Jennifer Charles
Jennifer Charles (b.
November 15 1968,
Washington, D.C.) is a singer and composer known for her sexy image and sultry vocals, as well as for her poetic lyrics. With her partner
Oren Bloedow, she is the co-founder of legendary New York band
Elysian Fields.
While growing up, music was the one constant in Charles' life. Her mother was a singer in Washington clubs and her father had a radio show that played
jazz songs. Charles studied
theater; She appeared in
plays and experimental theatre at places like
The Studio and
The Source. Despite this, music was her one true passion, so she never strayed far from that.
Upon graduating from
N.Y.U. (B.F.A. Tisch Sch of Arts),besides acting, she supported herself with a variety of jobs such as waitressing, working as an artists model, singing jazz and torch songs in a piano bar, and curating a performance/poetry series at the original Knitting Factory.
Elysian Fields were founded in 1995, and have released four full length records (five counting one produced by Steve Albini that was suppressed). They have also contributed to many compilation CDs including the first song on John Zorn's
Serge Gainsbourg album. This song, their rendition of "Les Amours Perdues", also appeared in
Lea Pool's film "Emporte Moi".
Besides co-leading Elysian Fields, Charles also works on other projects. She and Bloedow recorded
La Mar Enfortuna featuring renditions of
Sephardic and
Ladino songs, described as "among the most accessible records issued in the
Tzadik series, but it is poignant and provocative nonetheless, full of smoldering passions, broken lives, shattered hearts, and a sense of migration and dislocation." [
1]
Charles has also recorded with
Dan the Automator's
Lovage project for which she co-wrote and sung most of the material, and with
Firewater, turning in notable performances on "The Circus" and "Mr. Cardiac" from 1996s
Get Off The Cross, We Need the Wood for the Fire., as well as guesting on several
John Zorn records and the latest
Foetus record.
Charles has been writing
poetry and
short stories since the age of nine. She has studied Classical
Indian singing with her beloved teacher Gulamji. Charles also speaks
Spanish and loves to travel, read, listen to music, playing
chess,
painting, as well as practicing kundalini and
bikram yoga.
Charles has also 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 best pop album.
She had a guest spot on ex-Nine Inch Nails drummer
Chris Vrenna's solo project
Tweaker. She sang and co-composed the track "Crude Sunlight", which appeared on the 2004 album "2am Wakeup Call".
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blackacres.net fansite dedicated to Jennifer Charles' band Elysian Fields
