Who Are The Charmers?
The Charmers are four charismatic, seasoned musicians who
have forged a bond with each other and the roots of soul and rock music they
play and the fans that love them. They’re a house rockin’ band that can blow the
roof off of any venue and guarantee everybody will be on their feet, blown away,
and most definitely, charmerized. The four members are each ace musicians and
each brings their own voice to the songs they perform. Alicia Morgan on keyboard/vocals, Lu
Ann Landau on bass/vocals, Mark Hayes on guitar/vocals and Luke Hayes on
drums/vocals all take turns unleashing their distinctive soul stirring voices
on the crowd. From screaming, sexy
soul tunes to roadhouse rockers to lovely heartfelt classics, complete with
beautifully blended harmonies, uplifting keyboards and searing lead guitar
solos, The Charmers slam it down and take your breath away! “Happily, it’s very
much a team effort,” says Lu Ann, the band’s leader. “Everyone brings in songs they want to sing so the selection
is extremely varied and everyone is equally invested in the group.” “We all love playing with each other,
performing together, supporting each other’s growth and bringing all that and
more to our performances.” Between songs, the lively banter keeps the crowd
involved. This band is all about
making connections with the audience and, above all, having a good time playing
music. Whether they’re performing
at a private party or rocking a club on Saturday night, there is no finer
party band in Southern California.
A night with the Charmers is a night of great music, inspiration and
most of all, off-the-charts fun!
Lu Ann Landau - bass/vocals
Lu Ann is a singer, songwriter and bassist who performs a
mixture of country, soul, blues and rock.
Her soaring voice, radiant stage presence and inborn ability to connect
emotionally with an audience make her a rare, gifted performer. As a singer and songwriter, she
combines the contemporary sound of Shelby Lynne and Sheryl Crowe with the
classic country attitude of Loretta Lynne and Lucinda Williams, all served up
with a healthy dose of the blues.
On October 6, 2009, Lu Ann read her horoscope in the L.A. Times. It was her birthday. The notice said, “You’re ready for the next level.” She knew exactly what it meant.
Nearly 20 years earlier, she had been on the road to musical success. Her album, /Real Thing/ (released under her maiden name Lu Ann McCarthy on Barking Dog Records) was out, and she was ready to begin touring and promoting it. Then, as fate sometimes throws you a curve ball, she had a baby, and decided instead to devote her attention to being a mother. Now, with her daughter old enough to take care of and an artist herself, Lu Ann was feeling the call. The horoscope confirmed everything she’d been feeling. It was time to go back.
Music had been a part of her life for as long as she could remember: taking piano lessons, singing in church, dancing to a James Brown record her mama had accidentally brought home. She learned to play bass while married to her first husband “who was not very evolved and taught me a lot about what I didn’t want” she says. It was an abusive but brief marriage. One night she went out for a pack of cigarettes and never came back. She moved to Chapel Hill, where she began playing with local bands. Lu Ann remembers her first performance at an open mic. “I got halfway to the door, then I turned around and headed back to the car. Then I turned around again, headed back to the door.” After several U-turns in the parking lot, she finally gathered the courage to go in. Her performance was an eye-opener. Soon she was playing with Danny Morris, then eventually formed her own band, Blues With a Feeling, with whom she won regional blues contests that took her and her band to the National Blues Festival in Memphis, as well as concerts in New Orleans, Chicago and Austin. Lu Ann and her band have shared the stage with Johnny Winter, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Tinsley Ellis, Bob Margolin, and many more.
Lu Ann writes songs in every style: blues, funk, country, bluegrass, and rock. “I’m all over the place. Generally, I write the lyrics, and then I wait for the song to sing itself to me. You just have to be open to it. Then I pick up the bass and see where it wants to fall on the strings. Then I take it to my guitar player.”
In 2009, shortly after she began to play and perform music again, a skiing accident shattered her wrist. “The doctor told me I would never play bass again, but I proved him wrong. I also had a growth removed on my neck at the time, and I would take long walks and sing, and I believe that helped heal my neck. Music is medicine for me.”
Lu Ann’s great strength is an ability to connect with her audience. In her day job, she is a nurse, and as Lu Ann says, “Nurses give. That’s what we do. And when I’m on stage, I give everything to the audience. I don’t hold anything back.” This is clear from the moment one witnesses her onstage. There’s an instant connection. She stands on the stage, open hearted, and everyone in the audience knows they’re witnessing something special. “Making that connection, communicating truth with the audience, that’s the most important thing.” You can see Lu Ann connecting with her audience in Los Angeles with her classic soul and rock and roll band, The Charmers, and as a solo artist, while constantly writing and shopping new songs.
