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Charlie McDonnell

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Charlie McDonnell
McDonnell at VidCon 2010
Born
Charles Joseph McDonnell

(1990-10-01) 1 October 1990 (age 34)
Bath, Somerset, England[1]
NationalityBritish (English)
Other namescharlieissocoollike, coollike
Years active2007 – present
Known forComedy, vlogging, music
Notable workThe Challenge Charlie series, How to be English, Duet with Myself, Purple Man, A Song About Acne, My American Accent
ParentLindsay Atkin
Template:Infobox person/Internet info
Websitecharliemcdonnell.com

Charles Joseph "Charlie" McDonnell (born 1 October 1990) is a British vlogger and musician from Bath, Somerset, England.[1] As of January 2012, his YouTube channel, charlieissocoollike, has over 1,400,000 subscribers.[2] On 15 June 2011, his channel was spotlighted on YouTube's front page in the Entertainment category after being the first UK channel to reach a million subscribers.

Early life and background

McDonnell was born and raised in Bath, Somerset with his younger siblings Bridie and William. He was educated at Beechen Cliff School,[3] a state comprehensive foundation school in Bath.

YouTube

After setting up the YouTube channel, "charlieissocoollike" in April 2007, McDonnell started posting video blogs to a small audience. He first came to prominence when his video entitled "How To Get Featured on YouTube" became very popular after it was featured on YouTube's UK homepage. His audience jumped from just under 150 subscribers to over 4,000 in two days. [4]

In January 2008, in celebration of gaining 25,000 subscribers, McDonnell asked for challenge suggestions from subscribers, and he is completing them in a series of 25 videos entitled "Challenge Charlie". He has completed 21 of these challenges as of June 2011, one of which was suggested by TV presenter, Phillip Schofield, and his daughter Molly, challenging McDonnell to perform the dance that accompanies the song, "Hoedown Throwdown", made popular in the film Hannah Montana: The Movie. McDonnell has since posted a wide range of videos on the site including his most viewed "Duet with Myself".[5]

In 2008, McDonnell participated in a video-blog collaboration with four other YouTube personalities, entitled "FiveAwesomeGuys," a spin-off project of the "FiveAwesomeGirls" which featured hayleyghoover and italktosnakes and ran from 28 January to 31 December of that year. In May 2009, McDonnell created an alternate YouTube account, "CharlieAtE3", which followed McDonnell when he traveled to E3 2009. In January 2010 McDonnell created another alternate YouTube channel, "charlieissoboredlike", for the videos he makes when he has "nothing better to do".[6]

In June 2011, McDonnell became the first YouTuber in the United Kingdom to ever reach 1 million subscribers. He made a celebration video in honour of the achievement, with references to the game Portal 2 and YouTube congratulated him by featuring him on the front page of the website after he posted the video. As of February 2012 McDonnell has more than 1,400,000 subscribers and is currently ranked 34th in the world in YouTube subscriptions. It is estimated that his channel gains approximately 1,000 new subscribers daily, according to the site VidStatsX.[7] McDonnell's videos currently end with an outro by Stephen Fry.[8]

Musical history

Chameleon Circuit

McDonnell performing with Chameleon Circuit at VidCon 2011.

McDonnell is one of the founding members of Chameleon Circuit, a band known for creating music inspired by the British television series Doctor Who. With fellow vloggers Alex Day ("Nerimon" on YouTube) and Liam Dryden ("Littleradge"), former member Chris Beattie ("CowInParachute"), Chameleon Circuit released their self-titled debut album on 1 June 2009.[9] In July 2010, their song "Count the Shadows" also appeared on DFTBA Records, Volume Two, a compilation sampler that was given for free in the grab bags at VidCon 2010.[10] At the beginning of 2011, Chameleon Circuit, in their new line-up following the departure of Beattie and the addition of Ed Blann ("Eddplant") and Michael Aranda, began work on their second album Still Got Legs. It was released on 12 July 2011.[11]

Sons of Admirals

In 2010, McDonnell, along with three other YouTubers, Alex Day, Ed Blann ("eddplant") and Tom Milsom formed a new project entitled "Sons of Admirals". Their first single was released via YouTube on 14 June 2010 on McDonnell's channel. The group covered Cat Stevens' song "Here Comes My Baby". It features all four members on vocals. The track peaked at No. 61 in the UK.[12]
In October 2010 the band released an EP including "Here Comes My Baby"; an acoustic version of the same song; a cover of "Believe in Yourself", which is well known as the theme of children's television show Arthur; the video of "Here Comes My Baby"; and a behind-the-scenes video. The band has been known to perform a cover of "You're Not There", originally performed by band member Ed Blann, and a cover of Radiohead's "Creep".[13]

