A Friend Like Charlie

Father and son are like friends, never mind the 57-year age-gap between them. Charlie Green is 14 (on Feb. 16) and his father, Roger Green, is 70. They are bound together more than just by blood. It’s music that also binds them.

Like father, like son. Roger is an engineer but he took up his first love, which is singing, after only a few years practicing his profession. He sang in cruise ships where he met his second wife, Cecile Sumago, 44, a Filipina from Cebu whom Roger met in the gym of a cruise ship where they were both working. Cecile was a Hotel Management graduate working at the cruise ship for experience. Charlie is their only child.

Charlie made heads turn when he finished a semi-finalist in Britain’s Got Talent, the talent search founded (like American Idol) by Simon Cowell who, as he does on AI, also sits as one of the judges. It’s the same show which catapulted Susan Boyle to overnight stardom. Boyle joined BGT a year after Charlie did.

It didn’t take long before Charlie decided to pursue a career here. His start was impressive, especially since he was singing “adult” songs (by Sinatra, etc.) way beyond his age, with an easy, breezy and effortless style that readily won him fans.

After a year-long stint with another company, Charlie has just cut an album called A Friend Like You, released by Viva Records, his new home. It includes covers, the kind of music he’s known for, including On The Sunny Side of the Street, My Cherie Amour, Go Away Little Girl, For Once In My Life, Pers Lab, A Friend Like You (duet with Rachelle Ann Go), Let It Be, Too Young, The Diary, You’re Always There, Oh My Papa, Ewan (duet with Sarah Geronimo) and Wooden Heart.

 During the following Conversation, Charlie was accompanied by his dad Roger (who begged off from being photographed with Charlie). Proving that father knows best, Roger did most of the talking and Charlie, the good son that he is, did most of the agreeing.

After the interview done late last year, Charlie did shows in Shanghai and Hong Kong where his album was released in its Chinese version.

Which song on the album is your No. 1 favorite?

“I like You’re Always There. It’s an original song. It’s a meaningful song — you know, that whatever happens, you’re always there.”

There’s also Pers Lab. At 14, you’re too young to fall in love, aren’t you?

“It will happen not too long from now.”

You’re fond of singing songs by older singers. How did you get interested in them?

“When I was small, my father was a professional singer and I would listen to him sing songs of his favorite singers like Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. I didn’t just listen, I actually started singing along with him.”

How old were you then?

“Two and a half.”

You started very young! What was the first song that you learned to sing?

“New York, New York.”

Oh, from the movie starring Lisa Minnelli.

“No, the version by Frank Sinatra.”

(To Charlie’s dad Roger) Is Charlie your only child?

Roger: No. I have another son who is 44 years old.

Why the big 31-year gap between them?

Roger: My older son was from my first wife. Charlie is from my second wife. My present wife. I say my ‘present’ wife not because there will be another one. She’s the last one. Actually, I had another son who was killed while crossing the road. His name was Timothy. He was 21. It happened in 1989. He would have been 42 on Dec. 6 last year. My wife and I were then on a cruise and I had to rush back to UK to bury him and then rejoin the cruise. It was one of the lowest points in my life. Strangely enough, Charlie seems to be Timothy’s reincarnation. They are so much alike. It’s unbelievable.

Yes. Unbelievable!

Roger: I remember one day, when Charlie was three years old, we were at a restaurant and I saw Charlie waving his hand at somebody I couldn’t see. I said, “What are you doing, Charlie?” He said, “It’s Tim. I’m waving bye-bye to Tim.” Tim died in 1989 and Charlie was born in 1997. Charlie never got to see Tim.

(To Charlie) If you were to dedicate a song to Timothy, what would it be?

Charlie: Danny Boy.

Roger: It’s the right song. When I went to London to catch a ship for Bombay, a man sat directly in front of me and started singing Danny Boy. You can say that it’s coincidence. Then, after a while I heard the radio playing also Danny Boy. Was it coincidence?

