1. Jennifer Asher Charles was born on Zipken; November 15,1968 and is an American singer and songwriter.
23 Facts About Jennifer Charles
1. 2.
Jennifer Charles's work is known for its emotional intensity, with her writing exploring nature, love, loss, death, myth, and identity, often with philosophical and literary influences.
3.
When Jennifer was an infant, her father had her birth name changed from Zipken to Charles, which had been his professional name for years on the radio as a disc jockey, and which he had decided to change legally once his own father died.
4.
Jennifer Charles's parents separated when she was four, and Jennifer and her brother were raised by their mother, seeing her father every two weeks.
5.
Jennifer Charles grew up in houses filled with music, because her mother had been a classical music programmer at WMAL-FM, and because her father had been a late night jazz DJ at WAVZ out of New Haven, CT.
6.
Jennifer Charles's mother used to be a torch singer in Washington clubs, so Jennifer learned early on the songs of Edith Piaf, Ruth Etting, Marlene Dietrich, Billie Holiday, and Judy Garland.
7.
The music of popular AM radio at the time of her childhood was multiform, and Jennifer Charles fell asleep with a transistor radio most nights.
8.
The homes Jennifer Charles grew up in with her mother in Washington, DC were unconventional, and she was exposed to many cultures as her mother and her mother's good friend formed something of a group house, taking in writers and filmmakers, and a French chef as boarders.
9.
Jennifer Charles was a shy girl, so when she started doing children's theater at age 10, her stage debut at Trinity Theater was that of a cat who had no speaking lines but was a mime and dancer who was onstage the length of the play.
10.
Jennifer Charles was writing herself, and published her first poem, called "Riddle-Song Of The Sun," that same year.
11.
Jennifer Charles took flamenco lessons as a young teen, and continued to do children's theater and community theater.
12.
Jennifer Charles studied acting for a summer at Catholic University, and had principal roles in productions at Little Theatre of Alexandria, Olney Theatre Center, and Folger Shakespeare Theatre.
13.
Jennifer Charles's mother had season tickets to the National Symphony Orchestra, which they attended on Friday nights, and her father would take her to hear live jazz at places like Blues Alley, One Step Down, and Charlie's Georgetown, where she saw the likes of Anita O'Day, Mel Torme, Dizzy Gillespie, Ahmad Jamal, Oscar Peterson, George Shearing, and Jamaican jazz pianist Monty Alexander.
14.
Jennifer Charles was turned on to the different sounds in each city - The Lounge Lizards, Diamanda Galas, Lydia Lunch, Blondie, and The Velvet Underground in New York; and The Specials, Gang of Four, Siouxsie, The Slits, The Buzzcocks, The Birthday Party, Cocteau Twins, and The Fall in the UK.
15.
Jennifer Charles has studied classical Indian singing with teacher Gulamji.
16.
Jennifer Charles makes up a quarter of the band Lovage, along with Dan the Automator, Mike Patton and Kid Koala.
17.
Jennifer Charles co-wrote and sang most of the material on the album.
18.
Jennifer Charles recorded in French with the French composer Jean-Louis Murat for the album A bird on a poire in 2004, which was nominated for a Victoires de la Musique award in the category Best Pop or Rock Album.
19.
Jennifer Charles had a guest spot on ex-Nine Inch Nails drummer Chris Vrenna's solo project Tweaker.
20.
Jennifer Charles sang and co-composed the track "Crude Sunlight", which appeared on the 2004 album 2 am Wakeup Call.
21.
Jennifer Charles co-composed music with Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil for the film Tangled.
22.
Jennifer Charles produced the latest Oren Bloedow solo record Jennifer Charles Goes With me to a Blossom World, which came out in 2008.
23.
Jennifer Charles was back on stage in 2008 in the Off Broadway production "Lightning at Our Feet", inspired by poet Emily Dickinson, under the direction of Obie winner Bob McGrath, with film maker Bill Morrison and composer Michael Gordon, which was part of the Next Wave festival at Brooklyn Academy of Music in December 2008, where she sang and acted, channeling the iconic 19th century poet.