Charlie Dore

Charlie Dore (born 1956, Pinner, Middlesex, England^[1]) is a respected English songwriter who originally trained as an actress, and is best known for her 1979 hit, "Pilot of the Airwaves", which reached number 13 on the U.S. chart.^[2]

Career

Dore is most famous in the United States for her 1979 single, "Pilot of the Airwaves," but is also known in Europe for her 1995 album, Things Change.

She was a drama student in Newcastle, and appeared on the TV show Rainbow in the first two seasons as part of a trio of singers, but then dabbled in music. Her 1977 country influenced band Prairie Oyster (not to be confused with the Canadian outfit, of the same name) included Pick Withers on drums, who was also playing with the early Dire Straits, at that time playing the same UK pub circuit.^[2] The band evolved through various personnel changes into Charlie Dore's Back Pocket (guitarist Julian Littman having since become a long-time songwriting collaborator).^[2] When the band broke up, despite attracting interest from Island Records, Dore was signed as a solo act.

Her first album, Where To Now, recorded both in Nashville, Tennessee and in London, was released in 1979. It was produced by The Shadows' Bruce Welch and songwriter Alan Tarney, with session musicians such as Sonny Curtis.^[2] It resulted in her being voted 'Best New Female Singer' by Record World magazine.^[3] The album peaked at number 145 in the Billboard 200 album chart.^[4] The first single "Fear Of Flying" failed to make a commercial impact, although it was a major 'turntable hit', but "Pilot of the Airwaves" charted on both sides of the Atlantic and received extensive airplay.^[2] It reached number 13 on the U.S. charts, and number 66 in the UK Singles Chart.^[5]

Much later, "Pilot of the Airwaves" was the final track played by Radio Caroline on 5 November 1990 as an unlicensed offshore radio station.^[6] Dore signed to Chrysalis Records in 1981 and released Listen!, but unable to capitalize on her early success, focused her varied talents on songwriting and acting.^[2]

As well as repertory work with Michael Bogdanov, she co-starred with Jonathan Pryce and Tim Curry in Richard Eyre's award-winning 1983 film, The Ploughman's Lunch.^[1][2] Dore also appeared in several television series, including Hard Cases (playing in a band with the former Cockney Rebel drummer, Stuart Elliott) and South Of The Border.^[2] She is also a founder member of the London-based comedy improvisation team the Hurricane Club.^[2]

However, her songwriting career also took off, as she penned hits for Tina Turner, Celine Dion, Barry Manilow, Sheena Easton, and other best-selling artists. Following a return to the recording studio, she worked with Julian Littman, Danny Schogger, Ricky Fataar and Paul Carrack on a collection of new material, and released Things Change in 1995.^[2] An Italian production team, Souled Out heard her track "Time Goes By" and remixed it into a dance track that went big in European dance markets. With the success of the single, Dore found herself doing vocals on more electronic music based songs.^[3] She has appeared on tracks for Slacker and collaborations with Simon Rodgers.^[3]

Dore maintained her writing partnership with Littman on compositions for the soundtrack to the BBC One television drama, Two Thousand Acres of Sky and Roman Road.^[1][2] The duo also collaborated on Dore's fourth album, Sleep All Day and Other Stories, released at the start of 2005.^[2]

Dore's most recent release, Cuckoo Hill, appeared on the Black Ink Music record label, and was released in July 2006.^[7]

However, she remains on the list of one-hit wonders.

Songwriting credits

• "Ain't No Doubt" (Jimmy Nail, Guy Pratt, Danny Schogger and Charlie Dore) - Jimmy Nail - 1992
• "Eleven Out of Ten" (Niclas Molinder, Joacim Persson, Pelle Ankarberg, Charlie Dore) - No Angels - 2003
• "Fear of Flying" (Charlie Dore) - Kikki Danielsson - 1981
• "Feelgood Lies" (Niclas Molinder, Joacim Persson, Pelle Ankarberg, Charlie Dore, Maryann Morgan) - No Angels - 2003
• "Jam Side Down" (Terry Britten, Charlie Dore) - Status Quo - 2002
• "Looking For My Own Lone Ranger" - (Ricky Ross, Charlie Dore) - Ricky Ross - 2002
• "Northern Soul" (Ricky Ross, Charlie Dore) - Ricky Ross - 2002
• "Rain, Tax (It's Inevitable)" (Terry Britten, Charlie Dore) - Celine Dion - 2002
• "Refuse to Dance" (Charlie Dore, Danny Schogger) - Celine Dion - 1993
• "Strut" (Charlie Dore and Julian Littman) - Sheena Easton - 1984

See also

• List of 1980s one-hit wonders in the United States
• Musikladen

References

External links

• Official web site
• Charlie Dore at the Internet Movie Database
• Charlie Dore biography and discography at Allmusic website
• Charlie Dore's official MySpace page