During the contract signing with (from left) BPCI executive board member Conchitina Bernardo, BPCI director for marketing Sienna Olaso, BPCI chair Stella Marquez-Araneta, ABS-CBN president and COO Charo Santos-Concio, channel head Cory Vidanes, head of TV entertainment production Linggit Tan and BPCI executive board member Pitoy Moreno— Photos by Nimfa Chua

Charlie inherited your singing talent.

Roger: Yes, he did. Even before he could remember, at the age of 18 months he was starting to sing. I was on a singing stint on a cruise ship and I was on a night off. The band began playing the introduction to New York, New York, and Charlie ran to the stage and started singing the song. The people were so impressed with him and they gave him money. Charlie started singing very early. I was already 27 when I quit my engineering job and started singing. I took somebody’s job. That was in 1967. I was 27 then.”

(To Charlie) Did you make more money than your dad did on the cruise ship that night?

Charlie: Oh yes, I did. I made 20 pounds. 

Roger: That was about the time he started to join a singing contest on the ship. His competition piece was All Of Me. He was three years old then. When he was five years old he sang at the Opera House in York with a thousand people in the audience. He sang a medley of songs, accompanied by young dancers. We still have that on DVD. He also sang for Princess Anne, at the palace.

(To Charlie) Were you nervous singing for a member of the royalty?

Charlie: No, I was not. I was eight years old then. When you are young, you don’t think of somebody as important; you just want to do your best. I sang a happy song for the Princess. The only time I got nervous was when I did the audition for Britain’s Got Talent. I was 10 then.

How much of you is Filipino and how much is British?

Charlie: Technically, 50/50.

You’re an only child. Are you spoiled?

Charlie: I don’t think so. I won’t say that I’m spoiled; I’m just normal, really.

Do your parents give you everything that you ask for?

Charlie: Not really. I have to earn what I have to ask for.

Your dad is a singer. Did he sing you to sleep when you were a baby?

Charlie: I think he did. He would sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star while putting me to bed. That was the very first song I ever heard from him. As I grew up, I would watch my dad sing on TV and listen to him on radio.

Who are the singers that you look up to?

Charlie: Michael Bublé. Michael Jackson. Enrique Iglesias.

What do you remember most from your childhood?

Charlie: It was really nice. I come from a happy family. There’s never a dull moment, not one moment when nobody is singing. That’s the sound that fills up our home --- the sound of music.

During the Britain’s Got Talent competition, were you not intimidated by Simon Cowell (one of those behind the show and among the judges, as he also is on American Idol)?

Charlie: No, I was not. He’s not as bad as people think he is.

How often have you been coming to visit before you decided to pursue a career here three years ago?

Charlie: I’ve been coming and going every two or three years. We would stay with my mom’s relatives in Cebu.

What is it about you that the public doesn’t know?

Charlie: Well, I like sports…football, rugby. I’m a laidback kind of person. I was 11 when I started singing professionally here. I was five-feet tall then and I’m growing taller fast. I now stand 5’5”. Soon, I won’t be a boy anymore; I will be a young man.

(To Roger) Charlie started singing very young. He’s now into his teens and his voice may be changing…

Roger: You know, it started early for Charlie. At the end of recording the album (A Friend Like You), his voice began cracking up and we thought that was the start of the change. With some boys, they have to stop singing for a while. With other boys, they don’t really have to unless they feel uncomfortable. Charlie did not. He sang through the transition and he’s more than four-fifths through it. His voice has dropped from thinner to milder. While he used to sing falsetto, which is the female voice, he can now sing in the “male” voice while at the same time use his “female” voice. He’s in the same period in his life now as Justin Bieber is. In a few months, his voice will be completely clear. He’s taking voice exercises.

If you were to court a girl with a song, what would it be?

Charlie: I would ask her and then I’d sing it for her.

Roger: Why not Call Me Irresponsible? (Then he laughs).

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