Angel (British musician)

2010–11: Early career

Angel started off at the early age in a band with his brothers and sisters called the Charles Family. After playing at over 300 plus schools the band of siblings decided to go their own way. Angel (formerly known as Bud or Ching) released his first mixtape Patience is a Virtue in 2010. The mixtape included hits such as "Julie" and "Run This Redeye".

Angel co-wrote the Number 1 single Green Light by Roll Deep with his writing team Parallel which sold 400,000 copies in the UK. He co-wrote and featured on Wretch 32's album Black & White singing on "Never Be Me and I'm Not The Man" (also featuring Chipmunk). The album sold over 150,000 copies in the UK. He wrote and produced "Coming Home" for Pixie Lott and Jason Derulo.

During the time of 2011 Angel had released his much anticipated mixtape 7 Minutes Before Time featuring the likes of Wiley, Maxsta, Giggs, Cleo Sol, Wretch 32, G Frsh, Scorcher, Sneakbo and Mark Asari. Videos were shot for the songs "Gleamin" featuring Wiley and Maxsta, "Popstar" featuring Giggs, "Ride Out" featuring Sneakbo, "Bottles" featuring G Frsh and Scorcher and lastly "Go in Go Hard" featuring Wretch 32, which was shot in early 2012.

2012–present: Mainstream success

In between time Angel had released another mixtape titled Any Minute Now which unlike 7 Minutes Before Time had one feature which was just "Are You Good" featuring Mark Asari of Encore. In this mixtape Angel covered many songs. He covered Rihanna's "Man Down" and Prince's "Most Beautiful Girl In The World". "Fire" was mixed from Lauryn Hill's "Zion" and "Tokin Grade" was Angel's interpretation of Frank Ocean's "Novacane".

On 18 March 2012 Angel released the single "Go In, Go Hard", which features vocals from Wretch 32. On 25 March 2012 the song entered the UK Singles Chart at number 41 and at number 14 on the UK R&B Chart.

On 15 July 2012 Angel released his second single entitled "Wonderful", it first charted on the UK Singles Chart at number twenty on the chart week ending 22 July it had sold 14,032 copies in its first week. Having remained at number twenty on its second charting week, the track advanced a single place to number nineteen for the week dated 11 August and a further seven places to number twelve the following week. On its sixth charting week dated 26 August "Wonderful" entered the top 10 at number nine. This became Angel's first Top 10 hit to enter the chart's in the United Kingdom as well as it becoming his first UK R&B Single's Chart number one respectively. On 12 November, Angel performed at the 02 Academy in Brixton for the BBC 1Extra concert, along with acts such as Tulisa and Trey Songz.

Angel also featured on the official Children in Need single, "Wish I Belonged", alongside Fazer, Tyler James and Stooshe.

Angel released "Time After Time" on 2 December, composed by Theron Thomas, Timothy Thomas, Kassa Alexander, Sirach Charles (Angel), James Abrahart, Tommy Hittz. The song was listed on the BBC 1xtra A playlist on 6 December 2012. Meanwhile, an acoustic preview of '"Ride Or Die"' a duet sung by Angel and fellow rising artist Misha B was published on 21 November 2012 by SoulCultureMedia, and filmed by Darryl Daniel, Fabian Thomas and Versetti at the Artspace Studios in Brixton, South London. The duo performed a medley of their singles, with Angel giving us a rendition of Misha's Do You Think of Me and Misha taking on Angel's Time After Time, before the pair sing "Ride Or Die". 4music described the performance as "pretty impressive, pretty soulful and pretty darn emotional too!" 'Ride or Die' featuring Misha B was officially released as the B-side to Angel's "Time After Time" on 6 December 2012. The track was composed by Sirach Charles (Angel), Kassa Alexander and Misha Amber Bryan. The official music video was directed by Paul Akinrinlola and Adam Deacon (who also stars), and produced by Parallel Pictures for Universal Music

As a songwriter Angel has written songs used by UK urban acts such as Roll Deep and Devlin, as well as composing pop pieces for the likes of JLS and Cheryl Cole.

2015–present: Angel has Returned and Leyla Single

From 2013 Angel sang his last single called About Rocket Love in the About Time Album. Then 2 years on Angel came back to sing his next single called LeyLa (feat. Fuse ODG) which was released on 14 August 2015. His next single called Rude Boy (feat. Haile) from group WSTRN was released 4 March 2016.

Personal life

Angel grew up in West London, Shepherd's Bush, with his brother and 2 sisters. His father is Grenadian. Angel drew his main influence from his father, former manager and talented musician Tendai Charles, a professional keyboardist who accompanied an array of Reggae music talents including Kaya, Bob Marley and Dennis Brown. He attended Brackenbury Primary School in Shepherds Bush. His biggest influences include Brandy Norwood, Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

His brother, Akelle Charles, found fame in summer 2015 with his track "In2" (featuring Haile and Louis Rei). The song racked up thousands of views and was signed to Atlantic Records, and the three artists released the song under the new stage name WSTRN.