Charles Webster. The Story So Far.

Born in Matlock England in the mid 1960's, Charles Webster realized his passion for music and art early on. Following an art school degree in photography he began taking his creative endeavors more seriously, in particular his passion for writing and performing his own music. At the age of 15, Charles played in various local electronic bands based in the electronic hotbed of Sheffield, home to Cabaret Voltaire, Clock DVA, and Warp Records, until he was 19. The experiences of working in bands ultimately led him into the world of music production. When Charles moved to Nottingham he began working in and around the local recording studio scene. Writing tracks for emerging hip-hop outfit The Rock City Crew, and with early techno-house band T Cut F he began developing and shaping his production and writing skills.

During his stint as in-house engineer at Square Dance Studios in Nottingham he began to record his own music. Under the name Sine, Charles released three singles all of which received very positive feedback and huge respect within the burgeoning dance music scene nationally in the UK. Consequently Sine became the foundation for the now trademark deep, soulful, house sound that Charles Webster produces today. Over time his work in the studio earned him local DJ slots in the more popular clubs like Nottingham's Garage, Barracuda, and Eden and Venus. His combined DJ and studio talents soon after awarded him with the booty-busting club classic "Belgium" as Megatonk released on Astralwerks in 1992

Charles' involvement in the underground dance scene steadily grew nationally and then soon after intercontinental, leading to the birth of his production alias and first record label Love From San Francisco Records. On the namesake and pursuit of his music Charles explains: "One phone call was enough and I was out there…six twelve inches later I'm still out there, in between regular visits to Europe to record, DJ, and do some remixes oh, and feed the cat!" When he returned to the UK in 1995, he started the REMOTE label. Defined as a kind of a British/San Franciscan label concentrating on deep, funky, atmospheric grooves it further built the foundation that Charles now stands on. "A label to watch," said all and all were right!!!

Things have come a long way for Charles since the heady days of the mid 90's. Having released numerous twelve inches on many different labels under many names, and DJ'ing in too many places to list, Charles’ efforts culminated in 1999 with the release of the seminal and worldwide smash album All Systems Gone under the artist name Presence on Pagan Records. The album spawned 3 top 75 singles in the UK, and a top 10 Billboard club single in the US. The album went on to have huge critical and commercial success wherever it was released. A world tour followed with shows in dozens of countries playing for dozens of people and dozens of drinks were drunk.

His new solo album Born On The 24th Of July, his first under his given name, takes in many influences from his varied tastes and inspired by the songwriting of such esteemed American songwriters as Rickie Lee Jones, Natalie Merchant, and Marvin Gaye. Whereas Charles’ Presence project was a collection of tracks strung together as an album, Born on the 24^th of July was conceived and written primarily from a proper songwriting perspective. "I’m not inspired by modern (music), electronica – I find a lot of my inspiration comes from old stuff," states Charles.

Having co-written all the lyrics for Born… in collaboration with Del st Joseph, Steve Edwards, Lisa Lindley-Jones and Massive Attack vocalist Sara Jay on the album’s ten songs, Charles Webster has taken the next step forward towards pushing electronic music to a new level. Like contemporary and good friend Matthew Herbert, Charles is proving that electronic music truly has a heart and a soul.

Currently Charles is in the process of compiling 10 years worth of his favorite and most regarded tunes for a collection entitled The Story So Far to be released on Statra in early 2002. He is also resurrecting his Love From San Francisco label and a new label called MISO to release the more eclectic and experimental side of his work.