Post by Osmosis on Dec 28, 2023 19:05:17 GMT
Charlie Simpson (Charles Robert Simpson) (07 June 1985)
Member Of: Busted (2002 - 2005, 2015 - Present), Fightstar (2003 - Present), Solo (2010 - Present)
Vocal Range: F♯2 - C6
Voice Type: Your great great great grandaughter’s baritone daddy
{Vocal Summary} Best known as a member of UK pop punk trio Busted, Charlie did what few in the pop world can do and that is convincingly transition to rock music. Leaving behind multimillion dollar fame and fortune to pursue his passion Charlie formed posthardcore band, Fightstar.
Heavy riffs demand heavy vocals and to many people’s surprise, particularly rock and metal fans who thought him an imposter, his voice fit like a glove; distorted upper 4th octave belts, heavily fried 5th octave screams and smatterings of eerie falsetto; a far cry from the tongue in cheek pop punk and overly sentimental balladry that categorized the early Busted catalog. With Busted, his vocals tended to occupy a comfortable range of A2-G♯4. With Fightstar, he showcased strong belted Bb4s which he can push up to a B4 every now and then but he tends to prefer using vocal fry and a thinner mix to get to B4 and beyond. His effortless transitions into falsetto take him even further, well into the 5th octave without ever losing any power. Perhaps the only true surprise is that his lows are not as strong or as regularly used as one might expect given his Baritone placement.
He has only continued to express his versatility as he has branched out into other genres with his solo career - dabbling in folk, country and modern pop genres. He even won The Masked Singer UK in 2023 which only further proves his malleability as a singer nailing the likes of Pink’s classic “Try” with ease. This all goes to show that those who you expect the least from will surprise you the most.
Heavy riffs demand heavy vocals and to many people’s surprise, particularly rock and metal fans who thought him an imposter, his voice fit like a glove; distorted upper 4th octave belts, heavily fried 5th octave screams and smatterings of eerie falsetto; a far cry from the tongue in cheek pop punk and overly sentimental balladry that categorized the early Busted catalog. With Busted, his vocals tended to occupy a comfortable range of A2-G♯4. With Fightstar, he showcased strong belted Bb4s which he can push up to a B4 every now and then but he tends to prefer using vocal fry and a thinner mix to get to B4 and beyond. His effortless transitions into falsetto take him even further, well into the 5th octave without ever losing any power. Perhaps the only true surprise is that his lows are not as strong or as regularly used as one might expect given his Baritone placement.
He has only continued to express his versatility as he has branched out into other genres with his solo career - dabbling in folk, country and modern pop genres. He even won The Masked Singer UK in 2023 which only further proves his malleability as a singer nailing the likes of Pink’s classic “Try” with ease. This all goes to show that those who you expect the least from will surprise you the most.
Significant High Notes:
C6 ("One of These Days")
B♭5 (“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”, “Sundown”)
A5 (“Parachutes”, “That’s What I Got to School For” Live Piano Version)
G♯5 (“Twice”)
G5 (“Good One", "I See You”, “One of Us”, “Wait For Me”)
F♯5 (“Paint Your Target”, “Use Somebody”)
F5 ("Blameless”, “Dive”, “Mono" Live Wembley Arena London 2024, "I See You”, “Remembered Like This”, “Sink with the Snakes”, “Sliding Doors”, “Tech Noir”, “Try” Live The Masked Singer 2023, “Thinking of You”, “Without It”, “Would You Love Me Any Less?”)