Sons of Admirals is not a band in the traditional sense. They are all solo artists, but as well as having their solo careers, they come together to form one group. The idea of this came from the Admiral's Men, which was a Shakespearean group of actors that came together to perform, while still retaining their individual careers.[14]

Sons of Admirals disbanded in May 2011, publishing a statement on their website that "the core goal of the group – to get into the charts, and to increase exposure for the group members' individual talents proved to run against too many of our beliefs and approaches to music and promotion".[15]

This Is Me

A prominent feature of McDonnell's YouTube channel are the songs which he writes and performs himself, usually on a ukelele, but also featuring other instruments such as the guitar, melodica, and—in one song—a kazoo and a xylophone made of filled water glasses. The most popular of these, and McDonnell's all-time highest-viewed video, is "Duet with Myself." On 1 December 2010, in response to many fan requests to do so, he released his debut album entitled This is Me via DFTBA Records. The album features several songs from his channel that were remixed for the album, as well as several new, previously unreleased songs.[16]

Charity and media work

On 30 September 2008, to celebrate his 18th birthday, McDonnell and Day dyed and then shaved their hair off whilst live on BlogTV for a period of seven and a half hours in aid of Cancer Research UK.[17] They managed to raise nearly £5000.[18] The broadcast viewership peaked at 4,500. Another friend, Jazza John McMillan-Clenaghan (known as "Rhymingwithoranges" on YouTube) promised to shave his head if they hit £4000 and did so about a month later with help from Kristina Horner (known as "italktosnakes" and "Monday" on the YouTube collab-channel "fiveawesomegirls").

In October 2009, McDonnell was named as one of a number of prominent YouTube users who would be participating in a project called "RNLI Shout". The aim of the project is to raise money to purchase a lifeboat for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

On 4 September 2010, McDonnell and fellow YouTuber Myles Dyer co-presented Stickaid, a 24-hour live webshow. Starting from 12:00 noon BST, the two hosted the fifth annual charity event from Middlesex University's Trent Park campus in London. Their goal was to raise £10,000 ($15,900), which they more than doubled.[19] All the proceedings went to UNICEF.

Chartjackers

Main article: Chartjackers

In the autumn of 2009, McDonnell featured with three other YouTube users on the BBC Switch documentary series Chartjackers. The programme documented their attempt to achieve a number one single in the UK Singles Chart within 10 weeks, by crowdsourcing resources provided by the online community. McDonnell was cast in the series for his familiarity to young British YouTube viewers and to "act as a Pied Piper to the teen audience".[20]

Over the course of Chartjackers, McDonnell solicited lyrics, music, performers and stylists to record the final single and video via a YouTube channel named "ChartJackersProject". An unofficial charity single for Children in Need, the completed song was titled "I've Got Nothing" and was sung by vocalists Miranda Chartrand and Adam Nichols.[21] McDonnell edited the single's official music video,[22] which was shown nationwide on British music channels such as 4Music and Viva. "I've Got Nothing" was released exclusively through the iTunes Store at midnight on 9 November 2009[23] and reached No. 36 on the UK Singles Chart.[24] Sales of the single raised a total of approximately £10,000 for Children in Need.[25]

FirstTV

In July 2010 McDonnell was signed up alongside KateModern star Emma Pollard and X Factor contestants Nicola and Fran Gleadall to present a TV show run by Piers Morgan called FirstTV, an offshoot of First News newspaper. On First TV he did a few challenges like trying to break a Guinness world record by typing the alphabet on an iPad keyboard quickest and he got asked to tell a joke.[26][27] However, after filming four episodes of FirstTV, McDonnell decided to leave the show because he did not enjoy presenting pre-scripted work.[28]

Press

McDonnell was interviewed on BBC News about his rise to internet stardom. He also participated in the Euro 2008 Zeitgeist Google conference, where he spoke about YouTube along with Mia Rose ("miaarose") and Peter Oakley ("geriatric1927"). This was a conference to honour online users of popular websites. He featured as a guest on Robert Llewellyn's web series Carpool in the episode released on 15 May 2009.[29] McDonnell has also made guest appearances on Lily Allen and Friends and The Gadget Show.

McDonnell was also interviewed for Outlook on the BBC World Service[30] and for an article in The Guardian where he talks about the five years of YouTube and his life on the video website.

