Charlie Smith (18)

Charlie is a freelance drummer and percussionist from the North East of England. Having played and taken lessons with Teesside session drummer Paul Smith since the age of 3, he started his professional career aged 15. Starting in the Tees Valley Youth Big Band, he refined his craft and sight reading to a high level, including performances at the Great North Jazz and Big Band Festival, as well as Music For Youth in Birmingham. Charlie was soon being called to deputise for Musicians Unlimited, a big band lead by saxophonist Mick Donnelly. As well as this, Charlie was working around the local scene with bands including Soul Rebels and deputising with the likes of Beyond Blonde, and The Sticklebacks. While at college, he started his Musical Theatre career, taking the lead as Musical Director and Drummer for a production of Rock of Ages. In 2018, he moved away to the Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM) in London to study for a BA (Hons) in Music Industry Practice. Alongside his studies, he’s been working continuously as percussionist for the Islands in the Stream theatre show, as well as other professional theatre work, including The Gambler and Cyndi. As well as the professional theatre work, Charlie can often be found in the orchestra pit for Amateur Dramatics productions around the North East, including recent productions of RENT and In The Heights. Charlie has also worked for numerous function bands, including Utopia and The Dee Dowling Band, as well as Central Vibe in London. Furthermore he plays regularly in the house jazz trio at Charts bar in Newcastle. Most recently he has been working with Martin Stephenson and The Daintees, playing on the newly released ‘The Boys Heart (30th Anniversary)’ album and with touring work in the diary for 2021 and beyond. During the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic, he facilitated the ability to work remotely and spent much of the year teaching online as well as in a local secondary school. Also making use of his home studio setup to record drum and percussion tracks remotely for a number of clients around the UK. As a competent sight reader, Charlie is no stranger to a pad of sheet music, and he has experience working with backing and click tracks live and in the studio.