E5 (“The Blackest of Birds”, “Deathcar”, “Good to Love”, “Hold On”, “Out of Our Minds”, “Thorns”, "What I Go to School For")
E♭5 (“99”, “All the Best”, “Another Year”, “A City on Fire", "Crosses”, “Grand Unification Pt I”, “I Need a Friend Tonight”, "Lost Like Tears In the Rain" Live Wembley Arena London 2024, “Mercury Summer”, “Remembered Like This”, “Sundown”)
D5 (“3AM" Greatest Hits 2.0, "All My Friends”, “Amaze Us", "Avenue of Heroes”, “Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)” Live XFM, “Covered and Coarse" Live Sheffield Leadmill 2005, “Down Down Down”, “Emily” Little Hands, “Fight for Us”, “On What You’re On”, ”One of Us”, “Overdrive”, "Palahniuk's Laughter" Live Tiscali (Year Unknown), “Riverbanks”, “Tannhauser Gate”, “Tech Noir”, “To Sleep”, “Wait For Me”, “Walking with the San”)
C♯5 (“Blood”, “Breaking the Law”, “Britney", "Build an Army”, “Chemical Blood”, “Colours Bleed to Red”, “Crosses”, “Flatline”, “Fear of the Dark", "Forty Thieves”, “Free Fallin’” Live Radio 2, “Ghost on 31”, “Heartbeats" Live Rock Sound TV 2012, "H.I.P. (Enough)”, “Into You” Live The Masked Singer 2023, “Lost”, “My Own Summer”, “Never Change”, “Our Last Common Ancestor”, “Skin and Bones”, “Still Young”, “Tannhauser Gate”, “Titan”, “Try” Live The Masked Singer 2023, “Until Then" Live The Summer Sonic Festival Japan, "Use Somebody”, “Wake Up", "We Apologise for Nothing”, “Where Is the Love?", “Winter Hymns”, “Year 3000”)
C5 ("99”, “All At Once”, “Anything for Love”, “Amaze Us”, “Breaking the Law”, “The Blackest of Birds”, “Damocles”, “Deathcar”, “Emily”, “Follow Me in the Darkness”, “For All Your Friends", “If I Hide, Will You Come Looking?”, “If I Lose It”, “Leper Messiah”, “Lost Like Tears in Rain”, “Mono”, “Murder All Over”, “One Day Son”, “Sharp Tongue”, “She Drove Me to Daytime Television”, “Sink with the Snakes”, “Sleep Well Tonight”, “Sleeping With the Light On”, “Tech Noir”, “Those Days Are Gone”, “When We Were Lions”, “Would You Love Me Any Less?”, “You & I”)
B4 (“A Short History of the World”, “Animal”, “Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)” Live XFM, “Behind the Devil’s Back”, “Blood”, “Bullet” “Calling On All Stations”, “Cemetery”, “Down Down Down”, “Empty Guns" Demo, “Floods”, “Ghost on 31”, “Good to Love”, “Gracious”, “Haunted”, “Hold On”, “Long Way Home”, “Lost”, “Loser Kid", "New York”, “Nostalgia”, “Riverbanks”, “Suburbs”, “Wait For Me”, “Where’s the Money Lebowski?”, “The Whisperer”, "You Said No")
B♭4 (“99”, “All By Myself" "Be Human" Studio Diary Ep.3, "Another Year”, “Amaze Us”, “Blameless”, “Build an Army”, “Covered and Coarse" Live Sheffield Leadmill 2005, “Farmer and His Gun”, “Fight for Us”, “Forty Thieves”, “Fun Fun Fun", “Grand Unification Pt I”, “Into You” Live The Masked Singer 2023, “Life Is Life”, “Lost Like Tears in Rain”, “Mono”, “Murder All Over”, “Myua Nyeusi”, “Our Last Common Ancestor”, “Overdrive”, “Sleeping With the Light On", "Sliding Doors”, “Souvenir from Italy”, “Tannhauser Gate”, “Titan”, “Twice”, “Wake Up”, “War Machine”, “Without It”)
