MySpace 

A LITTLE BIT OF PERSONAL HISTORY

My mother says I have been singing since before I could walk; she recalls pushing my baby stroller and if famous songs of the day were coming out of a radio somewhere, I would sing along. I have been playing music since I was about 7 years old while still living in Fresnes, a suburb of Paris, France (famous for its penitentiary). In those days, I studied the violin and participated in a children's orchestra.
As a young teen, I switched to guitar so I could sing and write my own songs; even then, I carried around a songbook. I always loved a good song whether I wrote it or someone else did.
While in high school and with dreams of becoming the Next Big Thing, I joined or started a few bands (two names I recall are "The Monarchs" and "The Detektives").
After high-school, I worked for Club Med a few seasons where I played music and taught windsurfing among other things.
I enrolled at Berklee College of Music, Boston, and received a world-class music education that continues to be helpful to this day. While enrolled at Berklee, I got involved with numerous bands and musicians, both on live gigs and studio recordings. At that point, I also started using my middle name Charles instead of my birth name Schonbuch, which was proving too difficult for most people to remember, pronounce or spell.
I moved to Los Angeles, California, where I joined bands (I remember "Thinking Out Loud," "UC3" and "The Famous Revue") and collaborated with various musicians, once again playing live and in the studio. While music constituted a major part of my income during those early years in LA, it was not enough to make ends meet. I had to work the proverbial "day job," mostly by doing temporary office work.
Eventually, I decided that I still liked good songs, whether I wrote them or not, and that playing music for a living was preferable to doing anything else. So, for the last few years, I have kept a busy calendar, essentially taking requests and playing parties for a living. I have a repertoire of close to 1,000 songs (oldies to current) that I continue to add to. I appear regularly mostly in Southern California beach towns where I work very hard for very little money but I love what I do.
I have played with an artist from India, appeared at the House of Blues and The Oyster and Beer Festival with Irish Band Sally's Gap, played Rock (Classic to Alternative), Reggae, Soul (Old to Blue-Eyed), Country (and Western, too!), Pop, Jazz (Straight Ahead to Smooth). I have been on stage with Dan Bern, Ted Hawkins ("The Next 100 Years") and Folk legends Ramblin' Jack Elliot and Odetta at the Westwood Folk Festival. One gig was for of a receptive audience of 20,000 only to play a few days later for 4 sad souls, 2 of which being the bartender and the cocktail waitress. I have played in houses of worship of almost every denomination and am a volunteer cantor at Ohr HaTorah temple.
I have been married and divorced. My son E.J. (born December 1999) is the best thing in my life although he has regretfully moved to the Sacramento area with my ex-wife.
I am now (well) over 30 years old, so I am not counting on becoming the Next Big Thing anymore but I still hold out hope that my songs will find a home on some well-known projects. My CD "Spare Me The Details" has been selling well at my gigs since it came out and is available both on iTunes and at CD Baby. Time and money have been in short supply but I am planning to record more of my own songs as well as some cover songs I am particularly fond of.
I became an American Citizen June 22, 2007 during a naturalization ceremony held at the Los Angeles Convention Center. There were 3,631 of us taking the oath that morning. My 7 year-old son E.J. came with me and took photos.
If you read this whole thing, thanks for your interest. I hope to see you at a gig soon!

Purchase songs or my entire CD Spare Me The Details at

More originals are posted here