His first major achievement came when he won The Storytellers, Melbourne-wide singer/songwriter competition, in 2009 blowing out the competition with his original brand of songwriting. Gaining the judges approval, he walked away with the top prize. Shortly after, he released a studio single, 'Almost Sunday', putting him in the Top50 Acoustic/Singer-Songwriter category in the MusicOz Music Awards in 2010.

Not one to rest on his achievements, Charles sought to better his craft when he took a pilgrimage to Nashville in the same year to road test his material to audiences and learn from industry songwriters such as Pat Pattison & Jason Blume. At the same time, Charles was hard at work producing and handcrafting his 8-track album, The Pelham Sessions EP, releasing it in time to tour Asia first in 2011.

"You are a good writer & singer. I think you have found a niche for your style"
Kim Copeland, Indie Producer,
Vocal & Songwriting Coach, Nashville, Tennessee

Since the release, Charles has played many venues with residencies in Singapore at TAB and Prince of Wales, performances at The Esplanade, Singapore Arts Museum, Earth Hour 2011, Malaysia's No Black Tie premier Jazz Club. His music also found collaboration with the Broadcast Design & Motion Graphics students at Nanyang Polytechnic, as well as music ambassador for Singapore Film Festival Melbourne.

Travelling to Los Angeles, Charles played 2 shows at Room5 and 2nd Street Jazz in downtown LA while attending the ASCAP EXPO. Shortly after, he was invited via Sounds Australia to perform nightly at the Aussie BBQ Music showcase at Music Matters Live 2011 in Singapore recently.


The Pelham Sessions - Handcrafted Goodness

'”The first thing you’d notice on this record is Tan’s vocals – you can’t miss them. Husky, deep, well-rounded and full, it makes you sit up and pay attention” Desiree Boey, PowerofPop.com Music Blog

From the first track, you'd be immediately drawn to the organic approach Charles J Tan takes to the music. Recorded in an old warehouse off Pelham Street, at the fringe of Melbourne City, the 8-track album is a collection of rustic, rich, honest to goodness songs. His soulful warm vocals shine through on this record, with lush layers of backing vocals, self arranged, along with unique arrangements featuring the ukulele and a brass ensemble. From vagabond folk to all out rock, to easy sing along tunes and soulful grooves, The Pelham Sessions sets Charles J Tan apart as a seasoned performing songwriter with a voice that draws you in and trademark songwriting that will keep him as an artist for a long time to come.

"Expect eclectic genres, and various instrumentals used in this very personal music craftsmanship"
SpinorBinMusic.com, Singapore Music Blog

The album enjoyed successful media attention in Singapore. It was featured on Yahoo!Music, ClicknetworkTV, Channel News Asia, The Straits Times, Music blogs, News Radio 93.8FM, 98.7FM and a partnership with AUDI Singapore for the launch of the A1 compact car, performing at Media launches and interviews on Radio A1 on Class 95FM. The Pelham Sessions CD is available in Singapore through all Gramophone music retail outlets. It is also available worldwide on CDbaby.com. The digital is also available on iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp and most major digital music retailers.

The Singapore-Melbourne connection
 
Charles grew up in Singapore and the passion for playing and writing music started at the age of 14 for Charles, on a broken classical guitar where he taught himself rhythm and chords without knowing how to read music. His first song was written with the first four chords he learnt.

As a kid, Charles fell in love with words and phonetics. Sitting in his Dad’s car, he would often read out street names, signs and piece together letters and alphabets to make up pronunciations of words he had never seen before. The rhythm and chords he found soon melded into songs and stories when his youth mentor from church encouraged him to pursue songwriting.

After high school, Charles formed a band, Water & Wine, and started playing at many gigs hosted by independent labels and production companies such as Awakening Productions and Tsunami Project in Singapore. 1998 saw the release of a track “Love Song” published under Awakening Productions’ compilation CD featuring independent bands and artists in Singapore. Water & Wine disbanded a year later and Charles relocated across the oceans to Melbourne, Australia, while pursuing studies in Media and Communications at the University of Melbourne, majoring in Creative Writing.

2006 saw the beginnings of a songwriter coming out of years in hiatus, playing regularly at Cafe Crema, a Melbourne Cafe, singing fresh compositions with a simple acoustic guitar. Charles’ first release of an extended play (EP) titled “An Acoustic Preamble” in 2008 was a humble acoustic collection of songs written and recorded in DIY demo fashion. In 2009, Charles released his second live EP “August & After” recorded live at Miss Libertine, a local pub Charles regularly plays at. Charles started the year 2010 with a third release – this time, a Studio Single "Almost Sunday", a song about finding a home for the heart, exploring possibilities and soaring high with wings to fly again.

With a deep hunger to constantly learn and better his craft, Charles found association with the Nashville Songwriter's Association International (NSAI) and made a pilgrimage in September 2010, trekking through the musical landscape of Nashville, fine tuning his art of songwriting on Music Row learning from hit songwriter's and industry names such as Jason Blume (Gypsy Kings, Jesse McCartney) and Pat Pattison (John Mayer, Gillian Welch).

"It's always rewarding when you go to a new city to perform - you start from zero - nobody knows you and it feels like the first day of the rest of my life. Kicking off at open mics, acoustic cafes, building an audience in a new place. It's a very humbling experience and one that always keep me grounded as a musician and songwriter."

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Listen to The Pelham Session in full here.