A4 (“3AM" Greatest Hits 2.0, “Animal”, “Avenue of Heroes”, “Before You Go”, “The Blackest of Birds”, "Build Me Up Buttercup", “Call to Arms”, “Cemetery”, “Chasing Cars” Live The Masked Singer 2023, “Chemical Blood”, “Coming Home”, “Damocles”, “Dark Star”, “Deathcar”, “Empty Guns" Demo, “Fear of the Dark", "Free Fallin’” Live Radio 2, “Ghost on 31”, “Good One", "Hazy Eyes”, “Hurt”, “I See You”, “If I Lose It”, “Losing You”, “MMMBop 2.0" Live Radio 2 in the Park, “Mono”, “MIA”, “Night Driver”, “Nineties”, “Nostalgia”, “One of Us”, “Open Your Eyes”, “Overdrive”, “Paint Your Target”, “Peaches”, “Race to Mars”, “Re: Stacks”, “Sink with the Snakes”, “Ten More Days”, “What Happened to Your Band”, “The Whisperer”, “Zihuatanejo”)
G♯4 (“All the Best”, “Athea”, “Behind the Devil’s Back”, “Beneath Your Beautiful” Live The Masked Singer 2023, “Blameless”, “Blood”, “Build an Army”, “Chasing Cars”, “A City on Fire”, “Colours Bleed to Red”, “Covered and Coarse" Live Sheffield Leadmill 2005, “Dive”, “The English Way”, “Fake”, “Fear of the Dark", "Floods”, “Free Fallin’” Live Radio 2 2019, “Haunted”, “Here Again (Last Conversation)”, “Hide and Seek”, “Hurra, hurra, die Schule brennt”, “I Need a Friend Tonight”, “Into You” Live The Masked Singer 2023, “Its Blood is Black”, “Long Way Home”, “Meet You There”, “Mercury Summer”, “MMMBop 2.0" Live Radio 2 in the Park, "One of These Days", "Our Last Common Ancestor”, “Paint Your Target”, “Palahniuk’s Laughter”, “Remembered Like This”, “Shipwrecked in Atlantas”, “Skin and Bones”, “Sleep Well Tonight”, “Sliding Doors”, “Suburbs”, "That’s Entertainment", “Try” Live The Masked Singer, “Twice”, “Wake Up”, “What Happened to Your Band”, “Who’s David”, “You Said No” Busted/Live Utilita Arena Birmingham 2023)
G4 (“28k Resolution”, “Air Hostess”, “Anything for Love”, “Amethyst”, “Avenue of Heroes”, “Behind the Devil’s Back”, “Brown Eyed Girl”, “Come”, “Covered and Coarse" Live Sheffield Leadmill 2005, “Cross Out the Stars", “Dead Man Walking”, “Down Down Down”, “The Earth Will Shake" "Be Human" Studio Diary Ep. 3, "Everything I Knew”, "Fall At Your Feet", “Fight for Us”, “Flotation Device”, “For All Your Friends", "Grand Unification Pt I”, “Grand Unification Pt II”, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”, “Hazy Eyes”, “Hurt”, “Hold Out Your Arms”, “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” Live The Masked Singer 2023, “I See You”, “If I Lose It”, “Little Bit of Love” Live The Masked Singer 2023, “Hazy Eyes”, “Kids With Computers”, “Little Hands”, “Lost Like Tears in Rain”, “Murder All Over”, “Myua Nyeusi”, “Nerve/Seele”, “Never Change”, “New York”, “Night Driver”, “One Day Son”, “One of a Kind”, “Open Up Your Eyes”, “Out of Our Minds”, “Please Let Me Go”, “Radio”, “Runaway Train", “She Drove Me to Daytime Television”, “Ten More Days”, “Titan”, “These Days”, “Thinking of You”, “Until Then", “Thorns”, “Wait For Me”, “Walking with the San”, “War Machine", "When We Were Lions”, “Why”, “Without It”, “Zihuatanejo”)
