Charles Darden

I've been singing and performing for 10 years throughout the Hampton Roads area as well as landing gigs is New York city clubs, Washington D.C, Hilton Head, SC. to name a few. I'm primarily a singer of classic American Standard songs but I love singing all types of genres. I have been greatly influenced by Jazz music but I don't consider myself strictly a Jazz singer. Among the things I have performed at are festivals, clubs, private parties, a presidential innaugural ball and my own theater shows as well as performing with the Virginia Symphony. I started singing as a boy around the house to my family's Elvis records. I'm a totally self-taught singer. No voice lessons. Not that I'm against them, I just never had the resources for them. So by the time I decided I would really give singing a try I learned from listening to records of the greats that I discovered on my own. That proved to be invaluable to me. I wasn't even in chorus, except briefly in elementary school while attending Robert E. Lee. However, while in the sixth grade I decided that it just wasn't very cool to be in chorus so I got myself into just enough trouble to be the only student in fifth or sixth grade to get kicked out by the chorus teacher. Not really my shinning hour, but at the time I maintained my stature as the cool sixth grader. I then moved on to middle school where I began playing the tenor saxophone. My sax was a school rental and was being held by a guy who had just entered high school so I was without an instrument for nearly a month. But within days of finally getting my horn I caguht up to the other students. I would take my horn home everyday to practice and because of the size and the weight of it to me being so small I would have to stop and take numerous breaks walking home from the bus stop to sit on the case to rest. Blisters formed on my hands from carrying the oversized case...Fond memories...But I was learing music at twelve..... Also see my other myspace page at www.myspace.com/charlessings