On October 6, 2009, Lu Ann read her horoscope in the L.A. Times. It was her birthday. The notice said, “You’re ready for the next level.” She knew exactly what it meant.
Nearly 20 years earlier, she had been on the road to musical success. Her album, /Real Thing/ (released under her maiden name Lu Ann McCarthy on Barking Dog Records) was out, and she was ready to begin touring and promoting it. Then, as fate sometimes throws you a curve ball, she had a baby, and decided instead to devote her attention to being a mother. Now, with her daughter old enough to take care of and an artist herself, Lu Ann was feeling the call. The horoscope confirmed everything she’d been feeling. It was time to go back.
Music had been a part of her life for as long as she could remember: taking piano lessons, singing in church, dancing to a James Brown record her mama had accidentally brought home. She learned to play bass while married to her first husband “who was not very evolved and taught me a lot about what I didn’t want” she says. It was an abusive but brief marriage. One night she went out for a pack of cigarettes and never came back. She moved to Chapel Hill, where she began playing with local bands. Lu Ann remembers her first performance at an open mic. “I got halfway to the door, then I turned around and headed back to the car. Then I turned around again, headed back to the door.” After several U-turns in the parking lot, she finally gathered the courage to go in. Her performance was an eye-opener. Soon she was playing with Danny Morris, then eventually formed her own band, Blues With a Feeling, with whom she won regional blues contests that took her and her band to the National Blues Festival in Memphis, as well as concerts in New Orleans, Chicago and Austin. Lu Ann and her band have shared the stage with Johnny Winter, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Tinsley Ellis, Bob Margolin, and many more.
Lu Ann writes songs in every style: blues, funk, country, bluegrass, and rock. “I’m all over the place. Generally, I write the lyrics, and then I wait for the song to sing itself to me. You just have to be open to it. Then I pick up the bass and see where it wants to fall on the strings. Then I take it to my guitar player.”
In 2009, shortly after she began to play and perform music again, a skiing accident shattered her wrist. “The doctor told me I would never play bass again, but I proved him wrong. I also had a growth removed on my neck at the time, and I would take long walks and sing, and I believe that helped heal my neck. Music is medicine for me.”
Lu Ann’s great strength is an ability to connect with her audience. In her day job, she is a nurse, and as Lu Ann says, “Nurses give. That’s what we do. And when I’m on stage, I give everything to the audience. I don’t hold anything back.” This is clear from the moment one witnesses her onstage. There’s an instant connection. She stands on the stage, open hearted, and everyone in the audience knows they’re witnessing something special. “Making that connection, communicating truth with the audience, that’s the most important thing.” You can see Lu Ann connecting with her audience in Los Angeles with her classic soul and rock and roll band, The Charmers, and as a solo artist, while constantly writing and shopping new songs.
Alicia Morgan - keys/vocals
New
York-born and Florida-raised, Alicia McCracken Morgan taught herself to play
the piano at age nine, beginning a lifelong addiction to which there seems to
be no cure. Following in the footsteps of her father, a painter and art
professor, at fifteen Alicia was working at Busch Gardens in Tampa as a
portrait artist, and then a cartoonist – one of the first females hired there
to draw caricatures, as the prevailing wisdom was that “women weren’t funny
enough to be cartoonists.” But music soon became her primary focus, and she
began her professional music career in high school. She briefly attended
college, but was offered a road gig and ended her formal education after a few
months.
Alicia is one of the few people who have actually ‘run away with the circus’. After playing in the backup band for a magic show, she ended up joining the show as a performer, working for a man who caught bullets in his teeth and doing illusions. She spent the next few years playing carnivals and circuses, returning to winter quarters in Gibsonton and Sarasota in between show seasons. Like all women in the circus, she learned to perform on the ‘web’, the long white ropes that hang from the ceiling of the tent. Alicia also worked in the side show, where she was a fire-eater, Serpentina the Snake Woman and the India-Rubber Girl.
Returning to music, she moved to the West Coast, where she worked as a session singer and has a wide musical range that includes blues, soul, funk, rock, jazz, and country. Noted for her raspy blues style, Alicia’s credits include recording and/or performing with such artists as Al Wilson, Bobby Womack, Sally Kellerman, Kevin Murphy (of Rufus), Don & Dewey, Billy Vera & The Beaters, The Nelsons, Táta Vega, King Ernest, Peter Tork, and Chuck Negron. Her TV experience includes Roseanne, The Jeff Foxworthy Show, The Naked Truth, Almost Perfect, Phenom, and Sibs. She has had original songs in the feature films “Beyond Desire” and Tom Arnold’s “Barhopping”, and was the singing voice for Caroline Rhea in the Disney movie “Mom’s Got a Date With A Vampire”. Her keyboard work has been sampled for several L.A. Riot sample CDs.