F♯4 (“3AM" Live TOTP 2003, "All My Friends”, “All the Best”, “All the Way”, “Amaze Us", "Barricades of Heaven”, “Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)” Live XFM, “Beneath Your Beautiful” Live The Masked Singer 2023, "Black Hole Sun" Live Download Festival 2009, “Breaking the Law”, “Britney”, “Busters" Botec Sketch, "Call to Arms”, “Calling on All Stations”, “Cemetery”, “Chemical Blood”, Coming Home”, “Crosses”, “Dark Star”, “Dead Man Walking”, “The English Way”, “Falling for You”, “Flatline”, “Forty Thieves”, “Good to Love”, “Gracious”, “Haunted”, “H.I.P. (Enough)”, “Hold On”, “I Am the Message”, “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” Live The Masked Singer 2023, “I Will Break Your Heart”, "Last Christmas” Live TOTP, “Life Is Life”, “Loner in Love”, “Loser Kid”, “Losing You”, “Lost”, “Mercury Summer”, “MIA”, “Never Change”, “Over Now”, “Parachutes”, “Race to Mars”, “Sharp Tongue”, “She Wants to Be Me”, "Sliding Doors", “Still Young”, “Suburbs” “Until Then", "Use Somebody”, “We Apologise for Nothing”, “What I Go to School For", "Who’s David”, “Year 3000”, “You Said No”, “Zihuatanejo”)
Significant Low Notes:
D3 (“3AM”, “Abuse Me”, “Air Hostess”, “Anything for Love”, “Amaze Us”, “Battlefield”, “Before You Go”, “Call to Arms”, “Dark Star”, “The Days I Recall Being Wonderful", "Dead Man Walking”, “Fake”, “Follow Me into the Darkness”, "Good One", “H.I.P. (Enough)”, “If I Lose It” “Little Bit of Love” Live The Masked Singer 2023, “Loser Kid”, “Losing You”, “Mono”, “Nerdy”, “Never Change”, “New York”, “On What You’re On”, “Out of Our Minds”, “Psycho Girl”, “Re: Stacks”, “That Thing You Do”, “That’s What I Got to School For” Live Piano Version, “Thorns”, “Tonight We Burn”, “Unfamiliar Ceilings" Acoustic, "Vincent”, “Wait For Me”, ““War Machine”, “Would You Love Me Any Less?”)
C♯3 (“All the Best”, “Another Year”, “Barricades of Heaven”, “The English Way”, “I Need a Friend Tonight”, “Loner in Love”, “Life Is Life”, “Mono” They Like You Better When You Were Dead, “Over Now”, “Palahniuk’s Laughter”, “Sleeping with the Light On”, “Still Young”)
C3 (“Covered and Coarse" Live Sheffield Leadmill 2005, "Cross Out the Stars", "Fall At Your Feet", "Follow Me into the Darkness”, “Hide and Seek”, “Late Night Summer", "One Day Son”, “Our Last Ancestor”, “Runaway Train", "Ten More Days”, “When We Were Lions”, “Why”, “Without You”, “You & I”)
B2 (“3AM”, “Abuse Me”, "Black Hole Sun" Live Download Festival 2009, “A City on Fire", "Mercury Summer”, “Fear of the Dark", "Haunted”, “Tonight We Burn”, “The Whisperer”, “You Said No”)
B♭2 (“Fun Fun Fun", "My Good Friend", "Separation Season”)
A2 (“99”, “Battlefield”, “Chemical Blood”, “Empty Guns" Demo, "Fear of the Dark", "Flatline”, "Gracious", “Hide and Seek”, “H.I.P. (Enough)”, “Hold On”, “It Happens”, “Long Road Home”, “Loser Kid”, “Out of Our Minds”, “Parachutes”, “These Days”, “Where Is the Love?", "The Whisperer”, “Why”)
G♯2 (“Athea”, “Beneath Your Beautiful” Live The Masked Singer 2023)
G2 (“Hide and Seek”, “The Day Texas Sank to the Bottom of the Sea”, “These Days”)
F♯2 (“Athea”, "Improv" "Be Human" Studio Diary Ep.3)
{Questionable Notes}C5 (“Grand Unification Pt II” [2a])
F2 ("Mercury Summer" Acoustic [1a])
.......................................................
