Songwriters 2009 promises to be packed with artists, producers, and songwriters who have been in the music industry for years and have loads to share with registrants. My goal is to give you a smattering of each one’s background to produce a little excitement in you about coming to this special event. Where to start . . .
Charlie Peacock is, in my opinion, the “dean of production and songwriting”. A powerful speaker as well, he is the complete package. Born Charles William Ashworth in Yuba City, CA, Charlie is a singer-songwriter, jazz pianist extraordinaire, record producer, session musician, author, and advocate for social justice. Intelligent, innovative, personal, you can “warm your hands” on him.
Charlie’s father, Bill Ashworth, was a trumpeter/educator. By age 13, Peacock was composing instrumental and vocal music. During his jr. and hi. school years he received instrumental and theory instruction from his father and local educator, Dean Estabrook. Leaving high school after his junior year, he married his high school sweetheart, Andrea Berrier, at 18 and began his professional music career after one semester at California State University, Sacramento, going by the stage name Charlie Peacock. What followed were years of musical involvement with a variety of music and record companies and bands but no well known record company offered him a contract. By the 1980′s, Charlie’s drug and alcohol abuse was in full bloom.
Clean and sober by 1981, Peacock renewed his efforts to sign with a major label. During this time he formed a band, aptly named The Charlie Peacock Group, which quickly became a favorite among northern California concert-goers and club audiences.
In April 1982 Peacock’s 12 step recovery group “spiritual awakening” gave birth to a life-changing belief in the person and mission of Jesus Christ. He was introduced to a fresh reading of the Jesus narrative by Sacramento saxophonist, Michael Butera, who connected him with a group of Christians and Calvary Chapel. Peacock began studying the Bible in earnest. He was encouraged by several Christians to leave “secular” music and focus on “music ministry.” Perplexed by this suggestion, his spiritual intuition was confirmed when he read Francis Schaeffer’s book, “Art and the Bible.” Thus began 10 years of writing, singing and performing in the secular industry.
In 1987, Charlie’s song “Down in the Lowlands” was produced by Christian artist, Russ Taff with Peacock singing background vocals. That same year he produced the alternative Christian band, The Choir, his first up-close encounter with the Christian music industry, which resulted in his meeting music manager/promoter Dan Russell who counseled a young east coast artist, Margaret Becker, to work with Peacock. In 1988 Margaret told Sparrow Records A&R Director, Peter York, she wanted Charlie to produce her next project, which he did. Together they wrote and recorded “Immigrant’s Daughter”, which doubled Becker’s sales and was nominated for Best Rock Gospel Grammy award. On the strength of this beginning, and encouragement from Amy Grant’s manager, Michael Blanton, Peacock moved to Nashville in the summer of 1989.
After seeing Peacock perform at The Wild Blue, a club in Fresno, CA, Bill Hearn Jr. and Peter York signed him to a recording contract with Sparrow Records. Thus began his first full foray into contemporary Christian music, including “The Secret of Time” (nominated for Best Rock Gospel Grammy Award in 1990) and work with gospel legends Al Green, Twila Paris, and Amy Grant (with whom he co-wrote the smash hit Every Heartbeat and played keyboards on her 5 million-selling album Heart in Motion). From 1990-99 Peacock produced over fifty albums in the genre of contemporary Christian music and gospel, though he was never comfortable with branding people and music “Christian Artist” or “Christian Music.”
By 1996 Peacock was dreaming of tangible ways to undo the genre of contemporary Christian music. He formed a new record company (think EMI/Sparrow) and signed and developed two significant artists, Sarah Masen and Switchfoot with the idea they would be promoted to mainstream pop and Christian markets simultaneously. Both artists experienced great success.
At the encouragement of author and sports television pioneer, Bob Briner, in 1989 Peacock wrote a critical analysis of the genre of contemporary Christian music, called At the Crossroads, published by Broadman and Holman, and revised, expanded, and reprinted in 2004. He has since written New Way to Be Human: A Provative Look at What it Means to Follow Jesus.
Recently Charlie and Andi purchased an old Methodist Church on the southwest side of Nashville which they have renovated and use for artist and musician retreats. Both have seminary training and are authors. Charlie continues to produce projects for artists in his own studio on the Art House property.
Charlie would tell you he loves coming to Mount Hermon, and is very excited to be involved in the training of new songwriters and looks forward to this years’ conference. Why not come meet him for yourself? You’ll never be sorry you did.
Excerpts from Wikipedia.com.
