About The Charlatans
The Charlatans are an English rock band formed in the West Midlands, England in 1988. As of 2000, their line-up consists of lead vocalist Tim Burgess, guitarist Mark Collins, bassist Martin Blunt and keyboardist Tony Rogers.
All the band's thirteen studio albums have charted in the top 40 of the UK Albums Chart, three of them being number ones. They have also had 22 top 40 singles and four top 10 entries in the UK Singles Chart, including the hits "The Only One I Know" and "One to Another".
The band were formed in the West Midlands by bassist Martin Blunt, who recruited fellow West Midlanders Rob Collins , Jon Brookes , Jon Day and singer-guitarist Baz Ketley. Ketley left the band and was replaced by singer Tim Burgess, who had supported the Charlatans with his previous band, the Electric Crayons.
Although the Charlatans would later become popularly associated with the Madchester scene, the band's early demos recorded in 1988 in Birmingham and Dudley already evidenced the sound that the band ultimately became famous for, dominated by Collins's Hammond organ but underpinned by the driving rhythm section of Blunt's powerful running bass and Brookes's drumming. With their sound – fusing 1960s soul, R&B and garage rock – inherited from Blunt's earlier 1982 band Makin' Time, the band saw themselves firmly in the West Midlands tradition of hard-edged soul and R&B that included Birmingham bands The Spencer Davis Group and early Dexys Midnight Runners. Blunt has characterised the band's early influences as including the Stranglers, Stax Records, Joy Division and the Doors, but has also credited the band's formation during the explosive growth of the acid house scene as contributing to their sound, so that they "suddenly sounded like the Spencer Davis Group on E".
Although the name The Charlatans was already being used when the original members of the band were still located in the West Midlands, many sources state that they formed in Northwich, Cheshire. This is because the band relocated to the home town of their manager Steve Harrison and new lead singer Tim Burgess before the 1990 release of The Charlatans' debut single "Indian Rope" who also owned the Omega Records retail chain and management company. label, after the band was unable to secure a major record contract). Thus based on the definition of hometown used by Guinness World Records the band was formed in Northwich, and consequently Northwich is recorded as their home town in such publications as British Hit Singles & Albums. One of the band's earliest known live performances was supporting The Stone Roses at the London School of Economics on 2 December 1988.
The debut single "Indian Rope" proved to be an indie hit and the group soon found a major label in Beggars Banquet offshoot Situation Two in time for the release of "The Only One I Know", which reached the Top 10 in the UK Singles Chart. A further single "Then" and their debut album Some Friendly were released later that year. Around this time The Charlatans were forced to add UK to their name for an American tour due to competing claims by an American rock band also known as The Charlatans.
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