On 6 June 2010, McDonnell presented the YouTube Audience Award to The Inbetweeners as part of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Television Awards. In mid-July 2010, McDonnell appeared on KTLA with Hank Green, known on YouTube as one of the Vlogbrothers, and Justine Ezarik, known as iJustine, to promote VidCon 2010, the first international conference for online video makers. That October he made a programme with James Max of LBC 97.3 about how to make money on the internet.[31] In December 2010, McDonnell filmed a series of behind the scenes videos for Doctor Who Confidential during the filming of the Doctor Who Christmas special "A Christmas Carol".

McDonnell was purportedly approached to be a contestant on the 2011 series of Celebrity Big Brother (UK) but declined the offer.[32]

References

  1. ^ a b "Teenager's tea tips cause a stir". BBC. 1 October 2007. Retrieved 7 November 2007.
  2. ^ Charlieissocoollike's Channel - YouTube
  3. ^ Charlie McDonnell profile. Thisisbath.co.uk (2008-10-01). Retrieved on 2011-12-28.
  4. ^ The day in a life of series: Charlie is so cool like
  5. ^ Paris, Natalie (2 October 2007). "Schoolboy's 'how to be English' guide a US hit". Telegraph. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
  6. ^ Kanaal van charlieissoboredlike. YouTube (2010-01-25). Retrieved on 2011-12-28.
  7. ^ charlieissocoollike YouTube Channel Stats, Subscriber Statistics, Ranking Charts. Vidstatsx.com. Retrieved on 2011-12-28.
  8. ^ "The Alex and Charlie Format". YouTube. 17 September 2010. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
  9. ^ "Music – Chameleon Circuit – DFTBA Records LLC". DFTBA records. Retrieved 7 November 2009.
  10. ^ "Available for FREE, exclusively at VidCon". Retrieved 14 August 2010.
  11. ^ "Music – Chameleon Circuit – DFTBA Records LLC". DFTBA records. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  12. ^ polyhex. polyhex. Retrieved on 2011-12-28.
  13. ^ iTunes – Music – Here Comes My Baby – EP by Sons of Admirals. Itunes.apple.com (2010-10-25). Retrieved on 2011-12-28.
  14. ^ Sons of Admirals on The 5:19 Show!. YouTube. Retrieved on 2011-12-28.
  15. ^ "Sons of Admirals Website". Retrieved 24 June 2011.
  16. ^ "This is Me (CD)".
  17. ^ "The Bath Chronicle". 1 January 2009. Retrieved 22 April 2009.
  18. ^ "Just Giving". Retrieved 22 April 2009.
  19. ^ "Just Giving". Retrieved 5 October 2010.
  20. ^ "Entertainment Development Priorities". London: BBC. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
  21. ^ "Episode 6". Chartjackers. Episode 6. UK. 17 October 2009. BBC. BBC Two. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |seriesno= ignored (|series-number= suggested) (help)
  22. ^ "Episode 7". Chartjackers. Episode 7. UK. 24 October 2009. BBC. BBC Two. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |seriesno= ignored (|series-number= suggested) (help)
  23. ^ "Chartjackers attack the charts". London: BBC. 2009. Retrieved 14 November 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  24. ^ "Singles Chart For 21/11/09". Chart Stats. 16 November 2009. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  25. ^ Producers: Jonathan Davenport and Adam King (21 November 2009). "Compilation". Chartjackers. Episode 11. UK. BBC. BBC Two. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |seriesno= ignored (|series-number= suggested) (help)
  26. ^ Davies, Jessica (14 July 2010). "Piers Morgan to launch First TV on web". Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  27. ^ "FirstTV is here!". First News. 9 July 2010. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  28. ^ "VidCon & FirstTV". CharlieMcDonnell.com. 16 July 2010. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
  29. ^ "Robert Llewellyn @bobbyllew". CelebrityTweet!. This weekend I am shooting a carpool with charlieissocoollike.
  30. ^ "The YouTubing teenager getting four million hits a month". BBC. Charlie has used the website to broadcast his homemade videos and currently gets an amazing four million hits a month.
  31. ^ "James Max speaks to Charlie McDonnell – 3 Oct 10". LBC Podcasts. Listen back to the Business Hour with James Max as he was joined by the most popular YouTuber in the UK – Charlie McDonnell, AKA Charlie Is So Cool Like.
  32. ^ "Twitter / @coollike: I would like to..."

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