Charlie Simpson

Simpson was educated at Brandeston Hall Prep School in Suffolk and then at Uppingham School, where his great grandfather, Robert Sterndale Bennett (1880-1963), had been a most influential Director of Music between 1908 and 1945.

Scottish music publication The Fly also lauded the album as "one of the 21st Century's ultimate rock debuts".

Shortly afterwards, the band went on to receive nominations at the Kerrang! Awards for "Best British Newcomer" and "Best British Band".

After leaving Island Records due to a disagreement over the band's artistic direction, the band signed to an independent label called Institute Records which was a division of Gut Records to release their second album.

He has 2 brothers, Will (born 1980) and Edd (born 1981).He also lived briefly with a cousin, Dan (born 1987).

Will is the vocalist and guitarist in Brigade and Edd is the lead singer and guitarist in an alternative band called Union Sound Set.

Simpson has a very musical family dating back to Sir William Sterndale Bennett (Charlie's mother's maiden name) who was an English pianist, conductor, and composer, a notable figure in the musical life of his time.

Charles Robert Simpson (born 7 June 1985), known professionally as Charlie 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.

Simpson has achieved eleven UK Albums Chart top-40 releases across his musical career, six of which entered the UK top 10.

He has also had four number-one singles with Busted and a number-one album, as well as two top-20 singles with Fightstar and two UK top-10 solo albums.

Between Busted, Fightstar and his solo projects, he has sold over five million records worldwide, winning two Brit Awards and being nominated for two Kerrang!

Awards.

The youngest of three boys, Simpson was born in Woodbridge, Suffolk.

Simpson first gained fame with pop rock/pop punk act Busted as a result to responding to an advertisement placed by Matt Willis and James Bourne in NME magazine in 2001.

Busted consisted of Simpson on lead guitar and occasionally drums, Willis on bass guitar and Bourne on rhythm guitar and piano; all three members provided vocals.

He met Alex Westaway in late 2003, forming what became Fightstar shortly afterwards.

For over a year he would lead a secret "double life": by night he would attend rehearsal sessions with his new band after completing obligated media work and concert performances with Busted.

Over a period of two years, the trio had major success and sold over 5 million records, won two BRIT Awards, and also won Record of The Year in 2004.

During 2004, he and Westaway wrote Fightstar's debut EP, They Liked You Better When You Were Dead.

The EP showcased a heavier post-hardcore influenced sound that differed greatly to Busted's material.

The EP was recorded during November with Mark Williams in London.

During this time, speculation began to grow about Busted's future.

Simpson left Busted in 2005 to concentrate on post-hardcore band Fightstar.

He announced he was leaving Busted to pursue his career full-time with Fightstar in January 2005.

Simpson then funded and put together a compilation album called The Suffolk Explosion, which was released through his own label Sandwich Leg Records.

It showcased a number of unsigned bands from Charlie's home county of Suffolk, including Brigade and Prego, as well as a solo acoustic track written by him called "Carry Her".

Fightstar went on to record their debut full-length studio album with rock producer Colin Richardson.

Grand Unification was released on 13 March 2006, and further proved the initial cynics wrong by receiving widespread positive reviews.

In particular, Paul Brannigan of Kerrang! magazine stated the album was "one of the best British rock albums of the past decade".

On 10 November 2015 Busted announced they would be reforming with Simpson back in the original line-up and would embark on an 18 date arena tour around the UK and Ireland.

The band sold 100,000 tickets in the first hour of the tour going on sale.

Busted's third studio album Night Driver was released in November 2016.

In 2018, Busted announced their fourth album Half Way There, along with arena tour dates in March 2019.

After another four year hiatus, whilst the band focused on other projects, in May 2023 Busted announced they would be returning for a 20 Year Anniversary Greatest Hits tour, which went on to become the biggest selling UK arena tour of 2023.

They also released a Greatest Hits album which went to number 1 in the UK album charts.

Despite the huge success of Busted, Simpson began to grow increasingly discontented with the pop star lifestyle and the music he was performing.

As an avid fan of rock music, he felt unfulfilled by the commercial pop songs of Busted.