has not been entirely honest in its dealings with Julian and myself. They haven't paid any royalties on any of the albums and we may have to take legal action against them.
1999
The first CHARLIE site goes online.
2000
The compilation "Best of Charlie" is released in the U.S. (Renaissance Records). The new CHARLIE site is online
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