English music hall performer, whose real name was Joe Saunders, but was better known as Champagne Charlie. He was born in the Midlands and gave up a job as a mechanic for a career in the northern music halls. His first professional appearance in London was at the Whitechapel Music Hall in 1864. In 1866 together with Albert Lee he wrote ‘Champagne Charlie' which became an immediate hit. Dressed in the height of ‘fast' fashion, in bow tie and tails he would swig from a bottle of Moët declaring his love for the high life and women. His style introduced a new genre to the music hall, known as Lion Comique, which was an attractive, fashionable, young man. He wrote the lyrics for many popular hits of the time, his biggest success was ‘The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze'. In 1866, the Champagne maker Moet commissioned him to write and perform songs extolling the virtues of Champagne and made him agree to drink nothing but Champagne in public, which could be one of the reasons for his early death.
English music hall performer, whose real name was Joe Saunders, but was better known as Champagne Charlie. He was born in the Midlands and gave up a job as a mechanic for a career in the northern music halls. His first professional appearance in London was at the Whitechapel Music Hall in 1864. In 1866 together with Albert Lee he wrote ‘Champagne Charlie' which became an immediate hit. Dressed in the height of ‘fast' fashion, in bow tie and tails he would swig from a bottle of Moët declaring his love for the high life and women. His style introduced a new genre to the music hall, known as Lion Comique, which was an attractive, fashionable, young man. He wrote the lyrics for many popular hits of the time, his biggest success was ‘The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze'. In 1866, the Champagne maker Moet commissioned him to write and perform songs extolling the virtues of Champagne and made him agree to drink nothing but Champagne in public, which could be one of the reasons for his early death.
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