Don Charles
| Don Charles | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Walter Stanley Scuffham |
| Also known as | Don Bennett |
| Born |
10 December 1933 Kingston upon Hull, East Yorkshire, England |
| Died | 4 December 2005 (aged 71) Herstmonceux, East Sussex, England |
| Genres | Pop music |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, record producer, writer |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1960s |
| Labels | Parlophone, Decca, HMV |
Don Charles (10 December 1933 – 4 December 2005) was a popular English ballad singer, and record producer, and later in his life, a writer of a self-help book. He is best known for his recordings of "Walk With Me My Angel" and "Bring Your Love to Me". He also produced several of The Tornados' tracks including "Space Walk" and "Goodbye Joe". The latter title referred his original mentor and producer, Joe Meek. Meek regarded Charles highly. "You are my only legit artist", Meek once informed Charles. "All the others are yugga-dugs". Standing at 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m), and weighing around seventeen stone (108 kilograms, 238 pounds), Charles stood out in more ways than one from his fellow performers.
He was born Walter Stanley Scuffham in Kingston upon Hull, East Yorkshire, England. His father died when the youngster was aged four, and using his childhood nickname of Don he later adopted his stepfather's surname, becoming for a while Don Bennett.
He spent ten years in the Royal Navy, leaving at 25 years old with ambitions to become a professional singer. By 1960, after settling in London, he was signed to Parlophone by George Martin who produced his debut single, "Paintbox Lover". His stay with the label was short-lived, and he was signed by Joe Meek to Decca in 1961. He was renamed Don Charles to avoid potential confusion with Tony Bennett, and released his biggest seller "Walk With Me My Angel" in January 1962. Written by Geoff Goddard, and produced by Meek, the single just made the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart. Not that he knew it at the time, but lack of further chart activity, would leave Charles with the one-hit wonder tag. He appeared on several teen based television programmes, and released a cover version of Ben E. King's hit "The Hermit of Misty Mountain" in 1962, and the country music influenced novelty "It's My Way of Loving You" the same year.
...
Wikipedia