[1] Questionable Quality
a. Insufficient Sustain
[2] Questionable Legitimacy
a. Inhaled note
Questionable notes are any notes with a questionable significance. In short, this spoiler acknowledges notes that I am aware exist, but do not want to contribute to the singer's range. These involve (but are not limited to) weak vocal fry, uncontrolled slides, very short notes, notes hit at an ambiguous pitch and notes where it is unclear who is singing.
.......................................................F2 ("Mercury Summer" Acoustic [1a])
.......................................................
[1] Questionable Quality
a. Insufficient Sustain
[2] Questionable Legitimacy
a. Inhaled note
Questionable notes are any notes with a questionable significance. In short, this spoiler acknowledges notes that I am aware exist, but do not want to contribute to the singer's range. These involve (but are not limited to) weak vocal fry, uncontrolled slides, very short notes, notes hit at an ambiguous pitch and notes where it is unclear who is singing.
*Blue marks falsetto or whistle notes.
*Green marks harshly distorted passages
*Underlines mark notes that are obscured in the song mix.
*Italics mark non-melodic notes.
*Boldface marks notes that are considered to be particularly notable examples of this person's vocal capabilities.
{Album Ranges}Busted
Busted (2002): A2 - A4 - C♯5
A Present for Everyone (2003): A2 - C♯3 - G♯4
Night Driver (2016): A2 - B♭4 - F5
Half Way There (2019): A2 - B4 - D5
Greatest Hits 2.0 (2023): A2 - A4 - B♭4 - D5 - E5
Fightstar
They Like You Better When You Were Dead (2005): C♯3 - B4
Grand Unification (2006): D3 - B4 - F#5
One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours (2007): A2 - B♭4 - D5 - E5
Be Human (2009): A2 - B2 - A4 - B♭4 - E♭5
Behind the Devil’s Back (2015): E♭3 - C5 - F5
Solo
When We Were Lions (EP) (2010): C3 - G4 - B♭4 - C♯5
Young Pilgrim (2011): A2 - A4 - B♭4 - B♭5
Long Road Home (2014): A2 - B2 - A4 - F5
Little Hands (2016): G2 - G4 - D5
Hope Is a Drug (2022): A2 - B4 - G♯5
Kifaru (EP) (2023): D3 - A4 - G5
Busted (2002): A2 - A4 - C♯5
A Present for Everyone (2003): A2 - C♯3 - G♯4
Night Driver (2016): A2 - B♭4 - F5
Half Way There (2019): A2 - B4 - D5
Greatest Hits 2.0 (2023): A2 - A4 - B♭4 - D5 - E5
Fightstar
They Like You Better When You Were Dead (2005): C♯3 - B4
Grand Unification (2006): D3 - B4 - F#5
One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours (2007): A2 - B♭4 - D5 - E5
Be Human (2009): A2 - B2 - A4 - B♭4 - E♭5
Behind the Devil’s Back (2015): E♭3 - C5 - F5
Solo
When We Were Lions (EP) (2010): C3 - G4 - B♭4 - C♯5
Young Pilgrim (2011): A2 - A4 - B♭4 - B♭5
Long Road Home (2014): A2 - B2 - A4 - F5
Little Hands (2016): G2 - G4 - D5
Hope Is a Drug (2022): A2 - B4 - G♯5
Kifaru (EP) (2023): D3 - A4 - G5
{Best Vocal Performances}
- Mono
- Call to Arms
- Murder of All
- Amaze Us
- Palahniuk's Laughter
- Wait for Me
- If I Lose It
- Sliding Doors
- 99
- Until Then
{Credits}The following sources proved invaluable in locating hard to find songs and notes.
- 1) Reddit Post by @noisybubble: www.reddit.com/r/Fightstar/comments/5df2yl/fightstars_bsides_covers_demos_other_rarities/
- Youtube video by @sizemoresimpson: youtu.be/M9Bif9Dz7ew?feature=shared