Alicia’s article about her experience singing on the Neil Young album Living With War garnered her world-wide, if incredibly short-lived, attention. She was interviewed and/or quoted by the LA Times, Editors & Publishers, the London Independent, Rolling Stone and Radio France Internationale. Recent gigs include singing for Neil Young and Oasis, and playing keyboards for smooth-jazz artist Norman Brown.
Alicia's keyboard work was nominated for a 2010 Grammy for music from the movie "Love n' Dancing.”
Recently, Alicia has been in the studio with legendary producer Richard Perry, playing keyboards on the newest Rod Stewart album "Fly Me to the Moon...The Great American Songbook Volume V".
Alicia produces and records in her own studio and has received an Addy advertising award for vocals and engineering. She taught voice, keyboards and computer recording at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood for five years, and now maintains a private teaching schedule.
Alicia lives in Sherman Oaks, CA with her family. She is a wife of one, mother of three, stepmom of one, concierge of three Burmese cats who think they are dogs and two ridiculous dogs, a Dalmatian/Great Dane and a Beagle.
Alicia is one of the few people who have actually ‘run away with the circus’. After playing in the backup band for a magic show, she ended up joining the show as a performer, working for a man who caught bullets in his teeth and doing illusions. She spent the next few years playing carnivals and circuses, returning to winter quarters in Gibsonton and Sarasota in between show seasons. Like all women in the circus, she learned to perform on the ‘web’, the long white ropes that hang from the ceiling of the tent. Alicia also worked in the side show, where she was a fire-eater, Serpentina the Snake Woman and the India-Rubber Girl.
Returning to music, she moved to the West Coast, where she worked as a session singer and has a wide musical range that includes blues, soul, funk, rock, jazz, and country. Noted for her raspy blues style, Alicia’s credits include recording and/or performing with such artists as Al Wilson, Bobby Womack, Sally Kellerman, Kevin Murphy (of Rufus), Don & Dewey, Billy Vera & The Beaters, The Nelsons, Táta Vega, King Ernest, Peter Tork, and Chuck Negron. Her TV experience includes Roseanne, The Jeff Foxworthy Show, The Naked Truth, Almost Perfect, Phenom, and Sibs. She has had original songs in the feature films “Beyond Desire” and Tom Arnold’s “Barhopping”, and was the singing voice for Caroline Rhea in the Disney movie “Mom’s Got a Date With A Vampire”. Her keyboard work has been sampled for several L.A. Riot sample CDs.
Alicia’s article about her experience singing on the Neil Young album Living With War garnered her world-wide, if incredibly short-lived, attention. She was interviewed and/or quoted by the LA Times, Editors & Publishers, the London Independent, Rolling Stone and Radio France Internationale. Recent gigs include singing for Neil Young and Oasis, and playing keyboards for smooth-jazz artist Norman Brown.
Alicia's keyboard work was nominated for a 2010 Grammy for music from the movie "Love n' Dancing.”
Recently, Alicia has been in the studio with legendary producer Richard Perry, playing keyboards on the newest Rod Stewart album "Fly Me to the Moon...The Great American Songbook Volume V".
Alicia produces and records in her own studio and has received an Addy advertising award for vocals and engineering. She taught voice, keyboards and computer recording at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood for five years, and now maintains a private teaching schedule.
Alicia lives in Sherman Oaks, CA with her family. She is a wife of one, mother of three, stepmom of one, concierge of three Burmese cats who think they are dogs and two ridiculous dogs, a Dalmatian/Great Dane and a Beagle.
Mark Hayes - guitar/vocals
It was inevitable that Mark Hayes would become an accomplished guitarist, singer / songwriter. He was exposed to the classic musicals, jazz and pop music that his father appreciated so much. Mark became very interested in playing music at an early age.
Originally from Iowa, the Hayes family moved to California, to the San Fernando Valley. It just so happened that DelFi Records owner/producer, Bob Keane lived right next door: Richie Valens, “La Bomba”, and Bobby Fuller, “I fought the Law” That was the eye opener he needed. Already a lover of music, he stuck to his guitar and never looked back. Mark studied privately with Jimmy Wybel and later with Ted Green. Mark had the opportunity of working with great musicians early in his musical development, which carved him into the extraordinary artist he is today.
