Chetham's School of Music

Charlie Cunningham returns with new music with the release of the enigmatic and textural single ‘Happening Lately’ alongside a UK/Europe tour of stunning theatres internationally in 2025.

Cunningham’s return is both welcome and anticipated; an artist whose reach is often understated. Internationally, his loyal fanbase has grown completely organically as his captivating live performances have become a regular fixture in Europe’s most prestigious large concert halls. He has achieved over half a billion streams. His new tour sees him play some of his
most significant shows yet. At home in the UK he will debut at the iconic London theatre The Barbican as well as intimate theatres up and down the country.

Charlie’s recent work has featured melancholic piano but on Happening Lately Cunningham returns to the insistent pulse of the acoustic guitar, though this time his trademark nylon is replaced by steel-string. Restrained, performance focussed production by Luke Smith (Keaton Henson, Depeche Mode, Foals) the track is a showcase of Charlie’s uniquely characterful approach to his craft.

Charlie says of Happening Lately: ‘it’s a song that speaks of quiet optimism and relinquished control.’

Charlie earned a degree in music, despite his dyslexia making it near impossible for him to read music. By his mid-twenties he was working a variety of odd jobs and writing songs during his free time. He realised he needed to dedicate himself to his passion fully if he was ever going to achieve anything and so he sold his beloved Telecaster to help fund a move to Seville. He originally planned to stay for three months, but that plan stretched to almost three years. He completely immersed himself in flamenco culture before returning home, where he began making a modest living playing guitar in bars around Oxford and London, before gradually returning his attention to his own songwriting.

Charlie released his debut album ‘Lines’ in 2017, working with producer Duncan Tootill to channel his more direct influences – John Martyn, Paul Simon, Nick Drake and the leading women of jazz: Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone –whilst fusing in his ambient loves: Brian Eno, and the early work of Aphex Twin.

His 2019 follow-up ‘Permanent Way’ saw Charlie team up with producer Sam Hudson Scott and expand upon the scope of his debut album with cinematic orchestrations courtesy of Daniel Thorne (Erased Tapes) and performed by the Immix Ensemble, while Charlie worked on three more tracks with producer Rodaidh McDonald (The xx, King Krule). Despite the album’s grander dimensions, there was no trade-off of the intimate for the bombastic. Charlie’s deft touch with the personal remained its foundation.

Next came ‘Frame’ (2023), another sophisticated evolution in Charlie’s sound, with piano led compositions about the human condition: heartbreak, spirituality, grief and climate anxiety. Remixes by Leo Abrahams (Brian Eno, John Hopkins) shed a completely alternative perspective on the title track, ‘Bird’s Eye View’ and ‘Downpour’.