Charlie Major

Charlie Major has been a force in country music since the early 90s. However, after more than a decade in the business, Major is doing something in his career that he's never done before — he's wearing his heart on his sleeve and singing about his personal life.

"Most of songs I've written have been about other people, or situations that other people were going through that I felt I could relate to. This time it came from my life, which is different for me," says the Juno and CCMA award-winner, “it's me who is standing naked now."

“Shadows and Light,” Major's sixth album and first with Fifth Line Recordings, is primarily about the progression of one relationship. Songs such as That's When I Feel Loved cover the beginning of the love affair, True Love Street concentrates on the middle, and Already Gone, There's No Easy Way To Say Goodbye and A Better World deal with the breakup.

"I felt compelled to do it. It was a therapeutic thing that just unfolded on its own," Major says of the album he co-produced with Jason Barry.

Major wrote all eleven tracks, and the raw emotion really does shine through. This is one of his most riveting and heart-felt albums to date. Major even questioned the inclusion of his final track Mandy, because it was too personal: "It's my honesty and my truth and at the end of the day, so in the end I decided that it belongs there," says Major.

Even the songs that don't deal with relationships come from the heart. Major wrote the inspirational You'll See Angels to lift the spirits of a friend who was dying in the hospital. "Writing the song came very easily, but it was difficult to write emotionally." Major was able to play the song for his late friend before he died, which in Major’s eyes, made it all worth it.

The title track Shadows and Light was inspired by one of Major's brothers. "We've been through a lot together. We used to live together and we've had some falling outs and making up. This song is dedicated to everyone in life who forgives you, and lets things go, and who won’t abandon you, no matter what." The track was also one of the few songs Major didn't write at his home just outside of Ottawa. He got the idea on a plane and ended up writing the first draft on his boarding pass.

The spark for the first single, Young at Heart, which features Kim Mitchell, also came from his family. While celebrating his 79th birthday, Major's father admitted that he still felt 18 in his mind. That comment along with some gentle teasing from his own children to ‘act his age’, is all Major needed to pen this rockin' hit.

With such a strong collection of emotional songs, Major is sure to add some more awards to his collection – a collection which already includes three Junos for Male Vocalist of the Year (1993, 1994, 1995) and seven Canadian Country Music Awards.

Major's debut album “The Other Side” is the only album in Canadian history to have six #1 songs.