Mark’s song writing ability evolved by playing in various bands— in and around the L.A. area. He has written, recorded and produced five independently released CD’s of his own— with great results; “Big Bridges”, “Transmitter”, “Number 3”, “Winterland” and "Stick Around"
Currently on the radio in South Africa Mark has placed the first and second single of the Clout CD “Since You been Gone”. Another song, "Don't Forget to Breath" has been recorded by the band Cinema from South Africa, just released as well.
Mark's music has been placed in T.V. shows, radio spots, a sound track for Yamaha Motor Corporation, the independent film "Ordinary Madness", and action sports DVDs. Mark continues doing live and studio work. He also records and produces other artists at "the FunHouse", his studio in Los Angeles.
Originally from Iowa, the Hayes family moved to California, to the San Fernando Valley. It just so happened that DelFi Records owner/producer, Bob Keane lived right next door: Richie Valens, “La Bomba”, and Bobby Fuller, “I fought the Law” That was the eye opener he needed. Already a lover of music, he stuck to his guitar and never looked back. Mark studied privately with Jimmy Wybel and later with Ted Green. Mark had the opportunity of working with great musicians early in his musical development, which carved him into the extraordinary artist he is today.
Mark’s song writing ability evolved by playing in various bands— in and around the L.A. area. He has written, recorded and produced five independently released CD’s of his own— with great results; “Big Bridges”, “Transmitter”, “Number 3”, “Winterland” and "Stick Around"
Currently on the radio in South Africa Mark has placed the first and second single of the Clout CD “Since You been Gone”. Another song, "Don't Forget to Breath" has been recorded by the band Cinema from South Africa, just released as well.
Mark's music has been placed in T.V. shows, radio spots, a sound track for Yamaha Motor Corporation, the independent film "Ordinary Madness", and action sports DVDs. Mark continues doing live and studio work. He also records and produces other artists at "the FunHouse", his studio in Los Angeles.
Luke Hayes - drums/vocals
Luke was raised in a musical family yet marched to the beat of his own drum. As an early teen he picked up the drums—and hasn’t stopped playing since. Growing up next to his friend and favorite drummer, John Keane, Luke studied John’s style and feel. This was the foundation of his fundamental development. Seeking more knowledge, Luke took lessons from world-renowned percussionist, Joe Porcaro, the focus being on technique, rudiments and the value of a simple feel-good groove.
Luke’s big influences are the greats: John Keane, John Guerin, Bernard Purdie, Jim Gordon, Jim Keltner, Jeff Porcaro and Steve Gadd. Luke received an opportunity to record with friends of Gary Grimm (The Eagles)—a treasured experience to draw from, since he had only been playing for a couple of years! This exposure to recording gave Luke a taste for all styles of contemporary music. Luke continued picking up gigs, spending some time in Laughlin, NV. playing Country music with Billy Erickson and the Bandits and several rock bands in the L.A. area club scene.
Luke's recent recorded and live work includes projects with local Los Angeles based bands like Sonic Mojo, the Charmers, Ray Roldan, David Vidal, and the Wayward Sons. Luke also works with his brother, Mark Hayes producer / guitarist, singer songwriter and band mate among others.
Most Recent Recordings:
Mark Hayes "Stick Around", "Transmitter" & "WinterLand" CD's
Dillinger & the Wayward Sons “Fallen” & "Contrary Warrior" CD's
Ray Roldan on the “In California Country” & "Where We Come From" CD's
Eric Troff "This Is Eric Troff" CD
Luke currently resides in the Los Angeles area, recording & gigging.
Luke’s big influences are the greats: John Keane, John Guerin, Bernard Purdie, Jim Gordon, Jim Keltner, Jeff Porcaro and Steve Gadd. Luke received an opportunity to record with friends of Gary Grimm (The Eagles)—a treasured experience to draw from, since he had only been playing for a couple of years! This exposure to recording gave Luke a taste for all styles of contemporary music. Luke continued picking up gigs, spending some time in Laughlin, NV. playing Country music with Billy Erickson and the Bandits and several rock bands in the L.A. area club scene.
Luke's recent recorded and live work includes projects with local Los Angeles based bands like Sonic Mojo, the Charmers, Ray Roldan, David Vidal, and the Wayward Sons. Luke also works with his brother, Mark Hayes producer / guitarist, singer songwriter and band mate among others.
Most Recent Recordings:
Mark Hayes "Stick Around", "Transmitter" & "WinterLand" CD's
Dillinger & the Wayward Sons “Fallen” & "Contrary Warrior" CD's
Ray Roldan on the “In California Country” & "Where We Come From" CD's
Eric Troff "This Is Eric Troff" CD
Luke currently resides in the Los Angeles area, recording & gigging.