Charles Duke

Charles Duke is a singer, songwriter, composer and classically trained pianist residing in Harlem, NY. His work fuses jazz, soul, pop, and classical music elements with engaging lyrical imagery. As a pianist he is regularly engaged at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel and Robert Restaurant at Columbus Circle and has performed regularly at The Plaza Hotel and the off-broadway hit musical Sleep No More at the McKittrick Hotel. Additionally, he performs private events and galas throughout Manhattan. As a singer-songwriter and indie artist, he performs shows throughout Manhattan and performed a residency at the Greenwich Village indie music destination Caffe Vivaldi. His music has been performed at Carnegie Hall in the off broadway music performance of Fannie Lou. His arrangement of Harry Belafonte’s civil right’s staple “Oh, Freedom” was performed live on the Melissa Harris-Perry’s show on MSNBC. He has had two installations of the Charles Duke & Friends™ series at Cheri Harlem featuring his original compositions sung by music vocalists from classical to jazz. To date, Charles has produced and released four EP projects as an indie artist. BlueTreble (2010), Hello Christmas (2011), Midnight Lover (2014), and most recently AMERICAN SKIN (2015) available on iTunes, Amazon and www.charlesdukemusic.com. Inspired by legendary artists Nina Simone, Harry Belafonte, and D’Angelo, Charles released AMERICAN SKIN to humanize and bring awareness to social justice issues affecting minority communities within the present United States of America. Charles Duke has become increasingly interested in exploring the intersection of Art and Activism. Doing so, in collaboration with eleven classically trained professional black male musicians he performed his poignant original song “Four Black Men” from his album AMERICAN SKIN at inaugural The Freedom Concert in Manhattan at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine on Duke Ellington's famous white piano. The concert raised several thousands of dollars for the New York Civil Liberties Union. Currently, Charles Duke is curating AMERICAN SKIN DIALOGUES ™, an art and performance event series connecting music fans and art aficionados with change organizations and local businesses doing social justice work on behalf of marginalized voices within the community. These powerful events have included speeches and presentations by Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center, NYCLU, and the Audre Lorde Project on themes of childhood education and reforming the school-to-prison pipeline and the #SayHerName initiatives in Harlem and Brooklyn. Welcome to the Charles Duke Experience! Come celebrate love and life at the Charles Duke Summer Show on Saturday, August. 13th 8 PM @ The Sugar Bar NYC